Getting to know: Lukas Verzbicas

Sandburg's Lukas Verzbicas is favored at the cross country state championship meet on Saturday.
(Brett Roseman/SouthtownStar)

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You are favored to win the state cross-country championship Saturday. Are you ready? I’m ready, mentally and physically. I think about the time of 13 minutes, 50.6 seconds. That’s the state cross-country record held by Craig Virgin. It was set more than 30 years ago and has stood for so long against many great runners. This would be a great time to try to go after it. It’s a great feeling to compare yourself to someone like him.

What is your background? I was born in Lithuania and came to the United States in 2002, when I was 8 years old. My parents came a year before me. They came for three months but something made them stay. I’m glad I came here. Why cross-country? My parents were track and field coaches. They had to get me into a sport or I would have been bored. In my first serious race, I ran a 5-kilometer road race when I was 10.

What do you enjoy about running? The challenge. Not everybody can run. There is always someone to compete against, to pit your level against them. I’m always trying to get to the next level.

When did you realize you could be successful in cross-country? In junior high school, I was winning but it didn’t make me believe I could be one of the best in the country. Since my freshman year, I haven’t lost a race in cross-country. It got me thinking I could be very good.

How do you describe your running style? That is for others to judge. My coach (John O’Malley) said I have the gait of a Kenyan runner, light and effortless, that I look like a gazelle. I like his viewpoint. I think my running style is as close to perfect as possible but it isn’t perfect yet.

Any superstitions? I do a certain workout before every race. I eat healthy. I enjoy apples. I stay away from pizza and greasy hamburgers.

Favorite pre-meet meal? Filet mignon with quinoa, a Bolivian grain. It is a source of iron and protein and helps with endurance.

You consider yourself a triathlete, not a runner. What are your future plans? I’m considering trying to qualify in the triathlon (swim, bike, run) for the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. The trials are in April in Mexico. I have to make a decision if I want to be a fulltime triathlete or a fulltime runner. Now I am both. It will be a tough decision.

What was your most exciting moments in competition? Winning the duathon (run, bike, run) world championship in September in Concord, N.C. And setting a national record in the indoor 5,000 meters last March.

If you could pick the brain of one running expert, who would he be? Steve Prefontaine. He was so fearless. I would have so much to learn from him.

What is the best piece of advice you have received? Don’t give up. It’s been around so long. So many great people have said it. But it’s true. When the going gets tough, you don’t give up. That’s how you succeed in school and in competition. The one who succeeds is the one who hangs in the most and endures the pain more than others. That’s where all the training and preparation comes in.