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06/25/2024 11:19 AMLuke Staskelunas simply started out with track as a way to strengthen himself for soccer. Yet what occurred was him not only finding and staying his line, but excelling in it as well with track becoming his predominant passion athletically.
The H-K track senior started off with soccer as a youngster, and that was his lone sport until sophomore year, when he tacked on running via track to stay in peak condition for the pitch. Yet this spring, he helped pilot the Cougars boys’ outdoor track team to its fourth Shoreline Conference crown in the last five seasons–notching First Team All-Shoreline honors by being part of the victorious 4x400 relay foursome at the league meet.
“With track, I really liked the people around it. They were nice people who pushed me to do my best. It was just a positive experience for me,” says Luke. “In the offseason, I went to a trainer who did solo workouts with me and had me do strength training in order to become more explosive. I also came up with a training plan and just stuck to it to help me.”
Stepping up into a senior leadership role, Luke himself took on a role as a sort of personal trainer of his own towards his teammates. More than gauging their stamina and speed, he additionally served as a motivator.
“Every single day, I started out by leading the warm-ups. I would then start seeing where everyone was at,” Luke says. “I also started trying to build connections with guys in order to help push them to do their best that they can do.”
When he trekked over to track, Luke started out with the baseline events atypical for any newcomer runner. Yet as he upped the heats he participated in, his fire for competition actually yielded him some events beyond the lanes and hitting new heights.
“When I started out with track, I first did only the 100 and 200 because those are the events you start out with when you do not know which events you want to do,” says Luke. “But then, I went to the 400 and I stuck with it after I knew I had something there. But my senior year, I started taking on the long and triple jumps. It was great because it was something new to do besides running, and the group of guys involved with jumping were awesome and made me feel great.”
Of course, no one is perfect and so there will be those inevitable off days. Luke states that when those come through, he falls back on his colleagues and coaches for that emotional support to keep him coming back the next day.
“I would have a poor performance from time to time,” Luke says. “But having those people around you to help build you back up is huge. The mental and emotional support from others helps get you to where you want to be.”
At Shorelines last month, the day at Portland High School got off to an auspicious start for the Cougars. But once they kicked off the day with a first-place showing in the relay races, it was all systems go–with H-K utilizing its diversity in talent to take the title.
“We had a slow start to the day at Shorelines with some technical difficulties,” says Luke. “But once we saw our 4x800 relay team take first in the opening event of the day, it got the team excited and fired them up. We did not have one solo event winner, but that showed more about the depth of our team, which made us so strong on that day to take the title.”
H-K track Head Coach Matt Diglio adds that the reasons behind Luke’s success were well evident via the extra steps he took year-round. He never stopped trying to better himself, while simultaneously being a selfless and dedicated teammate.
“Luke has made so much progress both on and off the track over the past four years. He has grown and developed, not only as a runner, but more importantly as a leader and role model on the team,” says Diglio. “This past summer, Luke began working with a personal trainer to improve his speed, strength, and explosiveness, and that hard work paid off this season. Luke was one of our captains of the team and was a true leader in every sense of the word. Luke is liked and respected by all of his teammates and led not only with his words but with his actions, as Luke is very focused, dedicated, and hard-working.”
Luke was more than gracious for the time he spent with the Cougars as part of one of the more preeminent programs in the state. He learned to not only micromanage each minute of every day to get the most out of them, but he also learned the value of truly loving what you do.
“Being part of a program like H-K track and having the coaches around me was great,” says Luke. “Coach Diglio would be constantly checking up on me during soccer season and seeing how I was doing physically and with school. Through all of that, we built up a strong connection, and all of our coaches gave me great support. From my time here as an athlete, I learned a lot about time management and making time for school, sports, and family. I also made sure to enjoy it all and not get too burnt out.”