UCLA Announces Addition Of Sean Brosnan To Coaching Staff For Cross Country, Track and Field

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Sean Brosnan, who guided Newbury Park High into a distance running powerhouse the likes of which had never been seen before, has become an assistant coach at UCLA. 

UCLA announced the hire Monday. 

In six years at Newbury Park, Brosnan built a program that enjoyed uprecedented success, first with the rise of Nico Young, who led the team to the 2019 Nike Cross Nationals title. And then, the group that followed included brothers Colin Sahlman and Aaron Sahlman, and Nico's younger twin brothers, Leo and Lex, the core of a team widely acclaimed as the most talented boys cross country team of all-time in 2021. 

Newbury Park won the RunningLane Cross Country Championships team title and scored 29 points as its top three finishers -- Colin Sahlman and the Youngs -- all ran under 14:06 on a 5,000-meter layout in Alabama.

Sahlman went on to run the fastest prep mile of the year (No. 3 all-time 3:56.24 at the Prefontaine Classic) and won the Gatorade National Boys Athlete of the Year Award. 

The Young brothers and Aaron Sahlman will be entering their senior years of high school next month. 

"I'm thrilled to add Coach Brosnan to our staff," UCLA Director of Track and Field/XC Avery Anderson said. "Sean is one of the best coaches in the country. His resume speaks for itself. His ability to coach and develop athletes to a national caliber is unparalleled, and I'm excited for the student-athletes in our program and for future Bruin recruits."