MOUNT VERNON — Recent Mount Vernon High School graduates Lucas Ferguson and Danae Rockwell were named the 2009 Mount Vernon News male and female Track and Field Athletes of the Year.

Both athletes capped their high school careers as All-Ohio athletes with their recent performances in the State Track and Field Championships.

Ferguson, who made All-Ohio for the third straight year, finished third in the state in the discus and eighth in the shot put.

“It’s good and definitely an honor,” said Ferguson of the award. “I’m definitely excited.”

Ferguson leaves a tremendous legacy behind as he moves on to college.

“I went to the state three times and hoped I might get a championship out of it,” said Ferguson. “I didn’t get one, but I came close. I hope that somebody else will. It’s definitely not easy when you get there but different people throw good on different days. Sometimes it’s your day and sometimes it’s not.”

“It’s really not a surprise,” said Mount Vernon boys track coach Jim Lindsey of the award. “This guy has been an excellent athlete for four years. He had a phenomenal senior season in spite of his injuries. It couldn’t go to a better guy. I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do in college.”

One thing motivates Ferguson to be one of the hardest-working athletes around.

“I hate to lose,” said Ferguson. “I don’t like it so, no matter what I’m doing. I don’t care if I’m playing cards or something. I don’t want to lose.”

Winning even had a role to play in why he chose to throw the discus and the shot in the first place.

“I was always good at it,” explained Ferguson. “I was always winning. I was losing in a couple of other different sports. I wanted to make it all on me. I wanted to control the outcome. It’s kind of hard going out to practice but, for the most part, it’s pretty good. I just have to go down there (to practice), throw on the headphones and get going.”

Rockwell ended her high school career with the performance of her life at the state finals. She worked as hard as Ferguson to get there.

“That’s awesome,” said Rockwell, who spent her time since last summer working out. “I just did a lot more training than I ever did before and that really paid off in the end.”

She credits her coaches, especially hurdles coach Buzz Wallace for her great running form.

“I owe a lot to coach Wallace,” said Rockwell. “I never would have made it to the state meet without coach Wallace. I get compliments on my form all the time and that’s all because of him,” she said. “I could not have asked for a better coach.”

She has come a long way since her freshman year.

“I saw videotapes of myself a couple of weeks ago from my freshman year,” said Rockwell. “I was running 200 meters at an 800 pace. It was ridiculous. I cannot believe how slow I was running. Just looking at how much better my form has become in these past four years, it’s just unbelievable.”

Those four short years led her to the pinnacle of sports in the state of Ohio.

“That semifinal race that she ran was probably the best hurdles I’ve ever seen her run,” said Mount Vernon girls head track coach Pat Gray. “She came out of the blocks perfect, didn’t hit a hurdle and leaned at the line. Everything came together for her at the State meet and that was great for all the hard work she put in.”

That hard work was noticed by more than a few people.

“I remember we went to this one meet and (Mount Vernon sprinter) Jhazmyn (Anderson) and I hear these people talking and I don’t think that they meant for us to hear them,” said Rockwell. “One of them said, ‘Wow, these Mount Vernon girls are chiseled.’ Jhaz and I just broke out laughing.”

“I do know how hard she worked,” said Gray. “I would see her in Krogers working and I could tell that she had been in the weight room all winter.”