They just got over confident and thought they could blow away an amazing field by front running into the wind on a windy day. Not a good idea.
Never a bad idea for a 13:40 high schooler. everyone can have bad days.
No it wasn't a good idea, they don't know whats going on behind them, you shouldn't run that recklessly in a team title hunt. Thuoy at NCAA's should that to perfection. NP benefitted from the lack of top individuals that are also on teams. At an NCAA type meet where basically everybody counts as a point, they would have blown damn near 50 points with this finish. It didn't cost them today, but it could have been worse.
In the interview, Brayden made a comment about one of the Newbury park runners being sick and not able to run. (can't remember the name) Then, he said that Cantu did not even know if he was going to race because he was sick and came a day late to Portland. (probably last night) After, he said that the twins may have been getting the bug that went around, so maybe that had something to do with the performance. Feel super bad for them, they are the stars of boys high school distance running. But also, go Aaron for an awesome race also; finally getting some of the glory.
I disagree with all those who assert that the Youngs went out too hard in the wind. They didn't exactly gap the field by a huge margin the first mile. The Youngs are mechanically built for a day and course like this. They shuffle and are very mechanically efficient. They are supreme strength runners. And they usually work off of each other to their advantage. And, they have the unique advantage of having an older brother who won this race going away three years ago, who runs with similar characteristics.
The fact is, Leo had the race in the bag with 100 meters to go. Lex could/should have been right there with him. Both have 13:40 5K and 4:00 mile track speed. They could have ideally run 14:40 today or faster. But for whatever reasons, first Leo last week at Cali State, then both of them today at different points, spectacularly imploded.
How they recover from today's dumpster fire, who knows. They have many weeks to prepare for Worlds. Kudos to them for even having the balls to shape their whole senior year around racing the true XC studs on the planet.
We'll find out more later. It's useless to speculate now. Let's just congratulate the Newbury Park team for entertaining us all with the easily the greatest cross country and track distance squad in American prep annals these last few years. RIP Newbury Park.
Am I seeing this correctly? Herriman unofficially 3rd??
It looks like coaching matters after all.
Utah shows its prowess once again. #3 Herriman, #5 AF, #17 MV plus #4 Lone Peak on the girls side.
Wild that Herriman was 4th at Utah State Championships, 2nd at region, 3rd at NXN.
The SW region continues to show how stacked it is. #2, #4, #7 on the girl's side. I was shocked the SW girls didn't get a 2nd at large bid. Mtn Vista got robbed. Easily a top 10 team.
Of course it's a bad idea. Front running into the wind on a windy day when it was totally unnecessary to do that isn’t a good idea.
The fact that they BOTH died proves that their race strategy was flawed. It wasn't just one of them having an off day.
I definitely think it's more of a bad day. The guy they normally beat by 10+ seconds won the race. Going into the race I was hoping an underdog would win anyways. Specifically thought Jones would beat them which he did but I think he too had a bad day
Just out of curiosity, how many times has the top freshman girl at NXN gone on to eventually win NXN?
Not NXN but at FL Hasay won as freshman and came back to win as senior.
So with NXN and Footlocker combined the top freshman girl has later on only won once in about 55 meets? Not very good odds for the people here who think Ritz's freshman daughter will win NXN one day.
I mean it would be a cool story. But top freshman girls are notorious for fading by their senior year.
How they recover from today's dumpster fire, who knows.
speaking of dumpster fires…
I have a friend who ran at nxn and said Aaron got in a “verbal altercation” with one of the young’s right before the race. Could this have led to the young’s not going on the podium? Probably not. I don’t have any details, he doesn’t have any details, and I’d bet this didn’t happen. I’m not a troll, I just thought I’d mention it. but if it did happen man Aaron’s gotta be feeling awesome about himself lmao
How they recover from today's dumpster fire, who knows.
speaking of dumpster fires…
I have a friend who ran at nxn and said Aaron got in a “verbal altercation” with one of the young’s right before the race. Could this have led to the young’s not going on the podium? Probably not.
I don’t have any details, he doesn’t have any details, and I’d bet this didn’t happen. I’m not a troll, I just thought I’d mention it. but if it did happen man Aaron’s gotta be feeling awesome about himself lmao
So you "bet this didn't happen" but you thought you'd mention it anyway?
Talk about an unhelpful piece of gossip that didn't need to be posted.
Not going to go through all the posts to see if it has been talked about, but I thought the broadcast was excellent in all ways. Galen was great it is a shame Salazar kept him locked away from the public all those years