Newbury Park The Latest Boys Cross Country Team To Earn A Share Of 'Greatest' Acclaim

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Newbury Park's record-breaking boys cross country lineup is preparing for a its biggest stage of the season at Saturday's Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships in Huntsville, Ala. 

The Panthers will go into that meet with two sets of brothers leading the way – senior Colin Sahlman is US#1 and junior Aaron Sahlman is US#11. Twins Leo and Lex Young are ranked US#2 and US#3. Fifth man Daniel Appleford is on the watchlist, outside the Top 30 but probably one of the top 50. BOYS TOP 30

The group has legitimately been hailed as the greatest high school cross country team of all-time, perhaps all the more impressive because of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The group coached by Sean Brosnan has stepped up and captured attention for the sport and not been shy about embracing that spotlight and reflecting it back to the community. 

Perhaps as important as the level of talent and dedication to hard work is the team's willingness to be ambassadors. 

The crowd at Woodward Park for the CIF Cross Country finals Saturday came for a show and the Newbury Park boys delivered. 

"For me, that's one of my most favorite things about the sport," Leo Young said. "Because cross country has so much potential and is so much fun, what we've tried to do by working as hard as we can, is bring some hype to it. It's incredible, because when we run through there, we see people lined up three people deep wanting to watch and that means people are excited about the sport. And we're trying to do something that hasn't been seen before."

Newbury Park is the best team of the era and the numbers don't lie – there is no arguing that it is collectively faster than any that have come before. 

But what are the benchmarks for greatness in boys high school cross country? 

What other teams drew crowds to the course and flew together in flocks?  

Here are a handful of bar-setting cross country teams from the past, all of them on short lists of "greatest ever" arguments.

Looking backward ...

Loudoun Valley VA 2018

The second straight Nike Cross Nationals title for the club known as Purcellville (and even better known as The Jungle) was significant because it achieved a new realm of excellence for the team championship that Nike created in 2004. 

This Loudoun Valley team, coached by Marc Hunter and Joan Hunter, produced the lowest team score in NXN history with 77 points. It was not necessarily elite up front, but its fifth man ran a Tully speed rating of 183 – better than any fifth man in the history of the meet. It was also the first to win back-to-back national titles in Portland.

At NXN, Loudoun Valley's five – Carlos Schultz, Sam Affolder, Jacob Hunter, Kellen Hasle and Connor Wells – finished between 30th and 63rd places and split 20 seconds. DYESTAT STORY

York IL 1999

Perhaps legendary coach Joe Newton's greatest team, the Dukes of 1999 broke the Illinois state record with a team score of 24 points and put five runners in the top 12 of the Class AA final at Detweiller Park. It was led by one of the best low sticks of the decade in Donald Sage, who won the individual title 14:03 (three miles) and would later run a 4:00.29 full mile that was the fastest by a U.S. prep in 33 years. Sage was second at Foot Locker in 1999, four seconds behind Dathan Ritzenhein. At state, Sage was backed up by Adam Palumbo (14:34), Peter Cioni (14:36), Adam Roche (14:38) and Peter Stasiulis (14:46). Five scorers splitting 43 seconds on Sage's 14:03 was unreal. DYESTAT STORY

Mead WA 1993

The best of coach Pat Tyson's dynasty in Spokane was the 1993 group inspired by Northwest legends and rocking out to Seattle's grunge scene. This group scored 31 points at the Washington state meet thanks to a 1-2-3 sweep by Matthew Davis, Micah Davis and Rob Aubrey all going under 15 minutes for three miles. That included an off day by Skiy DeTray, who would make the Foot Locker finals a year later. The 1993 group went to Foot Locker West at Woodward Park and ran an all-time team record 76:22 there that stood for 17 years. (Newbury Park just ran 73:22). Matthew Davis went on to take third at Foot Locker, despite a knee injury, and younger brother Micah was 10th in the national meet. The top five also included Greg James. All five ran under 4:13 for 1,600 meters and all five won individual state titles in track. DYESTAT STORY

Deerfield IL 1977

The group of Todd McCallister and Mark McCallister, Tom Stevens, Keith Hampton, Greg Less and Dane Rutstein was the top-ranked team in the U.S. by Marc Bloom's Harrier Magazine in 1976 and 1977 and was widely regarded as the best high school team ever at that time. The McCallister brothers had grown up in the sport, the sons of a successful high school coach (Dick McCallister) at Proviso West. The brothers presented the gravity and magenetism that drew other runners to rise to their level. Hampton and Tom Stevens, and Less and Rutstein, banded together with them to form a deep and talented pack that overwhelmed meets in the talent-rich Chicago suburbs. The McCallisters, Hampton and Stevens all ran 4:11 or better in the 1,600. 

South Eugene OR 1975

The early 1970s 'TrackTown, U.S.A.' buzz around Eugene permeated not only the campus at the University of Oregon, but also the nearby high school. South Eugene was a cross country and track and field powerhouse from the late 1960s until the early 1980s, so pin-pointing the exact moment the program peaked isn't easy. The 1975 cross counry team scored a record-low 32 points to win the Oregon state title and was led by low stick Billy McChesney, Jr., a high school talent in the mold of Steve Prefontaine. McChesney would go on to break the American record in the 5,000 meters. His senior year of cross country, he may have been the best prep in the country. The other four scoring Axemen at the state meet all finished within 56 seconds of him – Sean O'Connor, Seth Brown, John Gustafson and Dirk Lakeman. South Eugene owned the 4xMile record in track for more than 40 years.

Lompoc CA 1972

The didn't call this team "The Magnificent Seven" for nothing. On Nov. 4, 1972 a lineup that included Terry Williams, Alvin Gilmore, Jim Schankel, Tony Nunez and Jim Warrick all ran sub-9:30 for two full miles on a dirt track and broke the Postal Nationals record by 50 seconds. Then the same group met again a month later and broke the Postal record for three miles. In between, the group crushed the Southern Section with a 26-point total that remained one of the lowest ever until Newbury Park came along last month and scored a perfect 15. DYESTAT STORY