Racing unattached in pro field, Young elevates to No. 2 all-time in California and No. 6 in U.S. prep history in 1,500 by clocking 3:40.86; Sahlman, Jeanneret prevail in high school 800 races, with Markow and Perez securing prep 1,600 wins

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. – The most eye-popping performance from a prep athlete at Saturday night’s Sound Running The TEN meet at JSerra High came from an individual who wasn’t in a designated high school race.

Newbury Park High senior Leo Young, running unattached, entered the men’s 1,500 meters and ran 3 minutes, 40.86 seconds to finish second after a rousing final lap of 57.56 seconds.

Young’s performance highlighted a list of strong high school showings by California competitors.

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Newbury Park teammate Aaron Sahlman, a Northern Arizona-bound senior, won the boys 800, with JSerra junior Georgia Jeanneret winning on the girls’ side.

Cathedral junior Emmanuel Perez outdueled Newbury Park senior Brayden Seymour to win the boys 1,600, with Dana Hills senior Allura Markow capturing the girls 1,600.

Young finished second in the 1,500 to former Villanova standout Casey Comber (3:39.50), now running with Under Armour Mission Run Baltimore Distance.

And Young wore a big smile on his face at the finish, and well after the race. His time in the 1,500 helped him elevate to the No. 6 all-time performer on the U.S. high school outdoor list, including second in California prep history behind former Newbury Park teammate Colin Sahlman (3:39.06).

“It was just a lot of fun,” said the Stanford-bound Young. “I mean, the past year of training, there’s been some ups and downs, sickness, injury, drama … anything. So it’s just like, it feels really good to just be in a really good spot with training and running really well and having a lot of fun with it. So finishing a race is just kind of like the culmination of those things, which is just such a satisfying feeling.”

And everything came together at the finish.

“I don’t know, coming through there, I was like, ‘This is what I work for, and this is awesome,’” Young said.

For Young, Saturday night was also about letting loose. He was able to stray somewhat from the usual race plan while twin brother Lex bounced around the infield in jeans, filming the whole competition.

“No one knew I was in it Wednesday, I didn’t know I was in it until Wednesday,” Leo said. “It was like a low-stakes environment. It was just like, ‘Who cares? If I screw up, I’m against a bunch of pros – it doesn’t matter, right?’ So it was just a really great environment to experiment.”

He didn’t screw it up, and neither did Aaron Sahlman.

Sahlman’s time of 1:50.25, with an opening lap of 52.27, was easily the top time in the country early in the outdoor season. He finished well ahead of Cathedral junior Ambodai Ligons (second, 1:53.38) and third-place Gabriel Rodriguez of Great Oak (1:54.19).

Loyola senior Harrison Lavery was fourth in 1:54.40 and JSerra senior Shane Auci was fifth in 1:54.67.

“I’d say the slowest I wanted (the first lap) was 53,” Sahlman said. “So I took it at 52, and just finished from there.”

Saturday, he said, was about a measuring point to start from.

“I just wanted to hit a mark and see where I was at,” said Sahlman, who described having some recent minor pain in his shin – he said he took two weeks off.

“I’ve been injured and this is my first meet back, actually, so I see this as a win.”

The boys 1,600 saw a sprint to the finish won by Perez in 4:09.27 to Seymour’s 4:09.33. Perez sat on Seymour’s shoulder most of the race until passing him in the final 200 meters. No margin of more than 0.17 seconds separated the two in the race’s 400-meter splits.

“My coach told me to just go for the win,” Perez said. “Don’t worry about the time, just go for the win. And that’s exactly what I did.”

Perez won the Division 4 individual title in November at CIF-State Cross Country Championships in Fresno.

“This feels great,” he said. “To be able to go 4:09 after cross country is pretty good.”

Dana Hills sophomore Evan Noonan was third in 4:17.21, with teammate and junior Garrett Woodruff finishing fourth in 4:17.87.

Dana Hills also had a major presence in the girls 1,600, as Markow ran 4:48.95 to defeat JSerra sophomore Brynn Garcia (second, 4:54.69) and third-place teammate Annie Ivarsson (4:56.87).

Five competitors produced sub-5 performances, with Huntington Beach junior Makenzie McRae finishing fourth in 4:59.52 and JSerra junior Brooke O’Brien placing fifth in 4:59.91.

Markow, the eighth-place finisher in Division 3 at the state cross country meet, eclipsed La Jolla freshman Chiara Dailey to take over the top time in the country in the 1,600. Markow’s last lap was the fastest in the field by 1.5 seconds.

“I knew what I had to do that last lap,” she said, “and I had to tell myself, ‘That’s what you’ve been training for, to do. So that needs to be the strongest.’”

JSerra did have a 1-2 finish in the girls 800 on its home track. Jeanneret won in 2:11.91, with senior teammate and Cal signee Anastasia Snodgrass behind her at 2:14.74. Webb freshman Nicole Samson was third in 2:15.55.