Lucas Schneider is The Star’s Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year

The first race of Lucas Schneider’s junior track season foretold the future.

In his main event, the 300-meter hurdles, Schneider crossed the finish line at the Tara Davis Invitational in 38.29 seconds — a lifetime best by more than two seconds that nearly set a Thousand Oaks High program record. 

The breakout performance didn’t just signal Schneider’s potential, it woke him up to it.

“I’ll be honest, that completely caught me off-guard,” Schneider said. “After that race, I just kind of realized that I needed to set some goals for myself.”

Five months later, nearly all of those goals have been blown out of the water.

Schneider ran 36.94 seconds to finish third at the CIF-State Championships, the cherry on top of a fairytale season that saw the star hurdler win his first Ventura County and CIF-Southern Section titles and set the county 300 hurdles record.

Now, he has been selected as The Star’s Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year for 2025.

“I was a little bit shocked by it,” Schneider said. “It’s still kind of hard to process now.”

Schneider’s path — from failing to qualify for the CIF-SS finals the previous year to winning the title the next — took time, effort and consistency. 

It began before he even made it to high school. 

Before teaming up under legendary coach Marlene Wilcox’s tutelage at Thousand Oaks, Schneider competed with future teammate high school teammate and excellent short hurdler Gabriel Chin on the Thousand Oaks Flyers Club. 

As he got closer to equaling Chin’s times, Schneider said, he started to realize his potential in the event.

“I never did eventually beat him, but it was me recognizing the fact that I was starting to catch up to him,” Schneider said. “By my freshman year, I just really locked in with the hurdles.”

Over the course of his high school career, Schneider saw incremental improvement. After finishing his freshman season with a personal best of 45.86 seconds, Schneider dropped more than five seconds to run 40.54 at the end of his sophomore campaign.

Wilcox attributed Schneider’s success to his consistency and focus in following the training program. 

“It’s called showing up. He showed up every day,” Wilcox said. “That’s why I show up every day. That’s what feeds my desire — to see that buy-in, that potential and that willingness to commit (and) lay it on the line.” 

With time and experience, Schneider learned how to not only survive the difficult event, but how to compete. 

“I don’t believe you can have a bad race,” Schneider said. “I think every single race you run is going to give you at least some type of experience. Even if you have to run it slowly, you are still finding your pattern, you are still getting comfortable.”

Schneider set the ambitious goal of dropping another four seconds and hitting the 36-second mark by the end of his junior year. His ability to reach that goal was due in large part to a minor change he and Wilcox made to his approach to clearing the first hurdle. 

His start was phenomenal — so powerful, in fact, that he was reaching the first hurdle far too quickly, disrupting his rhythm. 

“Consequently, he had to really stutter to get over that first hurdle, and that just really kills your momentum,” Wilcox said. 

Wilcox pushed her star hurdler to reposition his blocks, and to use his opposite leg at the first hurdle — a change that was uncomfortable in the moment, but could raise his ceiling. Reaching his goals meant placing his trust in Wilcox’s wisdom. 

It paid off. 

“She was so experienced in being able to teach and just in the hurdles, themselves, she was able to really guide me through that,” Schneider said. “Honestly, that first hurdle is probably one of the biggest contributors to my time.”

While tweaking and optimizing the minutiae of technique could be tedious for some, Schneider said it’s one of the things he enjoys most about his unique event. 

“It’s the reason why I like hurdles so much,” Schneider said. “It adds some depth and sophistication to the running.”

Wilcox said she believes Schneider will be able to maintain a 13-step rhythm throughout the entire race. If he can do that, even more special times lie ahead for the Thousand Oaks star. 

“He has always got an ace in his pocket,” Wilcox said. “He is very competitive — don’t be fooled by the quietness, don’t be fooled by that boyish smile, believe me. He is not afraid to go for it.”

Outside of technique, Wilcox made mental toughness central to her training plan this year, but it was clear early on that Schneider’s mentality was one of his biggest assets. 

His grit was on full display while racing in the seeded section of the 300-meter hurdles at the Arcadia Invitational. Schneider came off of the fifth hurdle far behind the leaders, but he clawed back over the final 150 meters to win the race. 

“That is when I realized, ‘Ah, there it is. He has got the dogfight in him,’ ” Wilcox said. “It has been that way ever since.”

The Star’s All-County Boys Track and Field Second Team

• Jaden Griffin, Newbury Park
• Jalen Aguilar-Carnes, Moorpark
• Andrew Driver, St. Bonaventure
• Anthony Tafoya, Fillmore
• Grant Jones, Oak Park
• Cooper McNee, Oaks Christian
• Jackson Knowles, Rio Mesa
• Graham LaBass, Royal
• Myles Russell, Ventura
• Dean Guzman, Moorpark
• Mason Badgett, St. Bonaventure
• Kevin Ilano, Simi Valley

Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for the Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.