North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: A Brave Effort
9/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 30, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- The fire in the woods that night really wasn't all that unusual. There had been celebratory bonfires in that area before.
Still, at 2 a.m., it was a little unusual to see open flames back there on an early August morning when summer school was not even over yet.
So NC State cross country runner Julia Lucas and her friend went to check it out. When they got to the house - a student-style dwelling that had been converted to four apartments - they saw flames on the porch and on the second-floor balcony. They also saw evidence of arson, with the puddles of burning gasoline leading up to the house.
They found some water to put out the flames on the porch, and by that time one of the residents of the house came around back where they were. She was obviously on the phone to the police.
Oh, by the way, she told Lucas and her friend, my family is in there.
So the two NC State students went into action. They asked for keys to get inside so they could get more water. Then they climbed the exterior wooden stairs to try to rouse anyone who might be trapped inside.
Neither was thinking about how dangerous the situation actually was.
"We were pretty absorbed in our task, so we didn't realize when the flames started getting a little high," Lucas said. "By the time we turned around and noticed that we were in some danger, the path down the stairs was obstructed with flames. I went through the flames, which kind of welled up as I went through them.
"It made it a little more difficult."
Lucas, an All-America distance runner from Charlotte and a would-be senior on the NC State cross country team, knew she had been burned a little, but she the pain hadn't really set in. Her friend, seeing the fire close in around him, had little recourse but to jump of the second-floor balcony.
It didn't take long for Lucas, an All-America performer in track, to run the 200 meters to a friend's house. While friends called 911, Lucas jumped in the shower, trying to bring some relief to her scorched legs. It was the worst pain she had ever felt in her life, worse than the three stress fractures, the tendinitis in her knees or the exhilarating pain of competition.
She knew it might be bad, but she had no idea that her actions that night might put her 2005 cross country season in jeopardy.
When associate head cross country coach Laurie Henes got the 6 a.m. call from Lucas, saying she wouldn't be there for the team's morning run, the coach didn't think that much about it. This was, after all, a runner who had been in some unusual scrapes before. As a freshman at Myers Park High School, Lucas had nearly burned her own house down making beignets. Henes had no idea about the severity of the injury.
"She has a tendency for trouble to follow her," Henes said. "Not in a bad way. She just has been around some unusual circumstances. I just didn't think it was quite as serious as it was."
But Lucas had second-degree burns on both ankles, and first-degree burns on her right leg and arm. Her friend suffered a broken foot when he jumped off the second-floor balcony.
They were clearly lucky to get away from the house, in which the entire interior was gutted and the wooden balcony was destroyed. Making matters worse, the women who told them that her family was inside was apparently not telling the truth. There was no one in the building, and the circumstances of that night, which appears to be a domestic dispute between the woman and her boyfriend, are now filtering their way through the legal system.
"We don't really know if her story is straight," Lucas said.
But Lucas, a two-time All-ACC performer in cross country who finished eighth in the 5,000-meters race at the NCAA Championships in June, could barely walk after the incident. She left the emergency room after only four hours, but made several trips back to the UNC Hospitals burn unit and spent a week confined to her bed.
Her body seemed to respond quickly to the antibiotics that she was taking, but recovering from the severe burns zapped all her energy. By the time school started, a world-class racer who was used to running some 75-to-80 miles a week couldn't walk a quarter-mile across campus without needing a nap.
"That was the hardest thing, not having any energy," Lucas said. "I was also behind in school work, not going to practice, missing out on team functions. I was completely disconnected from everything."
Lucas' recovery is going well now, faster than her doctors or team trainers ever expected. She's back up to her usual weekly mileage, though not ready for competition just yet. Neither she nor her coaches know if she will be able to compete in cross country this fall, or have to take a medical redshirt.
"We will make the decision around Oct. 15," said cross country coach Rollie Geiger. "Right now, we have no clue. It's a toss-up. I am not sure what to do.
"We just have to wait to see where she is at in the middle of October. The drop-dead time would be right before the conference. If we don't race her in the conference, we won't race her the rest of the year."
Lucas would clearly like to return, even it if it not to the same form that made her an All-ACC performer the last two years and the team's Most Valuable Runner last year.
"There is no pressure for me to make it back," said Lucas, who is a fourth-year senior in cross country and a redshirt junior in track and field. "We don't want to put any undue stress on my body ... But if coach wants me in the lineup, if there is a situation where my presence could determine a conference championship or a high placing at nationals, then I want to be available for the team.
"Right now, I am competing for NC State. Above all else, I am wearing that `S' on my chest. If the team needs me, if my presence will mean a difference in a place at nationals or an ACC championship, if coach calls on me, I will give it everything.
"That is not a question."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
