Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994 TAG: 9404210190
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
It was easy to do, considering that Lucas measures 5-foot-3-inches from sneaker to hairband. She's even smaller when she's hunched over in the starting blocks. That's when she gets the looks.
"Someone taller than you ... always staring at you," she said, "thinking that they're faster than you because they're taller and have longer legs. I hated that. It always made me mad when I saw that."
The truth is, Lucas has more speed locked up in her powerful legs than those taller girls have rippling through their lanky frames. Within seconds of a starter's pistol, the girls who looked down at Lucas before the race were looking at her back during the race.
Lucas hasn't grown an inch since the seventh grade, when she was one of the tallest girls in her class. She satisfies herself these days knowing that she's the fastest girl on a girls track and field team that is one of the Mountain Empire District's best.
The tallest order facing Lucas this season is the prospect of living up to her own lofty expectations. She's off to her best start in four years of varsity competition, which is quite an accomplishment considering that a year ago she qualified for the Group A state meet in five separate individual events.
"Everything's a lot better this year than it was last year at this point," said Lucas. "I'm running better and jumping better."
At last year's state meet at VMI, Lucas posted career-bests in three events - she ran the 100-meter dash in 12.3 seconds and finished in third place, leaped 16-10 in the long jump to finish sixth, and put up a 1:01.7 in the 400, but didn't place in that event.
It's possible she would have posted career-bests in the other two state events, the 200 and the triple jump, but she chose not to compete in those events in order to concentrate on the other three, her best.
She's getting the jump on the competition this season, having already qualified for one state event even though the Group A meet is still a month away. Lucas ran a state-qualifying time of 12.58 in the 100 a couple of weeks ago at the Wytheville Relays, but she came in second to George Wythe superstar Stacey Green, who won six events that day.
"She's a tall girl," said Lucas.
Now that she's a senior, Lucas gives little thought to her size. There was a time, though, when she sincerely felt that she would soon be overmatched on the track. As a freshman, Lucas thought that she had peaked early, literally and figuratively. She realized she had stopped growing fast and she was afraid that she would stop going fast.
"In the ninth grade, it didn't seem like I was getting any better," Lucas said. " I thought, 'If this is as good as it's going to get, I don't want to do this any more.'"
Within a year, her times were getting faster. She qualified for the state meet in the 100 and 200 as a ninth-grader, then made it in the 100, 200 and triple jump as a sophomore.
There was one person who never swayed in his belief that Lucas would continue to get faster - Winfred Beale, Floyd County's coach.
"Some girls excel early, especially sprinters, then never get better after hitting that high point," said Beale. "To be honest, I never worried about that happening to Monica. We had a girl here when Monica was a freshman, Pam Lemons, who was kind of short and it never affected her. Monica is even a little more muscular than Pam."
It should be noted here that Lemons got a track scholarship to the University of Virginia and recently earned All-America honors during the NCAA indoor track and field championships.
Lucas, too, plans to go to college, albeit to a smaller school like Concord College or Roanoke College. Lucas, who was a member of the Buffaloes' state championship girls basketball team last fall, may play basketball in college, too. Even if she never gave sports another thought, Lucas, her 3.5 grade point average and a high school transcript that documents her membership in such exclusive academic circles as the Beta Club would still make an excellent addition to any college.
Until she decides where she's going to school, she'll keep concentrating on going fast.
"I don't care if I qualify for five events this year or not," she said. "I just want to have fun and not put any pressure on myself."
by CNB