LUKENS CAPS PREP CAREER IN HIGH STYLE

Laura Lukens had high hopes entering the Missouri Class 4A State Track and Field Championships over the weekend.

But the Cape Girardeau Central High School standout might have surprised even herself with the eye-popping performances she turned in at Dwight T. Reed Stadium in Jefferson City.

On Friday, Lukens won the shot put title with a throw of 40 feet 8 inches even though she did not enter that competition as the favorite.

Then on Saturday, Lukens heaved the discus an amazing 145 feet 8 inches -- more than five feet further than her previous personal best -- to win that state title by a whopping 15 feet over the runner-up.

It was certainly quite a way to cap a brilliant high school track and field career for Lukens, who owns Central's school records in both of her specialty events.

"I'm still pretty excited and I probably will be for a while," said a bubbly Lukens on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the 4A state meet had concluded. "I had high hopes. I wanted to be a double winner, but the shot was kind of unexpected because all the top girls had thrown more than 40 feet. I was hoping to place in the top three, but I got one really good throw and that's all it took.

"In the discus, I had the best throws throughout the year and I had been real consistent. But I never imagined I'd throw 145. That was really cool. I was very surprised. I was thinking maybe 141, 142. I had a little bit of a wind coming in, but adrenaline had a lot to do with it. The whole meet is pure adrenaline. You've trained all year for this one meet."

And oh, by the way, Lukens also found time during her glorious and busy weekend to graduate with her fellow Central senior classmates Friday night.

"My parents and I drove in (to Cape Girardeau) after I threw Friday, we went to graduation, drove back to St. Louis and spent the night, then drove to Jefferson City Saturday morning," she said. "It was a lot of time in the car, but it was great."

Lukens finished second in the discus (as well as fifth in the shot put) at last year's state meet, making it easy to map out her goals for her senior season.

"My goal all year was to win state," she said. "Last year (not winning a title) wasn't disappointing because I got my best throw and the girl above me was a senior."

The powerfully built Lukens started training in the weight throws as a freshman because, she said with a laugh, "My dad told me I had the perfect build of a person to throw the shot and discus. I enjoyed it since I started so I stuck with it."

Lukens was also a three-year varsity basketball player for Central's Lady Tigers, but labels track her favorite.

"I like that it's individual. If you mess up, it's you, but you can always fix what you did wrong," she said. "And I like it because it's something different."

Not only did Lukens win the state discus title, but with the same toss she accomplished another one of her goals for this season -- qualifying for the Junior Nationals that will be held this summer.

"That's been a goal all year," she said. "I needed 141 feet to qualify. I wanted to do it before I got to state, but winning state and qualifying at the same time was neat."

Lukens will continue to work out and train this summer as she prepares for a college track career. Several Division I schools had already been recruiting her and many more figure to get in line after what happened over the weekend.

"I'm sure Monday will be kind of crazy," she said, again laughing, regarding the anticipation of college coaches flooding her home with phone calls.

Although she has not yet decided on a college, Lukens said she is leaning toward Kentucky, partly because she wants to study pharmacy and Kentucky has one of the country's top programs for that field.