which makes us ask....just how good was lukas verzbicas?

So basically you aren't saying I'm wrong, you are just correcting me because you are saying the 1600 and the mile are completely different events. And the 3200 and 2-mile are completely different events. Is that what your point is? Because you are asking of high school results in events that he has the national record in....so either you are being stupid or you are being a smartass and are wrong at the same time.

Have you ever heard of athletic.net? Or google.com? They are useful for race results.

Another Perspective.... wrote:

I agree with the fans. I remember the indoor meet mentioned above. 3 events. There was an indoor second place to Lagat, I think. Everyone remembers the XC races the most, but those were against a shallower pool of competition than the occasional pro race. Here's what today's youth may not realize:

Never joined his HS track team.

Never ran in a State-sanctioned HS meet.

Never ran a 1600 or 3200 that I'm aware of. (I followed him at the time and never heard about one, feel free to correct if you know of any.)

I went to HS with big boy luke...

1) He never joined the HS track team. If I remember correctly, he did swing by for workouts every once in awhile. He was a great teammate during XC.

2) "State-sanctioned" is weirdly specific. During track, he didn't run in a state meet, but he did run indoor/outdoor HS nationals, and a few one-off 'dream races' and such. During XC, he ran every meet his team did (state-sanctioned and all).

3) Again, weirdly specific... he ran numerous miles/2 miles (and the 1600/3200 en route). He (along with most people) aren't interested in fake 1600/3200 records, just mile, 2 mile, and 5k.

So you agree 100% with that old post. I did too when I read it, but you were literally there. The 3 points struck me as accurate. Turns out they were according to you, the actual expert weighing in.

1. You can personally confirm. It sounds like you were on the team. I've always known he WAS on the XC team although the post I quoted didn't adddess that.

2. You confirm exactly what the poster way back claimed. I watched him when I came across something televised or streamed and from what I saw they were never official State-sanctioned meets. You can confirm. I've seen pics in official school uniform in XC. Consistent with what you saw.

3. How is this weird in any way? I've never run either of those. The events I watch on TV never offer them. I am not surprised he didn't care about non-standard distances for which records aren't kept. Hey, I was just a random fan, not an insider like yourself, so I see and read the thread. That last point really caught my eye and made me chuckle since threads appear daily about those distances (I hesitate to call them 'events') and I wonder "Who would even compete over one of those?" Not Luke apparently.

Thanks for the post and clearing this up. It's cool to see this thread surface and remind us of one of the greats.

Wait....are you claiming to be one of the posters from long ago? I'm glad someone bumped thread since I found it now and can get in on this. You claim he has the 'national record' in the 1600 and/or 3200. Let's see the results. A post just above shows you a good source for those. A guy from his high school who literally knew him doesn't seem to think he ever ran either one. He certainly didn't say he knew of any, and it is likely that if he did, this poster would have been in the race or standing there.

I'll be waiting for you, one of the posters from years ago, or any doubter to post any of these:

A result from a race held over 1600 meters, 1600 yards, 3200 meters or 3200 yards in which Lukas Verzbikas participated. Again, a poster showed you an excellent place to look.

A listing of any record (school record, event record, facility record, or yes.....National Record) over any of the 4 distances mentioned above. I recommend Track And Field News. Start there.

A documentation of a Personal Record by the athlete in question over any of the mentioned distances. I'd start with Wikipedia. One of the places to look, anyway.

I just told you how to find the proof that:

Lukas Verzbikas competed in a 1600 and/or 3200 race at some point in his life. And

I (and whoever else pointed the facts out in this thread) am 'stupid', 'a smartass', and 'wrong'.

"So you basically aren't saying I'm wrong...."

Technically true, I'm saying some random poster from years ago is, although if you contend, as you seem to, that our hero competed in one of those non-events, then yes, I am definitely saying you are!

We're waiting......

i miss verzbicas wrote:

very disrespectful. not surprising from a keyboard warrior though

make sure you shine that armor, white knight.

Umm, OK wrote:

3. How is this weird in any way? I've never run either of those. The events I watch on TV never offer them. I am not surprised he didn't care about non-standard distances for which records aren't kept. Hey, I was just a random fan, not an insider like yourself, so I see and read the thread. That last point really caught my eye and made me chuckle since threads appear daily about those distances (I hesitate to call them 'events') and I wonder "Who would even compete over one of those?" Not Luke apparently.

What I was trying to get as it….

Lukas was on another level. He didn’t run for points/pacing practice/etc. Everything was planned and obvious. He was either record chasing or trying to break barriers during track season. So, there was never a reason for him to run 1600/3200. Those aren’t the important records/barriers. It’s mile/2mile/5k.

Of course, the average Joe in IL only runs 1600/3200. No one is starting 9 meters behind the start line or setting up FAT timing for 402.5m splits for my 4:40 mile 😂

Very true all around. As I mentioned, I was a fan and watched him run. He didn't fool around with school-sanctioned running other than XC. The only time those non-standard distances are contested is when a school/school district/state school board-created governing body,etc. puts on a competition. I saw the indoor 5000 that was a set-up time trial for him and Lagat both. The kind of meet organizers who put together something like that don't consider those meaningless distances.

What drew my eye to the post that pointed the 3 things out was that if you don't sign up for your school's team (#1), you won't be allowed in school-organized meets (#2), and therefore would never be on the startng line of a 1600 nor 3200 (#3). They're all one thing. So, I sort of bump that post, thinking yeah, good point!