SE: Senior Lukas Koch Helps K-State XC Construct Record-Breaking Season
Nov 07, 2017 | Cross Country, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
K-State senior Lukas Koch describes the summer, the time between the outdoor track and field and cross-country seasons, like a metaphorical bridge. The stronger the bridge, the better his performances would be in the fall.
It's only fitting then that the defining moment of this season came as Koch was coming across a bridge — a literal one, this time — at the Big 12 Championships on October 28.
Going into the final two kilometers of the 8K race, Koch was neck-and-neck with a runner from Baylor, a team the Wildcats thought they would need to beat to accomplish their season-long goal of placing in the top four as a team at the Big 12 Championship. With three of his teammates out of sight ahead of him, Koch set his mind on beating the runner from Baylor.
Koch, a natural miler, said he turned on the "afterburners" in the final kilometer of the race. Once he passed the Baylor runner and started across the bridge with about 300 meters left in the race, Koch thought, "Who do I have to catch now?" Shortly after, he saw nothing but "green grass" and two of his teammates, Jeff Bachman and Bryan Zack.
"That was a defining moment," Koch said. "You came off that bridge just knowing you were going to chase down anybody you had to. When you crossed, you get around that little curve and it's just two of your teammates and a finish line."
Koch finished ahead of both Zack (31st, 24:51.6) and Jeff Bachman (35th, 24:55.1). He also helped bring along Brett Bachman (38th, 24:59.7), as all four seniors finished with their first career sub-25-minute time.
With Colton Donahue, another senior, running a 21st-place time to lead K-State, the Wildcats finished fourth to record their best Big 12 placement in school history. Going back to the Big Eight days, no K-State men's team has placed higher at the conference meet since 1992 when the Wildcats finished second.
"In terms of a defining moment for me, the end of that race was, but I think more importantly it was a defining moment for our program," Koch said. "Where we stand now, the best Kansas State cross country team since 1992… none of us were born in 1992. None of us were alive. My parents were getting married in 1992. I wasn't here. That's just cool to think of.
"It was just the best cross country race of my whole life."
Koch's time at the Big 12 Championships cut more than nine seconds off his previous personal-best, which he set two weeks earlier when he ran a 25:02.2 to shatter his fastest career mark at the time by more than 20 seconds.
But before Koch could ever tear across the bridge at the Big 12 Championships toward a career-best time, he had to build a completely different bridge in the summer.
Admittedly, Koch said his greatest weakness as a runner is training alone. This made his first few summers as a college student, which he spent back home at Centralia, away from all of his K-State teammates, fairly unproductive.
In other words: There was no bridge built, so he had to hit the reset button each fall.
Koch spent one summer with mono, and returned to a standard two-mile time trial at one of K-State's first practices that fall. He lost to Morgan Wedekind, one of the best runners on the women's team at the time, by 30 seconds.
"I had mono and it was still affecting me, but I didn't train that summer. I didn't try to fight through the mono or anything like that," he said. "I was using excuses."
The following summer, Koch brought a different mindset back home.
"I'm going to build this bridge," Koch recalled thinking. "So, I ran like two or three times a week, whenever I felt like I was needing to run, and I think I built this rickety bridge that you would see on some war movie on horseback and they're chasing this guy, like, 'Indiana Jones' or something. This bridge was just wobbly and one person might be able to make it over and then the whole thing falls.
"That's the bridge I made."
This summer, Koch took training more seriously than ever before. He stayed in Manhattan for the first time and trained with teammates.
"My bridge was this nice, steel bridge," Koch said. "I didn't shine it and paint it up but I made a better bridge."
Instead of having to catch up with his teammates, Koch helped push his teammates from the start of this season. Now, the Wildcats head into the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on Friday in Ames, Iowa, ranked No. 12 in their region, the highest in program history.
"The couple of falls before, it would always take him the entire season to get in shape. He'd start closing the gap on our team but it would be too, little too late, and now he comes into the fall right away running with those guys and it's helped us keep a really tight pack," K-State head coach Ryun Godfrey said. "I think that mentality of running together and racing together is the reason they've had a successful year. It definitely helped to have Lukas put in the summer he needed to raise his game."
Koch's heightened summer investment nearly became erased by a foot injury he suffered in the two weeks leading up to the Big 12 Championships. One of his shoes broke down on a long run and Koch felt a shooting pain in that foot soon after.
"Adrenaline carried me through the long run, and then I got in the van, we drive back, I get out of the van and I could hardly walk," said Koch, who took a day off before trying to train again, only to be set back again. "We had 60 seconds remaining in the whole workout and it hurt so bad I couldn't finish. With 60 seconds left of your 35-minute workout, you would think you would be able to finish. I was, like, 'This hurts so bad it's not even worth it.'"
So Koch was forced to cross-train the rest of the way. He ran on an Alter-G anti gravity treadmill. He ran in the pool. He hopped on a bike. Just about anything that could push his heart rate, Koch did.
"I was just trying to piece together strenuous activity in hopes that when you get to the line in two weeks that it's going to work," Koch, back to training normally, said. "There's so much faith involved in that."
Koch knows a thing or two about trusting in a bigger plan. When he first arrived at K-State with Jeff and Brett Bachman, the then-freshmen evaluated the state of the cross-country program.
The takeaway: "We could make this a lot better," Koch said.
The next group of runners to arrive included Donahue, Zack and Sam Oxandale, who would eventually join classes with Koch and the Bachmans, who all used redshirts. Together, through injuries and disappointment, they set out to raise the bar for K-State cross country.
"This is what we wanted to build when we were freshmen," Koch said. "With the help of coach and the other kids, we made it. Hopefully when we leave it keeps on going because I think we're hitting a vision, a view of what we wanted to paint is starting to come into perspective. I hope it keeps on rolling."
K-State senior Lukas Koch describes the summer, the time between the outdoor track and field and cross-country seasons, like a metaphorical bridge. The stronger the bridge, the better his performances would be in the fall.
It's only fitting then that the defining moment of this season came as Koch was coming across a bridge — a literal one, this time — at the Big 12 Championships on October 28.
Going into the final two kilometers of the 8K race, Koch was neck-and-neck with a runner from Baylor, a team the Wildcats thought they would need to beat to accomplish their season-long goal of placing in the top four as a team at the Big 12 Championship. With three of his teammates out of sight ahead of him, Koch set his mind on beating the runner from Baylor.
Koch, a natural miler, said he turned on the "afterburners" in the final kilometer of the race. Once he passed the Baylor runner and started across the bridge with about 300 meters left in the race, Koch thought, "Who do I have to catch now?" Shortly after, he saw nothing but "green grass" and two of his teammates, Jeff Bachman and Bryan Zack.
"That was a defining moment," Koch said. "You came off that bridge just knowing you were going to chase down anybody you had to. When you crossed, you get around that little curve and it's just two of your teammates and a finish line."
Koch finished ahead of both Zack (31st, 24:51.6) and Jeff Bachman (35th, 24:55.1). He also helped bring along Brett Bachman (38th, 24:59.7), as all four seniors finished with their first career sub-25-minute time.
With Colton Donahue, another senior, running a 21st-place time to lead K-State, the Wildcats finished fourth to record their best Big 12 placement in school history. Going back to the Big Eight days, no K-State men's team has placed higher at the conference meet since 1992 when the Wildcats finished second.
"In terms of a defining moment for me, the end of that race was, but I think more importantly it was a defining moment for our program," Koch said. "Where we stand now, the best Kansas State cross country team since 1992… none of us were born in 1992. None of us were alive. My parents were getting married in 1992. I wasn't here. That's just cool to think of.
"It was just the best cross country race of my whole life."
Koch's time at the Big 12 Championships cut more than nine seconds off his previous personal-best, which he set two weeks earlier when he ran a 25:02.2 to shatter his fastest career mark at the time by more than 20 seconds.
But before Koch could ever tear across the bridge at the Big 12 Championships toward a career-best time, he had to build a completely different bridge in the summer.
Admittedly, Koch said his greatest weakness as a runner is training alone. This made his first few summers as a college student, which he spent back home at Centralia, away from all of his K-State teammates, fairly unproductive.
In other words: There was no bridge built, so he had to hit the reset button each fall.
Koch spent one summer with mono, and returned to a standard two-mile time trial at one of K-State's first practices that fall. He lost to Morgan Wedekind, one of the best runners on the women's team at the time, by 30 seconds.
"I had mono and it was still affecting me, but I didn't train that summer. I didn't try to fight through the mono or anything like that," he said. "I was using excuses."
The following summer, Koch brought a different mindset back home.
"I'm going to build this bridge," Koch recalled thinking. "So, I ran like two or three times a week, whenever I felt like I was needing to run, and I think I built this rickety bridge that you would see on some war movie on horseback and they're chasing this guy, like, 'Indiana Jones' or something. This bridge was just wobbly and one person might be able to make it over and then the whole thing falls.
"That's the bridge I made."
This summer, Koch took training more seriously than ever before. He stayed in Manhattan for the first time and trained with teammates.
"My bridge was this nice, steel bridge," Koch said. "I didn't shine it and paint it up but I made a better bridge."
Instead of having to catch up with his teammates, Koch helped push his teammates from the start of this season. Now, the Wildcats head into the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on Friday in Ames, Iowa, ranked No. 12 in their region, the highest in program history.
"The couple of falls before, it would always take him the entire season to get in shape. He'd start closing the gap on our team but it would be too, little too late, and now he comes into the fall right away running with those guys and it's helped us keep a really tight pack," K-State head coach Ryun Godfrey said. "I think that mentality of running together and racing together is the reason they've had a successful year. It definitely helped to have Lukas put in the summer he needed to raise his game."
Koch's heightened summer investment nearly became erased by a foot injury he suffered in the two weeks leading up to the Big 12 Championships. One of his shoes broke down on a long run and Koch felt a shooting pain in that foot soon after.
"Adrenaline carried me through the long run, and then I got in the van, we drive back, I get out of the van and I could hardly walk," said Koch, who took a day off before trying to train again, only to be set back again. "We had 60 seconds remaining in the whole workout and it hurt so bad I couldn't finish. With 60 seconds left of your 35-minute workout, you would think you would be able to finish. I was, like, 'This hurts so bad it's not even worth it.'"
So Koch was forced to cross-train the rest of the way. He ran on an Alter-G anti gravity treadmill. He ran in the pool. He hopped on a bike. Just about anything that could push his heart rate, Koch did.
"I was just trying to piece together strenuous activity in hopes that when you get to the line in two weeks that it's going to work," Koch, back to training normally, said. "There's so much faith involved in that."
Koch knows a thing or two about trusting in a bigger plan. When he first arrived at K-State with Jeff and Brett Bachman, the then-freshmen evaluated the state of the cross-country program.
The takeaway: "We could make this a lot better," Koch said.
The next group of runners to arrive included Donahue, Zack and Sam Oxandale, who would eventually join classes with Koch and the Bachmans, who all used redshirts. Together, through injuries and disappointment, they set out to raise the bar for K-State cross country.
"This is what we wanted to build when we were freshmen," Koch said. "With the help of coach and the other kids, we made it. Hopefully when we leave it keeps on going because I think we're hitting a vision, a view of what we wanted to paint is starting to come into perspective. I hope it keeps on rolling."
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