Lukas Verzbicas is on the fast track to stardom

Lukas Verzbicas is on the fast track – literally – to making history as a long distance runner.

To show how serious he really is, the Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) star has taken extra classes so he can graduate a year early and raise his level of competition. Though he should be a junior, he will graduate this May and head for college.

"I took summer classes. It was very, very difficult, but I got through it," he told MaxPreps. "There were races and travel. If you missed a day (of classes) it was like a week. My family and I decided it was time for big and better things if I wanted to improve and get to the next level."

The 6-foot, 130-pounder already has placed his name higher than most all high school distance runners with some amazing performances over the last two years.

He was the first sophomore cross country runner to win the prestigious Foot Locker Nationals and this year became the first to repeat – while also becoming the first to win Foot Locker and the Nike Cross Nationals in the same year. He also is the first to twice be named Gatorade National Cross Country Runner of the Year.

"He looks like the next four-minute miler – maybe even in 2011," according to Jack Shepard, veteran boys track expert from Track & Field News.

Marc Bloom, longtime editor/publisher of The Harrier, calls Verzbicas "such a complete athlete. One of the unique things is his multi-sport ability (able to star in events which use swimming and biking as well as running). We haven't had that type of athlete before.

"To me he looks like a marathon runner. He has the build and temperament. Six or seven years from now he can be a great marathon runner. He's been in the spotlight so long that he's learned to enjoy and feed off of it. He likes going for records and likes to set the pace. It's exciting for fans and also sets himself up as a role model for others."

Jim O'Brien, coach of national cross country champion Arcadia (Calif.), noted, "I've watched him run. He has a beautiful stride and has everything under control."

Verzbicas was born in Lithuania and came to the United States as an 8 year-old. His mother, Rasa, formerly held the Lithuanian record in the 3,000-meter run and his stepfather, Romas Bertulis, is a longtime international track coach.

For two years Lukas lived with his grandparents before joining his parents in the United States. In fact, he still calls his grandmother in Lithuania before every major race. She has him repeat a line in Russian which helps keep him calm and confident.

Besides his parentage, Verzbicas apparently was born to run, because he basically skipped walking.

"I would just crawl everywhere," he was told by his parents. "At 2 1/2, I got up on my feet and just started running. I would run a few meters and fall."

He developed his early conditioning by walking several miles to school each day as a first-, second- and third-grader. He had to pass a graveyard during the early morning darkness and that may have spurred him to move even faster.

Surprisingly, his first sport in the USA was club basketball as a fourth grader.

"I wasn't that bad – I was average," he noted. "When we did strength and conditioning long runs, I always beat everybody."

At age 10 – without any training - he ran his first competitive race, a 5K road race, against kids up to age 14. He clocked the first mile in an outstanding five minutes and was leading after two miles until he collapsed. However, he got up and walked the last mile.

That was a major motivator for the future, because his parents saw his potential and told him, "Don't settle for second-best. Always shoot for the stars."

As an eighth grader, he posted his first national victory by winning the USATF Junior cross country title in Lawrence, Kan.

"After that I just wanted to go after big things. It showed I could do big things," he said as his confidence grew.

When he reached ninth grade, Verzbicas enrolled at Lincoln-Way Central (New Lenox, Ill.). He set a national record when he won the 5,000-meter run in 14 minutes, 18.42 seconds during the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston. That year he also set national freshman indoor records in the mile (4:15.43), 3,000 meters (8:29.15) and two-mile (8:53.98).

As a sophomore, he transferred to Carl Sandburg where cross country coach John O'Malley still had vivid memories of his immense talent even as a seventh grader.

O'Malley related, "I was running a five-mile race, the Shamrock Shuffle. After the first two miles, this little kid came floating by me. I wondered who was this guy? He kicked my butt. His time of 25 minutes and 40 seconds was all-state caliber.

"He lived in Orland in fifth and sixth grade, but had moved to New Lenox. I thought maybe he can move back, but I never expected it. It was surreal to get that quality of a runner just dropped off in your lap."

From the very first day, O'Malley realized that he was in for "a different kind of coaching. It wasn't really difficult to get him ready to win a state title, but it was to get him ready to reach his full potential. I had to tailor workouts to make sure he was pushed.

"He wasn't just satisfied with state titles. He wanted to get records and that's where his goals were. It would blow your mind to watch him do his workouts. It felt like you were watching something really special. He has such endurance. He can last all day."

The fall of his sophomore year, Verzbicas won the World Junior Duathlon (5K run, 20K bike, 2.5 K run) title in Concord, N.C., beating the reigning World Junior Triathlon champion, 19-year-old Spaniard Mario Mola. Being the youngest entrant at age 16 just added to his future confidence.

He also won the Illinois state cross country crown in 14 minutes, 7 seconds that fall. Then came the Foot Locker crown in San Diego, in 15 minutes, 7 seconds. It was no surprise that he was named Gatorade National Cross Country Runner of the Year.

O'Malley still is amazed as he looks back at the pre-race Foot Locker talk he had with his protégé.

"We were waiting in the rain," O'Malley recalled. "Before he was to be introduced he was a little nervous. He told me, ‘Coach, I have to win! It doesn't matter if I'm just a sophomore.'''

Now Verzbicas definitely was a marked man.

"It was a lot of pressure," he conceded, "but I used the pressure for motivation. By now many people expected me to do big things and I don't want to disappoint them. I'm not doing this just for myself, but also for my fans. It's such an honor (to be asked for an autograph). I never turn anyone down."

The summer before his junior year, Verzbicas ran a one-mile road race – part of it admittedly downhill – and was clocked in a superb three minutes, 56 seconds. He lost to a Kenyan by three seconds.

Two weeks later, he set a USA sophomore class record by winning the prestigious Jim Ryun Dream Mile in 4 minutes, 4.38 seconds in New York City. It was the fastest mile in the country that year.

In September of his junior year – which now is his final year of high school – Verzbicas placed fourth during the World Junior Triathlon Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He was the youngest one in the field and some were 19.

He probably could have finished higher had he not been penalized for gear misplacement. Following the swimming portion, contestants were required to put their wetsuits in a small box.

The articulate teenager explained, "I was full of adrenaline and laid it on the ground. I didn't even see the box. I had to stop and wait near the finish line. It cost me 15 seconds. But I got great experience. It's better to learn now than when I'm a professional athlete."

The 2010 Illinois state cross country meet was filled with drama because it was hoped that Verzbicas could break the coveted state record of 13 minutes, 50.6 seconds set 38 years earlier by future Olympian Craig Virgin.

"It was a big deal," Verzbicas emphasized. "There was a lot of media hype. Five thousand people lined the course. I was on pace. I was way under it (the record) at two miles, then at two and three-quarter miles. The last 200 or so meters were tough. I was hurting. I didn't know what happened to me. Just started slowing down."

He won the race, of course, and signed several hundred autographs. His time of 13 minutes, 53 seconds was agonizingly close to the record. Virgin, who was present at the race, told Lukas that he "was too quick over the first two miles."

O'Malley believes that meet "really personified Lukas in a lot of ways. He slept all the way and was not that worried. He was absolutely certain. He wasn't disappointed. His response was shock that he didn't break the record. He really does see himself accomplishing these goals."

Joe Newton, who has coached at York (Elmhurst, Ill.) for 53 years, says that Verzbicas "is one of the best we've ever had in our state. He's definitely in the top three. He goes everywhere and takes the lead. Like Steve Prefontaine (his idol, by the way), he can take the pain."

Next came the Nike Cross Nationals crown in a very slow 15 minutes, 59 seconds at Portland, Ore. He edged sophomore Edward Cheserek of St. Benedict's (Newark, N.J.) by two seconds.

"It was a mudfest," Verzbicas described. "Mud literally was shin deep. It was a very tactical race. It was so not like true running."

One week later he won his second Foot Locker title in 14 minutes, 59 seconds, beating North Central (Indianapolis) junior Futsum Zeinasellassie by 11 seconds.

Despite all of his national honors, Verzbicas says his biggest thrill is "The fact that I could be efficient at two sports – running and the triathlon. No one in the triathlon can run as fast as I can."

Verzbicas never has participated in track for Carl Sandburg and he never will because he has to run unattached this spring. The Illinois High School Association will not allow runners to compete out of state (there is a mileage limit) or even train with members of another school.

"It truly is an issue," Verzbicas stressed. "I don't know the benefit of that."

So, he has lined up several major indoor meets, starting with last Saturday's New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston. He will run the two-mile during the Brooks High School Invitational on Feb. 27 in Seattle, and also on March 10-11 during the New Balance Indoor High School Nationals in New York City.

He is expected to train six days a week, around three hours per day. On an average day he will run five miles before school, then work out – which includes stretching – two hours after school. He tries to swim five days per week when he is training for a triathlon, but admits he despises the cold water during the first few laps. He says he draws a lot of strength from swimming, although he recently has added weight training.

On Sunday, his day off, he "tries to eat a lot of steak and do my homework."

The Illinois superstar had toyed with the idea of skipping college and working out at the U.S. Olympic Training Center with an eye on the next Olympics. However, he told MaxPreps he now wants to focus on college and that he still can be a triathlete in his 30s if he chooses.

He also has his eyes set on the 2016 Olympics and a future in professional track. He still isn't sure what his best event is, but he feels it could be the 5,000-meter run.

O'Malley predicts, "If he stays healthy, he's got everything else to make it at that level. One thing I want from him is tickets to his first Olympics."

Verzbicas, who carries a 3.25 GPA, has chosen to attend the University of Oregon over Colorado, Stanford and Oklahoma State. He wants to major in political science with a possible run some day for Congress. Because he was not born in the U.S., he can't run for president, but he admitted if the law ever is changed, "I'd shoot for the stars."

Though he just recently turned 18, Lukas Verzbicas already is navigating life's fast track at warp speed.