Saw this post in the Register-Guard, and came here to find more info, but search showed no topics.
Anyone know if there is any truth to this?
Thanks for following me on twitter!
He’s already raced this season for Oregon…
Flotrack had apparently heard something before the release of that article. I would consider them more reliable than this journalsit, but that certainly doesnt make it true…
http://www.flotrack.org/article/9019-Lukas-Verzbicas-has-left-Oregon
Thanks for following flotrack on twitter!
Bump…
confirmed…
http://www.flotrack.org/article/9031-Verzbicas-to-Pursue-Triathlon-Opportunity-Leaving-Oregon
welcome back, i guess. Fairly classless though to leave his team in the middle of the season, at least in my opinion
Hmmmm…Interesting, and probably not the best political decision to leave before the end of the season.
What exactly is, “the triathlon” as referred to by the University of Oregon press release there? I didn’t know he was competing in “the cross country” for UO.
The timing to me is more interesting than the decision.
alright, someone with ITU knowledge on here comment on his likelihood and real chances of making the olympic team. i don’t know enough about the rules and qualifying process.
This is a very selfish act. I lost a lot of respect for him. Abandoning your teammates during the championship portion of the season for a “dream” that should have been followed BEFORE the season began shows serious character flaws. D1 cross country is very much a team sport, unlike triathlon. I guess triathlon suits his personality better.
for 2012 or 2016?
2012 is way out the window from a points stance and just a development stage.
http://www.flotrack.org/article/9031-Verzbicas-to-Pursue-Triathlon-Opportunity-Leaving-Oregon
Apparently lack of character isn’t an issue at the ETA. Wonder if he he is mediocre in triathlon he will quit that too.
he tweeted 2012.
You can’t call the act selfish - you have absolutely no perspective on the situation. Maybe he just doesn’t like school. Maybe he was sold down the river on Oregon and their running team. You just don’t know.
I’d be curious to see his ITU race schedule, and I guess that’s why he’s skipping out ASAP it seems. I guess it wont hurt to give it a try for 2012, just dont hold your breath. ETA: I’m not trying to doubt his abilty or anything, just discussing how I see it.
Why isn’t he joining The Triathlon Squad? They’re “elite”
You can’t call the act selfish - you have absolutely no perspective on the situation. Maybe he just doesn’t like school. Maybe he was sold down the river on Oregon and their running team. You just don’t know.
I agree with the other poster that the act seems selfish on purely the knowledge that Regionals is 2 days away and he has been a scoring runner for them. He likely hurt 6 other guys’ chances of making nationals by his decision. As was already pointed out, his reasoning is the 2012 Olympics which is unrealistic from a logistics perspective.
How would Oregon have sold him down the river? He ran at two big meets. They are a ranked team made up primarily of freshman and sophomores. Not to mention their track program has been lights out as is the norm. In addition we know Vin Lananna let him spend his whole summer doing triathlons as opposed to prepping for the collegiate cross country season.
You can’t call the act selfish - you have absolutely no perspective on the situation. Maybe he just doesn’t like school. Maybe he was sold down the river on Oregon and their running team. You just don’t know.
I dont know
Tweet - “Thank you to University of Oregon, coaches, and teammates for the unmatched experience and support. I wish you nothing but the best of luck.”
If things were as smooth as he makes it sound here, I dont know how you cant call it selfish to some degree. He took scholarship money and committed to that team, he should have at least lived up to that commitment for the duration of the season.
You are not being open-minded at all - the two things I brought up are just two out of an infinite number of possibilities and contributing factors. The point is we have no perspective on things!!! It is no different from an employer who wines and dines a top college grad - then they get there and realize it is not all that it is cracked up to be. Had they not been wined and dined maybe they would have sided with a different opportunity that would have be more realistic in the long-run. To put things in a different perspective, if Lucas had been playing football for Penn State would you still feel the same way. Maybe Lucas witnesses something of that nature on the track team - probably not but the point is that we have no ability to truly assess the situation. If we can’t truly assess the situation - and we never will - then maybe we should just leave him be and let him pursue his dreams.