Lukas Punches AAU Ticket in 400-m
By Michael Burkholder
6/14/2008

When Haley Lukas sets a goal there is little than can stop her from attaining it. This weekend was no different as she won the 400-m dash on her way to qualifying for the AAU Nationals.

Lukas ran a 1:01.41 in the 400-m while also qualifying in the event was Carlondra Woolbright (Stockton) 1:01.91; Demesha Johnson (San Pablo) 1:03.02 and Exzaryia McCowan (Oakland) 1:03.02 all whom qualified for Nationals.

“My goal now is to do my best and see how far I can go. I have never been in this process before so I don’t know what to expect. I just want to run my best and break my time and win it all because I think my chances are pretty good,” said Lukas.

Although she has never raced in a meet of this caliber, Coach Rik Richardson believed in Lukas from the start.

“She did exactly what I expected. I really thought she would win the 400-m. She was made for that race. The sky is the limit with her,” said Coach Richardson

Lukas also ran the 200-m dash, but just missed the cut by placing 5th with a time of 27.30 as the top four advances to Nationals.

Qualifying for Nationals in the 200-m were Keionna Devereaux (Hayward) 26.10; Lashall Hamlin (Mountain View) 26.54; Hali Kemp (Clovis) 26.68; Brena Andrews (Bakersfield) 27.02.

“My times were a little slower than my best, I wasn’t mad that I didn’t get my best time, its just surprising because I thought I’d have more competition to drive me to a better time,” said Lukas.

When she is not breaking CYO records or qualifying for Nationals in track and field she is playing soccer on her Olympic Development Team as well as her club team or swimming competitively.

“Anybody who knows her in this town knows what type of athlete she is. She excels in all she does with soccer, swimming and now track. She gives it everything she has and is very driven but also does it in a sportsman like fashion. She gets in her zone and that’s it, she’s gone,” said Coach Richardson.

Lukas likes the mix of the three sports.

“I like playing all of them, they all help me in different ways but track helps me with speed in all the sports,” said Lukas. “Training with Coach Richardson is very effective. Doing all the things not at full speed all the time has really helped my endurance by doing more [repetitions] and being more controlled in my running.”

Lukas started her track and field career in third grade during CYO because she thought it would be a fun sport to try and liked the racing aspect of it because it was competitive.

“This was the first meet that actually counted for something so it made it a lot of fun. I was a little intimidated because the meet was new to me and I didn’t know how I would do. But once the 400-m was over I was fine. I still couldn’t believe I came in first and did that well,” said Lukas.

By winning the 400-m at the 13A AAU Regional Track and Field Championships in Tulare, CA the next stop for Lukas is the National meet held at Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, MI held between July 26 and August 2, 2008.