For All That's Happened Since 2019, Including The Subtraction Of Nico Young, Colin Sahlman and Sean Brosnan, Newbury Park Has A Chance To Break The All-Time Low Score At NXN

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Keenan Gray photos

PORTLAND -- The best high school cross country team in history graduated the National Gatorade Athlete of the Year and soon after its charismatic head coach departed to accept a college job offer.  

And yet, the Newbury Park managed to navigate another flawless fall season and will enter Saturday's Nike Cross Nationals as a heavy favorite -- not only to win, but to break the record-low score of 77 points by Purcellville (Loudoun Valley VA) in 2018. 

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When coach Sean Brosnan, the architect of the Newbury Park program, left in August to take the UCLA assistant coaching job, the task of continuing NP's storybook ride fell to assistant coaches Tanya Brosnan, Sean's wife, and Steve Hawkins. 

"It's definitely a little bit different without Sean there," Tanya Brosnan said. "I mean his personality, and not being there every day. It's like a little piece of the team is missing."

Big pieces have moved on before, from the graduation of Nico Young in 2020 and Colin Sahlman in 2022.

Class of 2023 standouts Lex Young and Leo Young and Aaron Sahlman are one of the greastest trios to ever lace up spikes for the same high school team. Transfer Brayden Seymour's arrival from Hagerty High in Florida over the summer bolstered the lineup. And Dev Doshi showed significant improvement, rounding out an all-star cast of scorers.

This year's Newbury Park team has waited three years for a chance to defend its Nike Cross Nationals crown and the first step was Friday's course run-through at Glendoveer Golf Course. 

NXN is a long-awaited culminating event for the Young twins, and Aaron Sahlman, who have been running together for nine years. 

"Really, its all about the teamwork and the camaraderie between us," Leo Young said after Newbury Park's victory two weeks ago at the CIF Southern Section Division 2 finals. "We attack practice every day with an attitude of working together and trying to enjoy it."

For the past three years, no high school runners -- and very few track athletes of any level -- exhibited the same influence as the Young twins on the running community. 

Their L&L YouTube channel, alone, has 34.7k subscribers. Their combined following on Instagram is more than 75,000. 

As much as they have enjoyed the process and success over the past four years, the Youngs have consistenly shown a genuine interest in sharing their experiences with others. 

That effort supercedes any desire to top what they've done in the past. 

As Tanya Brosnan moved in to fill the coaching vacancy, she inherited a mature, motivated, exceptionally talented group of leaders. 

"It's the same type of program with the same type of work ethic (as last year)," Brosnan said. "We're carrying forward with the same goals, even bigger goals, if we can."

Last weekend at the California state meet, Lex and Leo Young chased after German Fernandez's all-time Woodward Park record. Lex won the race and came up a few seconds short of the record time. 

They were satisfied they had tried their best. 

And Saturday, they will be satisfied again, record or no record. Leo Young was a freshman on the 2019 NXN title team and he can bookened his career with a second title, accompanied by his friends. 

"It's a hard to follow last year," Brosnan said. "There were so many records. We weren't too sure how it would go when the season started. The guys are a year older and having Brayden Seymour transfer in helped a lot. And Dev Dosh has made a lot of improvement."

Beyond Newbury Park, the fight for podium spots includes a pair of Oregon clubs. Portland (Jesuit) and Southern Oregon (Crater) could both exceed the best finish ever by an Oregon entry at NXN (sixth). 

Brothers NJ, Hinsdale IL, Carroll TX and American Fork UT are among the teams that appear strong enough to make a podium push. 

Individually, all eyes will be on the Young twins, of course. But they could have company with a talented field that includes LaVern Gibson Championship Course record-breaker Hunter Jones from Michigan, sub-four miler Connor Burns from Missouri, and Southern Oregon's Tyrone Gorze, a U.S. team member at the World U20 Championships in August.