Why has Nico transitioned to NCAA competition so much easier than other Newbury Park athletes?

Nick Goldstein was #5 for Furman, so I think he has made a good transition too.

Lex Young beat him yesterday, something he couldn’t do during 9th grade cross.

Why weren’t the Sahlman brothers racing?

No Seymour (Furman), Leo Young (Stanford), or Jace Aschbrenner (CU)

I think it’s possible that him being a bit more endurance based than the others has helped a bit. The Sahlmans are milers/half milers and are much more speed based so moving up to 8km is gonna be more of a jump for them, and I think the twins may also be slightly more speed and less endurance focussed than Nico too. It’s very early to really make any conclusions with Aaron and the twins though. It may well just be that Nico is the most talented of the lot of them as well, or maybe wasn’t pushed quite as hard pre-college.

The twins also seem to be slightly fragile having each had quite a few small injuries or illnesses in their latter years at high school. This might also be a factor

Women weaken legs.

Seems like a 10k runner. He also had 6+ months of training with no academic pressure before his first championship.

Early days…

For both Sahlmans it was totally expected as they are both speed based, and 5k cross country was already on the very upper end of their range.

Then, I was expecting Lex and especially Leo to do really well in XC just like their brother.
They were faster than him in high school and Leo has clearly showed he could do it on longer courses, placing first non African in the world over 8k XC and winning USATF u20 as a high schooler.

I guess it may come down to training, I don’t know much about Stanford’s coach but it seems like their athlete are severely underperforming in comparison to the talent they get.

Also I’m sure Mike Smith’s training philosophy works well in continuation of Brosnan’s training, maybe the transition isn’t as smooth with Stanford’s training.

We can’t forget Mike Smith is a world class coach.

I think the level of competition in the NCAA is marginally better. Nico's 4th at reduced field nationals in 2021 would probably be around 10-20 in 2023 if we compared fitness levels.

After World xc, Leo was training and racing exclusively for the 1500m, which might have set back his endurance for xc. Nico's senior outdoor track season was cancelled by COVID and he was training for the 5000m. He raced it once on a hot, windy day with poor pacing in 13:50. He did not have any extended track season, so he was able to turn to xc training early and to extend it months beyond the normal season because COVID pushed the season into February and March. So, he had nearly nine months of college training under his belt before he was in the postseason. So far, Leo and Lex would have had about three months of college training, if that. Give them time. Aaron worsened an injury extending his track season beyond any sense, and he was training for the 800. He'll take a lot longer (don't assume he'll never do anything in college: he went under the radar for 3 years and most of a xc season before winning nationals). But none of this explains Rocky Hansen. He was running sub-4 in June and now is among the best xc runners in the country in a very, very strong year. Ritz and Puskedra weren't competing against this level of runner as freshmen.

People make the mistake of thinking that Nico is less talented than the twins, because they ran faster in HS.

The stanford coach is no bueno.

This.

Unlike the twins, Nico won NXN wire to wire on a cold, wet, rainy day. Kid is a strong XC runner. He had the right tools to excel at 8k-10k XC. I'll always take the kid who can kill @ XC in all-weather conditions than someone who is hoovered to a fast time at a pro meet (no offense to the twins).

They also seem to be less pure distance oriented than Nico. Their best event may be 3k/5k, Nico will eventually be a 10k+ guy.

Honestly having no gf to stress you out is so freeing for races.

Covid year + he might just be better

This might sound far fetched, but perhaps he's just better than the all.

of all the Newbury Park runners Nico is best suited for cross country. he's always been more of a distance specialist, and altitude training in Flagstaff is the best place to channel that. the covid year really gave him a chance to develop. i recall they had 2 XC Championships in one year, spring and fall. that gave Nico almost a full year just to train at altitude and adjust. still impressive as hell. I think his first race was against Conner Mantz who barely beat him.

the Sahlmans are mainly milers - looks like Aaron will redshirt, not because he's underperforming but NAU's XC team is so deep. no sense wasting a year of eligibility.

not sure about Lex and Leo, they might be on a different training program. only 1 of them ran Nuttycombe which was surprising. maybe 1 is injured? curious if both run at the conference championship. I think once indoor/outdoor season starts you'll hear a lot more from them. remember in Colin's freshman season he started slow but really turned out once outdoor season began.

there's also the possibility Nico is just better.