Would Lukas Verzbikas have won more titles than Ches?

Seyta wrote:

The way both he and the Oregon coaches went about his first season was completely ridiculous.

He had an extremely long season during his senior year. Cross country, he was double-national champion. Indoor track, he was triple-national champion. Outdoor track, he broke 4 and ran the 2-mile record. Post-Outdoor track, he went into full triathlon training and won World Juniors.

Only an idiot would have allowed him to go straight into the middle of cross country season like that, and the result is what we saw. You can't have a nearly year-long continuous season, peak, then throw yourself right into the middle of heavy training cycles and expect to perform. That he thought it was a good idea was already terrible. That his coaches thought the same was just absurd.

Regardless of what LV's long term capability was vs. Ches, I totally agree with this. Even bigger shame if this sequence of events factored into him leaving the sport.

benjamins button wrote:

Man idk, LV had/has one of the prettiest strides I've seen. ... his stride I think he would have been a 13:00-13:10 type leaving college.

This ^

Too bad we will never know :-(

TrackBot! VDOT 8:29 2 mile

VDOT for 8:29 2mi: 77.4

Equivalent race times based on VDOT:

Marathon: 02:11:14

Half marathon: 01:02:38

15K: 00:43:36

10K: 00:28:27

5K: 00:13:40

3Mi: 00:13:10

2Mi: 00:08:29

3200m: 00:08:26

3K: 00:07:51

1Mi: 00:03:58

1600m: 00:03:56

1500m: 00:03:40

I am a bot. Info: habs.sdf.org/trackbot

No.

TrackBot wrote:

VDOT for 8:29 2mi: 77.4

Equivalent race times based on VDOT:

Marathon: 02:11:14

Half marathon: 01:02:38

15K: 00:43:36

10K: 00:28:27

5K: 00:13:40

3Mi: 00:13:10

2Mi: 00:08:29

3200m: 00:08:26

3K: 00:07:51

1Mi: 00:03:58

1600m: 00:03:56

1500m: 00:03:40

I am a bot. Info: habs.sdf.org/trackbot

He really wasn't too far off those times when he ran 8:29. He had the 3:59 mile and a 14 low 5k months earlier indoor with no competition. Factor in 4 years of college training and who knows. Maybe Ches would have been faster eventually but since LV started out faster and they were both Oregon runners, it would be interesting to see at what point Ches would've eclipsed LV. It was always my opinion that LV was going to really excel at the longer distances (5k and up).

who??

No but he would have had a good shot at an Olympic medal in the triathlon if it weren't for the crash. He made the right decision to leave Oregon. Just got really unlucky.

It appeared from the outside that Verzbikas and his support system (parents) weren't committed to a college running career. Cashing in on the Tri seemed to be their thing. He could have been a great college runner. But many people 'could have been'. It takes a commitment to buy into a coach and team and sport.

It's a shame that he had that horrific accident.

No. What are you even talking about??? He was trash in HS. I could have whooped that boy in every event from 400 to 3k

If I remember correctly, the Oregon men were an average team that year - they needed Lukas to run in order to qualify for nationals. Talk about risking so much long term for basically nothing short term. Coaches should be ashamed.

You remember correctly... what a blunder. Especially if you knew you had a good feeling that you were landing cheserek the next year, take a page out of the 76er's playbook and throw away a season. If they would have redshirted LV, received erik Jenkins from northeastern, and brought in ches.... probably would have watched those 3 cross the line 1,2,3 many times at pac-12's and nationals, on the track and grass.

Verzbikas was a massive talent who wasn't fully committed to running in high school. It's too bad the way things worked out at Oregon, seemed like a strange situation from the start. He clearly wasn't ready to race anywhere near his normal level. He should have just redshirted that first xc season.

He would have been great, but not as good as Ches.

Verzbikas has such a bouncy stride in that 2011 race, wasting a lot of energy but showing potential and clearly not being physically mature, and he wins the race, but Cheserek looks already like an adult, very well put together and extremely efficient, although he was not able to pick it up and kick hard at the end. I'd love to see an energy use calculation from that race, because Cheserek has that remarkably efficient, compact stride and he drafts off of LV for something like the last 3k, while LV is leading for that 3k, bouncing up and down, and his arms are all over.

Verzbicas (that's the correct spelling) that same year in the 2M at Pre. He had a pacer for around six laps. He closed in 2:03 (62/61) for 8:29. (Kipchoge was at 8:16 in the same race, behind Teg at 8:15, and Lagat won in 8:13). He still looks physically undeveloped in the race. He and Cheserek would have had some great college races. Chez developed a ferocious kick. Would Verzbicas have had a kick like that? Doubtful but they would have been very fast races with Cheserek drafting and outkicking him probably.

http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=48108-US-High-School-2-mile-Record-Full-Race-Video-focus-only-on-Lukas-Verzbicas-8-29-46-Prefontaine-Classic-2011

Based on the fact that he was injury prone and did not do well in the few races he ran... LV would not even be within smelling distance of Ches in any championship race.

No.

Do you guys know he got seriously phucked up in a bike accident during triathlon training? I assume yes, but maybe not? Google it. Nasty stuff.

Interesting to follow the guy in triathlon. Interesting to see how many fast people there are in triathlon.