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Liberty's Lucas is 3rd, and 'perfectly satisfied'
To a lot of athletes, the clichéd coach’s line “Just do your best, that’s all anyone can ask,” is a code that makes losing acceptable.
For Liberty swimmer Jake Lucas, though, the line held true at this weekend’s Group AAA state final in a strictly positive manner.
Lucas had a very strong showing against some stiff competition on both Friday and Saturday at George Mason University.
He took away a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, a seventh-place standing in the 50-yard freestyle, and no regrets. “I’m going home perfectly satisfied,” Lucas said.
The only gripe that Lucas really had was with the cancellation of January’s Liberty-Fauquier swim meet. Lucas planned to qualify for states in the 100-yard backstroke at that meet, but instead did not register a time in that event during the season.
So he was relegated to swimming the 50 free — a race he admitted is not his strongest.
“I knew I didn’t have a chance, that’s not my event,” Lucas said with an air of frustration, though he never broke from his upbeat demeanor. “I got short-changed, I was supposed to be doing 100 back.”
Nevertheless, he made a serious run at a state crown in the 100 fly.
Lucas finished Friday’s preliminary race in 50.18 seconds, placing him second heading into Saturday’s final. The top spot belonged to Ben Tuben of Thomas Jefferson, who set the 100 fly state record on Friday with a time of 49.77.
In a less-than-serendipitous twist for Lucas, Tuben’s record was smashed on Saturday afternoon. Sean Fletcher (James Madison) scorched to a 48.97 mark and David Kiss (Thomas Edison) finished at 49.32.
Those performances relegated Lucas to third, his time of 50.11 holding off Tuben by nearly a second, but not really challenging the gold and silver medalists.
“Yeah, what can you do?” said Lucas who, like Fauquier’s Caitlin Perks, is smack-dab in the midst of training with the QDD Swim Team in Manassas. “I mean, I guess it’s a little discouraging, but it’s the middle of the season for me.”
Going into his 100 fly final, Lucas — who will swim at the University of Pittsburgh — appeared to have an unequivocal shot at bringing a state title home. He carried his momentum from Friday's prelims into the early stages, bursting out quickly as several swimmers stayed within striking distance of first through 50 yards.
Fletcher and Kiss began to inch away over the second half of the race, with Fletcher especially pulling out and cruising home for the victory. Lucas clocked in at 22.92 seconds at the 50-yard mark, but could not maintain it.
“I was definitely out like I wanted to, but I could feel the week of practice in my legs on the last lap,” Lucas said. “I kept up with (Fletcher) as much as I wanted to in the first 50, I was supposed to catch him on the last 50, but he decided that wasn’t happening.”
Even though Lucas was closer to the front time-wise in the 50-free, he, in reality, had less of an opportunity at a win that final.
A pack of three — Geoff Bobsin, Robbie Parker and Jordan Law — powered ahead quickly in the always-frantic 50-yard race. That trio touched the wall 1-2-3, with Bobsin winning in 21.34 seconds.
Lucas, swimming in lane six, trailed after 25 yards and did not have near enough left.
“The 50, I got my goal time at prelims, I got the national cut, so it’s kind of hard to come back and be ready,” Lucas said. “I was focused on doing good but when I saw the clock (after the race), I just had to laugh because I felt so much faster.”
Lucas also admitted he swam at less than 100-percent. He reported that he caught walking pneumonia from his brother two weeks ago — and competed with the ailment at the Cedar Run District meet. He mentioned lingering effects. “I’ve been down hard with a fever all week,” Lucas said.
Even so, Lucas showed well for Liberty as the school’s solitary representative at Saturday’s final. “I exceeded my best already in high school, there’s only so much I can do,” Lucas said.
Several other Eagles swam in Friday’s prelims, but did not qualify for final heats.
The Liberty 200-yard medley relay team finished 18th in 1 minute, 45.65 seconds. The 200-yard freestyle relay also advanced to the state prelims, notching 24th in 1:32.79.
Senior Shane Lawton was 29th in the 50 free in 23.29.
Junior Annicole Buranych’s 26.54 in the girls 50-yard freestyle was good for 24th place. Fellow junior Shauna Plesmid was 23rd in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:01.45, less than two seconds off the time needed for Saturday’s B finals heat.
The boys team crown went to Robinson, which scored 241 points to hold off Oakton's 213.
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