Published November 30, 2009 08:11PM
2009 Junior Duathlon World Champion Lukas Verzbicas, a high school student and up and coming triathlete from Illinois, won the Foot Locker Cross Country Midwest Regional Championship on Saturday.
Verzbicas took an early lead in the 5k race and finished in 15:34, 13 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. The win qualifies him to compete in the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championship Finals in San Diego, Calif., on December 12.
Verzbicas placed at the top of a number of multisport events this year, capped by his junior world title at the ITU Duathlon World Championships, which consisted of a 5k run followed by a 20k bike and then a 2.5k run, in September. He also finished second at USA Triathlon’s 2009 Junior Elite National Championship, held in Colorado Springs, Colo., on August 8.