I am so thankful that you’ve put this information out there. A few days ago I posted my views on Flotrack, only to get told off, insulted and belittled for expressing what I see, as an inherent discrepancy between what Verzbiscas achieved on Saturday and what others, such as Lutz, were expected to do prior to lining up in San Diego. Each of Lutz’s 10 races preceding FL clearly demonstrates strength and talent at an exceptional level. He is a fine athlete and from what I’ve heard, an affable person. Verzbiscas as well, is an outstanding athlete - on multiple levels and an amenable sportsman with incredible potential. The obvious argument here as I see it, is whether it is fair and even-handed to expect a runner such as Lutz, as well as many of the other top ranked guys (using the Dye Stat top 25 list for example) to have to participate in and complete full seasons - i.e. ten or more races, while at the same time going up against another runner at a national championship who was only required to put out a third or half of that effort over roughly the same time period. When I mentioned this, one person responded, “Well hey, who choice was it to run all those races in the first place?” That seems like a strong argument and a sound retort, however, that really doesn’t answer the question in the end, “Who’s choice was it?”
When is the last time that you turned to your coach and said, “ You know coach, I think I’ll just sit out these next couple of dual meets and give myself a break and to get ready for regionals, districts etc…” It has also been claimed that half of these efforts are nothing more than “Tempo runs” - Give me a break, since when is a sub 15:20 5k for a high schooler, a tempo run? I don’t know about you, but back in the day (and yes, I was a 15 minute 5k guy) I never called the shots, not to mention how selfish it would have made me look in front of my team mates, friends, etc… If I had done that, my coach would have said, “Well, fine then Rambo, give me your spikes and there’s the fricken door!“ Coaches today are especially under tremendous pressure from administration and parents to achieve and perform by squeezing as much effort out of their runners as they possibly can to gain that coveted and precious “ranking”.
Lukas and his coach have timed his season to near perfection. He was not over raced. He cross-trained aggressively to build extra overall strength and showed up at FL fresh and ready to do the business! Lutz, Shrader and others simply didn’t have a chance - that’s not to say that they couldn’t have beaten him, its just that their pathway to the summit was not as streamlined and they were already spent from a long and drawn out season. When I say this, I am not suggesting for one second that every school mandate a requirement that their runners need to participate in a full season of 8 to 10 races plus their regional and State meets, but I think that if FL or NXN were to set a stipulation and mandatory requirement that runners who qualify for their championship events should have run at least (5) competitive races before they toe the starting line, then at least in theory, it should be a move level playing field and less of a “blow-out” which is what we saw! Perhaps if Lutz hadn’t run so frequently he still would have not beaten Verzbiscas (he is exceptionally talented) but at least it would have given him a fighting chance. That whole “Amazing Junior Class” can learn a clear lesson from this; Don’t over race!