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Fox Valley male athlete of the year: Lucas Ege, Burlington Central

Just how competitive is recent Burlington Central graduate and area track and field great Lucas Ege?

"Lucas won't even lose at a sport in gym. He wants to win everything," said teammate Nick Harvey, who was a member of the Rockets' 1,600 state relay team and whom Ege lauded for his strong running abilities. "In practice they would give people 100-meter head starts in the 300 hurdles just so he would have competition. We'd throw in some of the sprinters with no hurdles and that would drive him."

The competitor in Ege is alive and well today. Even after winning both the 110 high and 300 intermediate hurdle Class 2A titles a few weeks ago, Ege, the most decorated track athlete in Fox Valley area history with three individual state titles, wanted more.

"The end of the 300 hurdles didn't turned out as I would have hoped," he said. "I wanted to get my time down a lot more. I had a lot higher goals. I wanted to get my time to a very high national ranking and I wanted to break the overall state record. It wasn't as good as I hoped. Coach and I talked about it. I knew I could probably get the overall 300 state record if it was perfect conditions and I had someone to run against. It didn't happen."

The Stanford-bound Ege still was the best hurdler in all of Illinois at state this year, owning the top time in both events in any of the three classes. He re-broke his 300 Class 2A state record by going 37.10 this year (he ran 37.34 in winning the state title last year) and fell 0.33 short of the overall all-time state record of 36.77 that has stood since 1999. His 300 time this year earned him a Top 20 national ranking in the event, according to Dyestat (www.dyestat.com).

"I got a lot more out of it than I expected I would in high school," he said. "I got the most I could have gotten out of it. I'm pretty happy overall. I would have liked to get my times down more this year, but everything else has worked out great. I can't get too upset."

Ege finds himself atop a list of area track greats that includes former Central star Joe Hosey (2 individual state titles and 2 relay titles), Jacobs alum Evan Jager (2 individual state titles, 1 relay title), Cary-Grove thrower Josh Freeman (shot and disc titles in 2012) and Elgin High's Gene Jones (880 state champion in 1926 and 1927). His accomplishments this spring have earned him the Daily Herald's Fox Valley Male Athlete of the Year honor for the second year in a row.

"Lucas is an absolute integral part of our team not just because of what he does on the track, but because of the leadership he provides," said veteran Central coach Mike Schmidt. "How hard he works and how dedicated he is to being as good as he can rubs off on everyone else. The kids see it and they want to be a part of it. You can't put a value on that. I've had a lot of good ones here with Joe Hosey, Chris Wesson and Dan Hagberg and Lucas is the best I've ever coached and that's no disrespect to those other guys because they were phenomenal. He's in a class by himself."

Ege's last loss in the 300 hurdles came sophomore year and he went unbeaten in the 110s this year.

"The first 300 title last year meant a ton to me. I finally did it," he said. "I did what I wanted to do. Winning the 110 this year was equivalent to that. With that one myself and everybody else didn't think I could do it because there were people who were faster than me. Winning both of them this year means a lot. I got it all done, especially in the 110s. I was taken aback by that. I was not expecting my 110s to be the best in the state. I had to have the perfect race. It was nice to get it done that day, but I'm not under any illusion that I'm the best 110 hurdler in the state of Illinois. I was happy to get it done on that day."

Ege said the 110s had him on an emotional rollercoaster this year. "I wasn't too excited after I got second at indoor state (in the 60 hurdles)," he said. "With the 110s you have to do it perfectly or you don't do it at all. If you make mistakes during that race you can't will yourself to do better. The 110s is a sprint. With the 300s if there is someone ahead of you and you are mentally tough you can find more energy. In the 110s you can't make yourself any faster because you already are going as fast as you can."

Ege noted didn't get heavily involved in the traditional big three sports (football, basketball, baseball) when he was younger, but realized at a young age he was fast afoot.

"Around middle school I realized being fast could be its own sport," he said. "I started focusing on track in high school. It's what I like to do."

At first Ege thought hurdles wouldn't be in the cards for him. "Coach takes all the freshmen who are tall and fast and sees what sticks," Ege said. "I had a bad two weeks and right before the coaches were going to cut me from the hurdles team for basically wasting their time is when I got it and started picking up the mechanics. Something clicked for me and I got faster and faster."

Central hurdles coach Don Spencer, the former girls track head coach at St. Charles North, was impressed with Ege on a number of fronts. "He never ceases to amaze me," said Spencer. "There is the obvious fact that he is a great athlete, but most people don't realize the metacognitive part with him. We would talk after races and practice about what he was doing in his races and he would think about one aspect of each hurdle whether that's his shin angle going into the next hurdle and then where is his shoulder, hip displacement or a high knee drive with the trailing leg."

Spencer also marveled at Ege's commitment to excellence. "I can't tell you how many hours he put in during the off-season in the weight room working on his strength and agility. He knew what it took. He gave up a lot of personal time to make sure he attained his goals. He was the fastest hurdler in the statethis year and broke his own state record. We had a lot of great athletes on that team but a lot of people would agree Lucas was the linchpin of that team."

Schmidt added: "After winning a state championship athletes like him have choices. They can rest on their laurels or they can work even harder. Lucas is driven to success. He went in the weight room and got so much stronger and faster. Lucas thrived on that and worked to get better and better. He always wanted to get better and always was driven by something. He wanted to breakrecords and be the best."

And then there is the story of Ege in the 1,600 relay at the state meet this year. With his two state titles already in the books, Ege took the anchor baton with Central sitting in fifth place and a state team trophy resting in the balance (Central needed to finish second in order to secure a trophy).

You know how that one turned out. "He ends up running a 47.2 split and passed three other teams," said Spencer. "He made sure we got that second-place team trophy. If he didn't finish second, we wouldn't have got the trophy. Lucas came through. There are athletes who can rise up to that and some who cannot. Lucas is the full package."

Harvey also is part of the Ege 1,600 relay fan club.

"Oh my gosh," he said. "It was not looking too pretty until he took the baton," he said. "He ran a 47 and made it look fricking easy. He ran a 48 the day before and we were like, 'Wow.' He runs a 47 after breaking the 300 hurdles state record. He definitely is something special."

Ege wasn't always a fan of that relay. "Freshman year I hated being put in it," he said. "The last two years have been really good in that relay and getting to be known as the guy who gets us to first place or wherever I could get us. The only time we lost this year in that relay was at state."

Ege added the competitive juices would hit overdrive for him in the 1,600 relay. "I never run as fast as I can unless someone is in front of me. I don't like to lose," he said. "I got a PR at state by over a second. I knew I had to do it. We had talked about the state trophy in the tent before. I wanted to get second and we needed to get second. I ran my heart out in that race. I wanted us to get second. I had to get it done."

Now Ege will look to get it done on one of the biggest stages around, Stanford University. But Ege wants more than just a great track career in college. He wants to continue his academic success - he had a 4.2 GPA at Central and was ranked high in the Central senior class. "I've always been really into academics," he said.

Ege is planning on studying computer science. "My dad teaches computer science at NIU and he's steered me toward that," he said. "I like computers. I took a basic programming course this year and really liked it and liked coding things and figuring out problems."

Ege's eventual hope on the academic front is to get a job in the Silicon Valley scene. "That's the end goal. To get to the top of the top," he said. "Anything like that would be the perfect situation."

He's also ready to let his competitive spirit loose on the Division I track and field front. "My main complaint with high school track is there was not too much competition that pushed me that much further," Ege said. "I've heard in college I will never have a meet where I am not challenged. I've been told working out and getting fit to the college level would be beneficial. I'm kind of nervous about losing a lot, but that will be good. I'm hoping it will make me that much faster."

Schmidt said Ege will be remembered as much more than just a star track athlete.

"He's a great kid," he said. "He's a phenomenal student, which is why he's going to Stanford. He handled the recruiting process with dignity. He was choosing between Harvard and Stanford. He did it the right way. Coaches walked away disappointed because they got to know him as a kid. That's a rare thing."

Spencer added: "Whatever Lucas' parents are doing, I hope they bottled it. They raised him right."

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