Prefontaine 2-Mile Next for Verzbicas

Used to being at or near the front, Lukas Verzbicas could be at the back hanging on this Saturday when he runs in a world-class 2-mile race at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, OR. The University of Oregon-bound Verzbicas, 18, of Orland Park (Sandburg HS), is slower on paper than anyone else in the race. Still, it will be fun to see what he can do. There is a pretty good chat going on about this on the letsrun.com web site. The meet organizers also have added three new Friday night events to spice up the weekend. They are a women's 5,000, men's 25,000-30,000 combined race and a men's 10,000. There could be some changing of races as some 2-miler opt for one of the new races and visa-versa. The last Illinois star I remember running in the Pre Classic was Don Sage of York. It's been a while. Lukas, if you happen to see this, feel free to give us your mind-set going into this high-profile 2-mile race on Saturday, and why you aren't running the mile. Lukas, are you there??
Here's the incredible field for our local high school phenom!

2 Mile

BEKELE Tariku ETH
BETT David Kiprotich KEN
BIRMINGHAM Collis AUS
BUMBALOUGH Andrew USA
CHERUIYOT Jonas KEN
FARAH Mohammed GBR
HASS Stephen USA
KIPCHOGE Eliud KEN
KIPTOO Mark Kosgei KEN
KOECH Isaiah Kiplangat KEN
LAGAT Bernard USA
MCNAMARA Jordan USA (pacer)
MILLER Kyle USA
NOVAK Rob USA
RUPP Galen USA (switching to 10,000)
SOI EdwinCheruiyot KEN
TEGENKAMP Matt USA
THOMPSON Chris GBR
VERZBICAS Lukas USA