LYNN — If you’re fast, you’re fast — no matter your age.
St. Mary’s track and field star Lucian Paula had a season to remember this past spring, as the eighth grader competed on the varsity track team in addition to racing in middle school meets.
Paula always knew he was quick. When he was 4 years old, he found himself at Manning Field, where events were organized by the City of Lynn’s Department of Public Works. A few years later, after a family member organized neighborhood races, Paula realized how fast he really was.
“I started to get into track when I was young. My uncle drew me to the sport when he used to have me and other kids race around the neighborhood,” Paula said.
Paula said he enjoyed the experience of racing against high schoolers.
“I liked the experience because at the middle school level, you normally don’t have kids as fast,” he said. “I really liked racing in high school because it was a bigger challenge for me, and they just made me go faster.”
Paula qualified for both the middle school and high school state championships. At the high school level, he earned spots in the 800-meter race and 4×400-meter relay.
“My coaches and I have been talking about it since the indoor season. We knew it was a time I could qualify for, so every workout was geared toward hitting that goal,” Paula said. “Once I was able to qualify, it wasn’t a big surprise because we had been doing race-pace workouts for months. The coaches helped me develop the speed and aerobic base I needed to meet the qualifying time.”
At the middle school level, Paula not only qualified for states in the 800- and 200-meter races, but won both events with times of 2:09 and 24.12, respectively.
“It felt good because I had my brother pushing me the last few months, which motivated me,” Paula said. “I had teammates, parents, brothers, and more family there to support me. It was nice to win because I knew I had a lot of pace coming into the meet and I had the speed to keep up with the kids and take home the win.”
When asked if he faced any challenges competing in both high school and middle school, Paula said injury prevention was his top priority.
“The biggest challenge was staying healthy and making sure I wasn’t injured,” he said. “Usually, when middle schoolers take on that amount of volume, it’s a high risk of injury — so, it’s a high-risk, high-reward type of situation. I’m glad I was able to stay healthy the whole time and make it until June.”
St. Mary’s Coach Tristan Smith praised Paula’s work ethic, and is excited to see what the future holds.
“Lucian is an extremely hard worker – everyone on the team knows that. He is constantly tuned into track, whether it’s emailing me about the newest training method or opining on the best forms of injury prevention,” Smith said. “That endless desire to get better every day really manifested itself in a double state championship for him this year. I am so proud of him and I cannot wait to see what is next.”
