Mountain Pointe sprinter Paul Lucas out for titles

Paul Lucas' passion is burning brighter for football these days. But it doesn't mean a state record is outside the realm in his last high school track and field season at Phoenix Mountain Pointe.

"I'm still trying to get in shape," Lucas said more than a week before meets began.

Lucas went through a long period of rehabilitation after suffering a hip pointer early in a Division I state football semifinal loss to Chandler in November.

Once he recovered, he played in the Under Armour All-America Game in Florida in early January.

Now, the track shoes are on, and Lucas is building toward state, as the season opened this week.

Three years ago, Lucas burst onto the track scene as a part of Mountain Pointe's state-record 4x100-meter relay (40.46 seconds) as a freshman.

He took off as a sophomore, capturing the 100 dash at state in 10.44 seconds and the 400 in 47.48 to go with a second-place finish in the 200 in 21.10.

Everything seemed to lead up to state records for Lucas last season, after he won the 200 at the Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational at 20.84, the fastest time of the year at that point in the nation.

But after winning the long jump at the state championships, Lucas pulled up just short of the finish line in the 100 final, holding his hamstring. He won the race, but his season was over, his goal to break state records in the 100, 200 and 400 sprints dashed.

Football season didn't go as he had hoped, either.

An ankle injury early in the season slowed him down, then the hip injury in the playoffs ruined another state championship dream. Lucas was instrumental in Mountain Pointe's 14-0 championship football season in 2013 at running back.

Since the end of his final high school football season, Olympic aspirations turned into NFL dreams, and, he believes, making the transition to slot receiver at Oregon State will help. Markus Wheaton, a former Mountain Pointe and Chandler athlete, played wide receiver and ran track at Oregon State, before being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Lucas has received advice from Wheaton on his recruiting and how to use track to help with football.

Lucas said he still will run track at Oregon State, but it might be more to keep him football fast. Oregon State isn't exactly known as a track hotbed. That is found in Eugene at Oregon. But that doesn't matter to Lucas, who has new dreams.

"After my sophomore year, I really thought about track," Lucas said. "But after my junior year (in football), I started getting (college) offers in football and I wanted to play football."

Lucas isn't out this track season just to get into football shape.

He plans to still try to break records.

It may take until the state meet to get to peak speed.

"I wouldn't want to run track if I wasn't going to get personal records, make history," Lucas said.

Lucas hates to lose, so Mountain Pointe sprints and jumps coach Larry Todd expects nothing but the best from Lucas late in the season. He just needs to round into top shape with a late start to track conditioning.

Todd believes Lucas has world-class potential on the track.

"He likes the sport, and his junior year he fell in love with football," Todd said. "From my perspective, he's one of the top five kids in the nation in track, and he's a really good football player.

"Whatever he chooses, I'll be one of his biggest fans. I want him to go out as one of the best track athletes in the nation to come out of Arizona. He's got the potential. He's a competitor."

HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD

KEY DATES: Aztec Invitational, Friday, at Tempe Corona del Sol; Rattler Invite, Saturday, at Phoenix North Canyon; Chandler Rotary, March 20, at Chandler; Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational, April 10-11; Sun Angel Classic, April 9-10, at Arizona State; State Meets, May 6, 8, 9, at Mesa Community College.

BOYS

TOP TEAMS: Phoenix Desert Vista, Chandler, Tempe Corona del Sol, Phoenix Brophy Prep, Phoenix Arcadia, Queen Creek, Rio Rico, Phoenix Arizona Lutheran Academy, Phoenix North Canyon.