Young becomes first male athlete to repeat in sweepstakes since 2007-08, eclipsing all-time 3-mile record by running 13:39.7 to help Newbury Park prevail in showdown with Great Oak and run fastest team time in meet history at 71:13

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

They spent a summer chomping at the bit, waiting for Sept. 21 and what senior Jace Aschbrenner said was “bar none, the best meet in the country.”

Newbury Park certainly treated the 39th Woodbridge Cross Country Classic as such and left many Saturday night wondering if it’s also the best team in the country.

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“We were ready for something big,” Aschbrenner said, “and I think that our team effort really came down to our 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 guys. Having our seventh man in that fast, that makes a team.”

The Panthers dominated the Doug Speck sweepstakes race in eye-opening fashion. Their No. 1 runner, senior Nico Young, blew away the meet record, running the 3-mile course at Norco's SilverLakes Park in 13 minutes, 39.7 seconds.

Their No. 2 runner – also the race’s No. 2 runner – Aschbrenner, ran a personal-best 14:04.8, helping Newbury Park have the only two teammates in meet history to both run under 14:05.

And the rest of the Panthers’ finished seventh, 10th, 24th, 25th and 33rd, all under 14:45, as Newbury Park turned in the greatest all-time team performance at the Woodbridge meet with a time of 71:13, smashing Great Oak’s mark of 72:36 from last year.

Their spread among the five scorers was just 57 seconds, and the entire team was just 65 seconds. And though Young and Aschbrenner became just the second duo from the same team to go 1-2 in a sweeps race – joining West Covina CA twin brothers Diego Mercado and Danny Mercado in 2005 – both said the strength of this performance came from down the lineup.

“I’m really, really proud,” said Young, who became the first male athlete to secure back-to-back sweepstakes victories since Mac Fleet of University City CA in 2007-08.

“Our gap, our seventh guy was right behind our fifth guy, basically. We did exactly what we wanted to today.”

So did Young. On Saturday, he beat the SilverLakes course record of 13:58, set by Luis Grijalva of Armijo CA three years ago, by 21 seconds, as well as the all-time meet mark of 13:55 established in 2013 by Bakersfield Stockdale CA star Blake Haney at Estancia High.

The fastest reported 3-mile prep cross country performance in history before Saturday came in 1972 when Craig Virgin of Lebanon High ran 13:50.6 at Detweiller Park in Illinois.

It was a performance reminiscent of the Arcadia Invitational in April, when Young outdueled Cole Sprout of Valor Christian in Highland Ranch, Colo., to win the 3,200 meters in 8:40.

So which performance was better?

“I honestly don’t know which was more impressive,” Young said, “but they both mean a lot to me.”

And … he kind of expected it.

“I realistically thought I could run under 13:40,” Young said. “That’s what my training has been looking like and what my coach thought I could run, so it’s been, really, just like having the confidence and knowing that I can run that.”

Following Young and Aschbrenner was Nick Goldstein (seventh, 14:25.6), Colin Sahlman (10th, 14:26.9) and Daniel Appleford (24th, 14:36.7). Lex Young, Nico’s freshman brother took 25th in 14:37.4 and Tommy McDonnell was 33rd in 14:44.9, just as Panthers coach Sean Brosnan planned it.

“Obviously, just because you have a goal and you have a plan, that doesn’t mean that’s going to happen that way,” he said. “But we came in, and I knew Nico’s fitness. I knew Jace’s fitness, and I knew the others guys’ fitness. I was with them all summer. We’ve been working for this moment.

“This is something we want to use as a marker, and that’s it,” he added. “This is our marker, we know where we’re at, and we move on from here.”

Ranked No. 4 in the preseason nationally by DyeStat, Newbury Park tallied 36 points. In a much-anticipated showdown, the Panthers defeated top-ranked Great Oak, which had 69 points. Southlake Carroll TX, ranked No. 16, was third with 234.

Saturday was the first head-to-head cross country matchup between the two California powers since last year’s Nike Cross Nationals meet in Portland, when Great Oak finished as the national runner-up and Newbury Park was sixth. Great Oak prevailed in all three head-to-head meetings with Newbury Park last season, including Woodbridge.

“We expected Nico to be up there, and we expected Jace to be up there,” said Christian Simone, the Chaminade transfer who placed fifth for Great Oak in 14:23.8, an improvement of 87 seconds from his previous 3-mile personal best.

“We didn’t see what they had in their 3-4-5. They were insane. They did so amazing.”

Simone was followed by senior Aric Reza (11th, 14:26.9), junior John Worthy (18th, 14:32.7), and seniors Gabe Abbes (20th, 14:34.5) and Chris Verdugo (30th, 14;43.8). Great Oak did have an impressive spread among its five scorers (20 seconds), as well as its entire lineup (30 seconds).

“Personally, I think we’ve got some work to do,” Simone said. “We’ve got to work harder and get back to training. We’ve got to work.”

Anthony Monte of Austin Vandegrift TX placed third in 14:14.5 in his first matchup with the Newbury Park duo since placing 26th last year at Nike Cross Nationals. Thousand Oaks senior Michael Mireles was fourth in 14:17.6.

Laguna Beach’s Logan Brooks was sixth in 14:25.6, and Redlands East Valley senior Matthew Casillas was eighth in 14:25.7. Elias Perez finished ninth in 14:25.9 for El Paso Eastwood TX, which finished sixth overall with 302 points.