Lukas Verzbicas hurt in training crash
By Phil Arvia parvia@southtownstar.com August 3, 2012 10:16AM
Lukas Verzbicas, shown in 2010 winning his second state cross country title for Sandburg, was injured Tuesday in a bicycling accident in Colorado Springs. | File photo
Updated: September 6, 2012 6:19AM
Sandburg High School graduate Lukas Verzbicas, one of the top triathletes in the nation, is recovering in a Colorado Springs, Colo., hospital following a Tuesday bike crash.
“All I can be is grateful to have this moment right now, not everyone is this lucky going down mountains,” Verzbicas tweeted early Friday. “Survived, here for a reason ... ”
According to a Penrose-St. Francis Hospital spokesman, Verzbicas was in fair condition Friday, upgraded from serious condition when he was admitted Tuesday.
Verzbicas underwent back surgery Wednesday. In a Tweet Thursday, he wrote, “Thank you for everyone’s thoughts and prayers surger was successful.”
Verzbicas, 19, won the 2009 and ’10 Class 3A cross country titles running for Sandburg. The native of Lithuania attended Lincoln-Way Central as a freshman before transferring to Sandburg.
In 2011, he won the ITU Junior World Championship in Beijing, and ran a sub-4-minute mile. He accepted a track scholarship to Oregon, but left the school in November to train full-time as a triathlete at the Olympic training Center in Colorado Springs.
In June, Verzbicas won the ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup in Dallas and the Banyoles ITU Triathlon World Cup in Barcelona.
