LAGAT, VERZBICAS FAST FRIENDS By Chris Lotsbom (c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
NEW YORK (10-Jun) -- It's the type of story you see in a movie: a hard working kid gets the opportunity to meet his hero, a man who has inspired him to do his best on and off the track, and the two become fast friends. That's just how it went when world champion Bernard Lagat and high school sensation Lukas Verzbicas crossed paths at last years' adidas Grand Prix here.
It was the day before the Diamond League meeting when both were doing pre-race workouts on the Icahn Stadium track at Randall's Island. Lagat was running the 1500m, Verzbicas the Jim Ryun High School Dream Mile the following day.
"I had to ask for a picture," Verzbicas recounted here today, with a smile on his face. "Of course I was star-struck at first, but he was a really nice guy."
Little did Verzbicas know that the two-time Olympic medalist and holder of the American record at 5000m would keep tabs on the high schooler's senior season.
The two would end up facing each other twice in 2011, once indoors at the NYRR Deuce Challenge, where Lagat would end up breaking the American record at two miles, and then again outdoors at the Prefontaine Classic, where Verzbicas would set a high school record for two miles. Between the three meetings, the two exchanged pleasantries and chatted.
But an immediate impression was set on the 36-year-old Lagat. What stood out to Lagat was the confidence and poised demeanor of the boy 18-years his junior.
"What is important for me was his look before [the race]. He was composed, he was really cool and didn't feel the attention."
Lagat continued: "When you look at what he did, you realize this kid is special. He has a lot of talent, but you know what, he is having fun."
Following Verzbicas's 8:29.46 two-mile in Eugene last week, Lagat gave Verzbicas some very direct words, hoping to inspire him to future success.
"I told him congratulations, you did a good job."
Shaking his head, Lagat went on, not sure of how to put Verzbicas's performance in perspective. He truly was speechless.
"The fact that a young guy could come in there, step in and perform very well is great."
When asked if Lagat could do the same when he was 18-years-old in Kenya, he responded with an emphatic 'NO'.
"No, even when I was older than him, I wasn't composed." Lagat explained how he would look at Daniel Komen and wonder why he was on the same starting line as a man who had just come off of an airplane. At that time Lagat had never seen one. With others wearing fancy spikes and uniforms, Lagat would become tense, nervous, and intimidated.
"If I was to put myself in those shoes, even a few years ago, I would be a wreck. He is really strong, same as Andrew Wheating. When we were lining up in Monaco, he was so composed cracking jokes. I like that, I really like that. I don't like when people are so timid."
Verzbicas brings that same confidence into tomorrow's Dream Mile, where he hopes to break four-minutes.
"I think it's definitely possible," he said. "We are all going to go after it, and it should work out." Tomorrow will be Verzbicas's final race as a high schooler, ending a career which is record book worthy.
"I don't see why it shouldn't happen."
Asked who he looks up to in running, the first name out is Lagat.
"I look at him as an example, someone who I look up to, because he is 36-years-old and still at the top level, top of his game. I could only wish to be just as successful as he is. "I feel like we're buddies," he said, smiling again.
Lagat feels the same way. "I am a big fan, I follow him and I like him, because he really is a good competitor. He is going to be great."
