The obsession the running world has with Newbury Park (which really boils down to two families) is absurdly unhealthy and misguided in this essay I will
Remove the 2 families. You still have 5 sub 4:19.3 (1600m) guys. Three of them are not seniors.
Every single one of them was a middle school stud, most running into the low 4:40’s. How many 4:45 8th grade milers did you have on your high school team? Not 10? Don’t most high school teams have 10 kids on their team that ran that fast in middle school?
Before this year, there were 12 HS runners in history to break 4:00 and only one in California. Almost all great HS distance runners just don’t have the top-end speed to break 4:00 and magical coaching won’t change that. Do you believe that Brosnan could have trained Ritz or Salazar to run sub-4:00 in HS?
Maybe not.
But on the other hand do you think that an average high school coach would have the 4 top Newbury Park boys all close to 4 minute miles? Of course not.
They’re all brothers so it’s obviously genetic. Why is it harder to coach 5 ( including Nico)extremely talented runners instead of just 1? If anything, having those guys being able to train together is a benefit.
No matter how good a coach he might be, if just 2 families lived elsewhere, he wouldn’t have 4 guys running near 4:00 and an NXN champ that has already graduated.
The obsession the running world has with Newbury Park (which really boils down to two families) is absurdly unhealthy and misguided in this essay I will
I disagree. First, when you have four very talented runners on the same team it's fun to see what they'll do next in light of their already stellar performances in XC and track. Second, the interest in NP is having a ripple effect in creating interest for young runners and coaches.
The obsession the running world has with Newbury Park (which really boils down to two families) is absurdly unhealthy and misguided in this essay I will
Remove the 2 families. You still have 5 sub 4:19.3 (1600m) guys. Three of them are not seniors.
The obsession the running world has with Newbury Park (which really boils down to two families) is absurdly unhealthy and misguided in this essay I will
Remove the 2 families. You still have 5 sub 4:19.3 (1600m) guys. Three of them are not seniors.
Point out a single one who wasn’t at least a 4:53 miler in middle school. Is it really that impressive to take 24 seconds off your mile in your high school career?
Imagine being able to run a mile in around 4:12 and not being on your team's 4x800, 4xMile, or DMR.
I think you're talking about Daniel Appleford. He's a very good runner (also 8:56 for 3200 last year), but he's not discussed at all due to the NP 4.
If I was Daniel Appleford I would want to move to a different school in a different area. He's good enough to be state champion in the 1600 and 3200 in many states, but he's not on any of his school's relay teams and he has zero chance at winning even a local county, conference, or league title.
Remove the 2 families. You still have 5 sub 4:19.3 (1600m) guys. Three of them are not seniors.
Point out a single one who wasn’t at least a 4:53 miler in middle school. Is it really that impressive to take 24 seconds off your mile in your high school career?
But on the other hand do you think that an average high school coach would have the 4 top Newbury Park boys all close to 4 minute miles? Of course not.
They’re all brothers so it’s obviously genetic. Why is it harder to coach 5 ( including Nico)extremely talented runners instead of just 1? If anything, having those guys being able to train together is a benefit.
No matter how good a coach he might be, if just 2 families lived elsewhere, he wouldn’t have 4 guys running near 4:00 and an NXN champ that has already graduated.
We seem to be going around and around in discussing the NP 4 performances and the great fortune in having two amazingly talented families all running together at the same time. I don't think anyone, including Brosnan, is not grateful for this fortuitous timing. But that doesn't mean that Brosnan's coaching should be dismissed, as some have done. I think that there are some very talented h.s. coaches who probably would have gotten similar results with these four. However, I also think that the majority of h.s. coaches would not have. So the fact that Brosnan has been able to help optimize their talents speaks well of his coaching.
This is a perfect storm, highly motivated athletes, four of them from 2 families, affluent community. These kids do a month long altitude camp, how many college teams do that?
Coach who is obsessive about his legacy and is training these kids at a high level, they travel to race all over the country. They do set up time trials, following BTC’s model, hopefully without the burritos.
and then you have “the shoes” which have helped everyone run faster. You can’t compare this era to any previous. Webb was better without a doubt, Ryun even better, South Eugene was better in my opinion. Times are almost irrelevant these days.
Remove the 2 families. You still have 5 sub 4:19.3 (1600m) guys. Three of them are not seniors.
Point out a single one who wasn’t at least a 4:53 miler in middle school. Is it really that impressive to take 24 seconds off your mile in your high school career?
Point out a single HS team or HS coach doing what Newbury Park is doing. If you think a 4:50 miler from Junior High will give you the times Newbury Park is producing you're on crack.
I can point out tons of sub 5 min kids that do nothing in HS. Complete brilliance what they are doing at Newbury Park. You can hate all you want while Newbury Park is changing the level of High School distance running. We are witnessing history. You can jump on and learn or choose to live in a hole and hate. Your choice and your life.
Greatness will always cause people to hate, because it reminds people how they are not as good. Imagine the haters just focused you their teams, their athletes, their goals in life. I guarantee they would be happier in life.
I think you're talking about Daniel Appleford. He's a very good runner (also 8:56 for 3200 last year), but he's not discussed at all due to the NP 4.
If I was Daniel Appleford I would want to move to a different school in a different area. He's good enough to be state champion in the 1600 and 3200 in many states, but he's not on any of his school's relay teams and he has zero chance at winning even a local county, conference, or league title.
Agreed (in part). Maybe not for Appleford, because he was on a national winning team. He gets to train with top guys. He is getting 100X more exposure than any other 4:12 guys.
However, if you are Zaki Blunt. You are running 4:19.22 for 1600m, but you are only on the junior varsity XC team (as a senior). You don’t even get to go to most meets.
Quickly checked where 4:19.22 would have ranked Blunt (2019 - last real season). (Started with “A”). Alabama (4th), Alaska (4th), Arkansas (2nd)…. Quite a big difference from being junior varsity to being one of the top guys in your State.
It must be hard for the coach to keep him motivated.
Point out a single one who wasn’t at least a 4:53 miler in middle school. Is it really that impressive to take 24 seconds off your mile in your high school career?
Point out a single HS team or HS coach doing what Newbury Park is doing. If you think a 4:50 miler from Junior High will give you the times Newbury Park is producing you're on crack.
I can point out tons of sub 5 min kids that do nothing in HS. Complete brilliance what they are doing at Newbury Park. You can hate all you want while Newbury Park is changing the level of High School distance running. We are witnessing history. You can jump on and learn or choose to live in a hole and hate. Your choice and your life.
Greatness will always cause people to hate, because it reminds people how they are not as good. Imagine the haters just focused you their teams, their athletes, their goals in life. I guarantee they would be happier in life.
YWNLINLH
Again, point out a single HS team that has 10 4:50 middle school milers. It’s never happened before and will never happen again. You can stroke the coach’s ego if you choose. He’s obviously done a good job, but you can live in a hole and deny the greatness of the collection of talented kids if you choose. Why is it every time someone on this board tries to give the kids the credit, they are a hater? Props to the kids! The coach was blessed and should wake up every morning and thank his lucky stars. After next year, we’ll see how good he really is.
Well, if you know running, you know it takes a couple of things to be great, 1. Talent, 2. Hard work, you also have to be smart and stay healthy etc. but this team is running fast because they are working very very hard. maybe there are HS coaches who aren’t willing or comfortable doing what they are doing. They are still kids, and not every HS Coach needs to be a star. Everybody knows the great HS teams, for the most part they train the hardest, not rocket science.
plus Cali allows kids to move around in school districts, super teams can be assembled. We have seen it before. these kids are all in, is it healthy? Is the coach now a well known coach? Does he love it? We know.
This is a perfect storm, highly motivated athletes, four of them from 2 families, affluent community. These kids do a month long altitude camp, how many college teams do that?
Coach who is obsessive about his legacy and is training these kids at a high level, they travel to race all over the country. They do set up time trials, following BTC’s model, hopefully without the burritos.
and then you have “the shoes” which have helped everyone run faster. You can’t compare this era to any previous. Webb was better without a doubt, Ryun even better, South Eugene was better in my opinion. Times are almost irrelevant these days.
You've really tried every which way to not give these kids credit. Yeah maybe all those other guys were better, but so what? These kids are good right here, right now. I'm enjoying their journey. I feel sad for you that you can't also enjoy their journey.
Point out a single one who wasn’t at least a 4:53 miler in middle school. Is it really that impressive to take 24 seconds off your mile in your high school career?
Point out a single HS team or HS coach doing what Newbury Park is doing. If you think a 4:50 miler from Junior High will give you the times Newbury Park is producing you're on crack.
I can point out tons of sub 5 min kids that do nothing in HS. Complete brilliance what they are doing at Newbury Park. You can hate all you want while Newbury Park is changing the level of High School distance running. We are witnessing history. You can jump on and learn or choose to live in a hole and hate. Your choice and your life.
Greatness will always cause people to hate, because it reminds people how they are not as good. Imagine the haters just focused you their teams, their athletes, their goals in life. I guarantee they would be happier in life.
YWNLINLH
In a huge fan of the the NP runners but I think it’s ridiculous to attribute winning a monstrous talent lottery to good coaching. There has never been another HS in history with 4 guys on campus capable of breaking 4:00.
I think you're talking about Daniel Appleford. He's a very good runner (also 8:56 for 3200 last year), but he's not discussed at all due to the NP 4.
If I was Daniel Appleford I would want to move to a different school in a different area. He's good enough to be state champion in the 1600 and 3200 in many states, but he's not on any of his school's relay teams and he has zero chance at winning even a local county, conference, or league title.
Great advice! Also, he shouldn’t go to a competitive or even average D1 school. He should definitely go D3 so he can win a conference title. We need more rational advice givers like Yikes that’s fast.
Point out a single one who wasn’t at least a 4:53 miler in middle school. Is it really that impressive to take 24 seconds off your mile in your high school career?
Point out a single HS team or HS coach doing what Newbury Park is doing. If you think a 4:50 miler from Junior High will give you the times Newbury Park is producing you're on crack.
I can point out tons of sub 5 min kids that do nothing in HS. Complete brilliance what they are doing at Newbury Park. You can hate all you want while Newbury Park is changing the level of High School distance running. We are witnessing history. You can jump on and learn or choose to live in a hole and hate. Your choice and your life.
Greatness will always cause people to hate, because it reminds people how they are not as good. Imagine the haters just focused you their teams, their athletes, their goals in life. I guarantee they would be happier in life.
100% disagree, we should be spotlighting this epic level of talent because it helps the sport grow and hopefully gain more visibility. Is that not what it’s about or should we just keep treating running like it’s fight club?
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