While some people are still in bed dreaming, Julia Lassiter Lucas is trying to make dreams come true.

The Myers Park junior, who is favored to become only the second Mecklenburg County girl to win a N.C. 4A cross country title since the meet began in 1980, wakes up at 4:45 a.m. each morning to run.

It’s one of two runs she does each day in pursuit to become the best runner this county has ever seen and possibly one of the best in state history.

“You always get one in a lifetime,” says Myers Park coach Paul Mobley, “And she seems to be it, but you never know.”

Lucas only joined the cross country team because she could stay fit and keep up with friends.

“Before the ninth grade, I was the most nonathletic person,” Lucas said. “And I still can’t do anything except running. Some of my older friends, who were already in high school, said cross country was fun, and you could run a little and hang out with your friends.”

“My coach said he saw I was good before this, but I didn’t really notice it. I was probably in the slowest 10 percent of the team and I always ran with the (junior varsity).”

Though she didn’t win a meet her freshman season, she did finish second. Then, in her first major invitational competition, she beat Myers Park’s No. 1 runner and finished seventh overall.

“I’m the kind of person, that whatever I do, I do it all the way,” said Lucas, who’s known around school as the “art girl.” She works constantly on art assignments for class. She designed the team’s T-shirt and did art for the Wendy’s Invitational, one of the South’s largest high school cross country meets.

“I have a really intense drive with whatever I do. I sort of got as many resources as I could ¼ and tried to take advantage of them to the fullest extent.”

She is Mecklenburg County’s second-fastest girl performer at McAlpine Park’s 3.1 mile course with a time of 18 minutes, 28.9 seconds. It’s 19.1 seconds off former Providence All-American and N.C. 4A champion Ami Herrman’s 18.09.8, set in 1992. Lucas’ performance, which came at the Southwestern 4A championships, also barely missed Herrman’sCQ conference meet record of 18:25.

“She is internally driven to win,” Mobley said. “She’s very competitive and hates to lose ¼ even to boys.”

Lucas is so dedicated, that besides getting up early, she risks getting chased off her favorite running surfaces - golf courses. Groundskeepers discourage anyone from running on the course, but Lucas, who said she didn’t want to reveal where she runs, said she needs the soft surfaces.

Lucas is rehabilitating a stress fracture in her right foot. She began rehabilitating June 30 and plans to return to regular running in August. She said her injury is the same type that sidelined Freedom High junior Casey McGraw, who won last year’s N.C. 4A cross country title and the 1,600- and 3,200-meter titles at the indoor track championships. McGraw missed the outdoor track championships.

Lucas finished second to McGraw in cross country and indoor track before winning the 1,600- and 3,200-meter titles at the outdoor championships this past spring.

“I wrote two pages about it in my running log,” said Lucas of her injury. “I was seriously about to cry when the doctor told me.”

The injury has been a “blessing in disguise,” according to Lucas, who holds three indoor track and four outdoor track school records. “Because I feel guilty about not running, I envision my competition getting up and running twice a day and getting stronger. I work harder now than I ever had before.

“(Practicing) has grown on me and I love practicing and racing, but I guess I’m driven to be the best. It’s not just to be pretty good, or to be one of the best, but to be the absolute best.”