Newbury Park Overcomes Off Day For Lex Young And Leo Young, With Aaron Sahlman Stepping To The Front

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

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PORTLAND -- Aaron Sahlman hadn't won a cross country race since middle school. 

Seemingly always a step or two behind his older brother, Colin Sahlman, or the Young twins, Leo and Lex, it was Aaron who stepped up to lead Newbury Park to a second Nike Cross Nationals title. 

"It means a lot," Sahlman said. "I wasn't expected to win here, I didn't expect myself to win, but I saw Leo (Young) with a mile to go and I thought I might be able to out-kick him if I can stay with him, and I did."

Sahlman wore the same pair of Nike Dragonfly spikes that his brother wore to win the Garmin RunningLane Championships last year at Alabama, a meet that was held, in part, because NXN had been canceled. Those shoes hadn't been worn for a full year until Saturday's race at Glendoveer Golf Course.

The shoes are just one more emblem of a program that has been untouchable since 2019.

Imagine a high school team so sturdy and resolute that it can survive its top two runners faltering late in the race, but the presumed No. 3 runner on the team surges to lead up the final set of hills and wins an NXN race. 

Well, that's Newbury Park. And since the program's breakthrough three years ago, led by Nico Young, this team has stretched possibilities and belief in all sorts of ways. 

But what unfolded in sunny, windy conditions, might go into history remembered for how unpredictable it was. 

Newbury Park, after all, won the championship with a record-low total of 66 points. Sahlman's time of 14:44.5 was a course record and seven seconds faster than Nico Young's winning time three years ago.

Lex Young, the fastest runner at last week's California state championships, hit a wall before the final kilometer and finished 35th. Leo Young, his twin brother, had the lead and seemed to be on a glide path to matching older brother Nico's 2019 victory, when he tied up at the final set of short, steep hills. He finished 11th. 

Colin Sahlman, a freshman at Northern Arizona and last year's Gatorade National Athlete of the Year, surprised his brother by showing up to watch Saturday's race. 

The team got a lift from Hagerty High of Florida transfer Brayden Seymour, who finished 24th overall and was the team's third man. 

Newbury Park went 1-4-7-12-42 in the team scoring. 

"We're super excited about it," Aaron Sahlman said. "We knew it was going to be a challenge to get first, but we all decided we didn't care if we won or lost we just wanted to run our race and be proud."

Portland (Jesuit) delivered the best team result by an Oregon boys team at NXN, taking second with 152 points. Gus Clevenger led the team with 27th place as usual leader Jacob Nenow struggled through the week with a virus and found a way to help his team as the fourth man. 

Right behind Portland was a surprising and resurgent Herriman UT team that had placed fourth Oct. 25 at the Class 6A state final. The champions Sept. 16 at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic closed the season with a bang, and moved up from 14th place at the 1-mile split. 

A second Oregon team, Southern Oregon (Crater) was fourth with 171 points, just ahead of American Fork from Utah (173). 

The states of California, Oregon and Utah accounted for the top seven teams. 

Behind Sahlman, American Fork's Danny Simmons caught Southern Oregon's Tyrone Gorze for second place. Simmons, the only junior among the top 11, finished in 14:51.7 and Gorze was third in 14:53.8. 

The first of the non-attached individual qualifiers was Kole Mathison of Carmel IN, who was fourth in 14:55.5. 

One of the leading pre-race contenders, NXR Midwest champion Hunter Jones, finished 10th. 

Another surprise was Temecula (Great Oak), which spent time this fall outside the top 30 but ran its way to sixth place at NXN, just ahead of California Division 1 rival San Clemente securing seventh overall.