FWB's Lawrence signs with Florida track
FORT WALTON BEACH — Growing up, it would be fair to say that Luc Lawrence struggled at times to find his niche athletically.
As early as kindergarten, Lawrence began dabbling in sports. There was T-Ball, then soccer and basketball.
“I didn’t really like basketball,” Lawrence recalled. “I played (baseball) but I was always the kid who got put in the outfield. I think the most hits I got in a season was 10. One season I went with only one hit, it was my first season of kid pitch, so I was afraid of the kids throwing at me.”
But when Lawrence entered eighth grade, he was introduced to track.
“I found it to be a lot of fun,” Lawrence said. “The more I’ve been doing it, the more I’ve come to love it.”
Lawrence’s love affair with running was rewarded as the Fort Walton Beach senior has signed a track scholarship with the University of Florida.
Fort Walton Beach coach Lissette Moller-Fields laughed when recalling Lawrence’s first-ever tri-meet as a freshman, where the Vikings coach, unsure exactly of what she had in a fresh-faced Lawrence, sent him to run with Fort Walton Beach’s 4x800 ‘C’ team.
Fast forward to the present and not only has Lawrence grown into one of the state’s finest in the middle distances — he currently ranks sixth in the 800 meter run — but he’s also a key cog in the Vikings’ nationally ranked 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams.
It was after turning in a personal-record time in the 800 at the FSU Relays that Lawrence first caught the eye of Florida distance coach Todd Morgan. Later, while taking a tour of the campus, Lawrence met with Morgan, who was very open about his desire to bring the Vikings’ standout onboard with the Gators’ program.
“He said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re on the team as of right now. Keep doing what you’re doing,’ ” Lawrence said. “It’s not something I thought I would be doing two years ago. I didn’t really start considering running in college until last track season.”
It was last year that Lawrence saw a sharp decrease in his times, something Moller-Fields directly attributed to his decision to take up cross country prior to his junior year. He is the reigning Daily News (Cross Country) Runner of the Year.
“I think the huge turnaround for Luc was the fact that he didn’t run cross country his freshman and sophomore years,” Moller-Fields said. “After running 5K’s all season (in cross country), going out and running two laps around the track seems like a piece of cake.”
