Fair enough, but what about the kids on NP who ran that fast or faster but did not improve nearly as much. Does that mean they do a bad job of developing? Hector Martinez, Aaron Cantu, Zaki Blunt have all ran as fast or faster in 8th grade but have not run anywhere close to the Youngs/Sahlmans. If you have 10 kids run those kind of times, some will improve more than others. The Youngs and Sahlmans are complete outliers and generational talents. What you see in Cantu, Martinez and Blunt is much more in the norm. Putting all 10 of them together and magic can happen.
So, all of these kids outside of the Youngs/Salhmans were running for different "clubs". I'm not familiar with how this works so if someone can share that is appreciated. Newbury is not a big place, so what are the odds that all of these clubs exist within the same school district which is Newbury? It would seem there has to be some level of recruiting taking places to get all these kids at the same school? Please correct me if I'm way off base.
I know that 8th grades that run 4:48 or sub 5min don't run 3:58 or 1:48 like Colin Sahlman has. And his season has just started. It's extremely rare to have that improvement on those times and proves what an amazing developing job Newbury Park is doing.
Fair enough, but what about the kids on NP who ran that fast or faster but did not improve nearly as much. Does that mean they do a bad job of developing? Hector Martinez, Aaron Cantu, Zaki Blunt have all ran as fast or faster in 8th grade but have not run anywhere close to the Youngs/Sahlmans. If you have 10 kids run those kind of times, some will improve more than others. The Youngs and Sahlmans are complete outliers and generational talents. What you see in Cantu, Martinez and Blunt is much more in the norm. Putting all 10 of them together and magic can happen.
No school has done with they have and are doing. It's really that simple. They are changing the standards for HS cross country and track.
There are factors beyond coaching that determine if a 4:45 eighth grader will become a 4:15 senior or something more. To run a 4:00 mile you have to have a semblance of some 400 speed. Those that do obviously have more upside in the mile. Those that hit 4:45 mostly on endurance will be 5K, 10K and marathoner types later on. Also, kids develop different in physical maturation. Some kids are already fairly mature in the 8th grade and certainly by the 9th grade. That's why it's a mistake to just look at earlier times and try to extrapolate them. Someone like Colin Sahlman was a gangly physically immature kid in the 8th grade. Even in the 9th grade he had more physical development ahead. Yet in the 9th grade he ran 4:16 for the mile so the signs were there that he would really blossom by his senior year.
To be fair I'm not trying to discredit what Sean is doing or any of the athletes, but it should be fair to point out that all of these kids showed signs of promise by being sub 5 minute milers in 8th grade.
Also to be fair, the young brothers (assuming Athletic.net is accurate) were unable to run faster than 62 seconds for a 400 in when they were 13/14. And here they are now running 4 flat.
To be fair I'm not trying to discredit what Sean is doing or any of the athletes, but it should be fair to point out that all of these kids showed signs of promise by being sub 5 minute milers in 8th grade.
Also to be fair, the young brothers (assuming Athletic.net is accurate) were unable to run faster than 62 seconds for a 400 in when they were 13/14. And here they are now running 4 flat.
Most don't actually run a 400m fresh or all out in their career if they are a distance runner. No way you can look at a youth 400m time. I think you are overanalyzing this
Fair enough, but what about the kids on NP who ran that fast or faster but did not improve nearly as much. Does that mean they do a bad job of developing? Hector Martinez, Aaron Cantu, Zaki Blunt have all ran as fast or faster in 8th grade but have not run anywhere close to the Youngs/Sahlmans. If you have 10 kids run those kind of times, some will improve more than others. The Youngs and Sahlmans are complete outliers and generational talents. What you see in Cantu, Martinez and Blunt is much more in the norm. Putting all 10 of them together and magic can happen.
No school has done with they have and are doing. It's really that simple. They are changing the standards for HS cross country and track.
It's honesty amazing to watch.
but how many schools have 7-8+ guys at sub 5 in 8th grade? Has that ever happened? I doubt it.
Someone like Colin Sahlman was a gangly physically immature kid in the 8th grade. Even in the 9th grade he had more physical development ahead. Yet in the 9th grade he ran 4:16 for the mile so the signs were there that he would really blossom by his senior year.
400 in 55 is freaking fast for an 8th grader. Gangly or not, those are wheels!
This previous year i ran a 4:54 in the 1600 for an 8th grader, and won conference but thats it. Ive been thinking a lot about whether i may or may not have a future with running, and i look up to the newbery park runners a lot, so any info on what to do in the coming years as a high schooler would be appreciated. not to mention id like to run faster than both the young brothers and the sahlman brothers
This previous year i ran a 4:54 in the 1600 for an 8th grader, and won conference but thats it. Ive been thinking a lot about whether i may or may not have a future with running, and i look up to the newbery park runners a lot, so any info on what to do in the coming years as a high schooler would be appreciated. not to mention id like to run faster than both the young brothers and the sahlman brothers
Very impressive.
Regarding NP it's not just what they do ( the X's and O's) it's their culture, the commitment to excellence running, sacrificing, bonding that is more important. Hopefully you'll find partners and or others to motivate you. If not teammates, then other rivals in your area or even athletes you can correspond with all over the country.
but how many schools have 7-8+ guys at sub 5 in 8th grade? Has that ever happened? I doubt it.
Daniel Appleford California Comets 4K 15:53 2017 7th grade Aaron Cantu Pacific Coast Shockwaves 1500 4:27 2019 8th grade Hector Martinez Valley United 1500 4:26 2019 8th grade Dev Doshi California Comets 1500 4:38 2019 8th grade Lex Young Camarillo Cosmos 1500 4:26 2019 8th grade Leo Young Camarillo Cosmos 1600 4:55 2019 8th grade Colin SCamarillo Cosmos 1600 4:48 2018 8th grade Aaron SCamarillo Cosmos 1600 4:46 2019 8th grade
To put these times into perspective yesterday at Nike five kids ran under 4:40 in the middle school mile, with the winner at 4:27.35. At Brooks six under 4:40 for 1600.
So the NP runners were all very good in middle school but not the very top in the U.S. Nobody runs the times these kids have this year without having some inherent ability, as reflected in their middle school times, but then it's up to the coach and athlete to develop further.
Daniel Appleford California Comets 4K 15:53 2017 7th grade Aaron Cantu Pacific Coast Shockwaves 1500 4:27 2019 8th grade Hector Martinez Valley United 1500 4:26 2019 8th grade Dev Doshi California Comets 1500 4:38 2019 8th grade Lex Young Camarillo Cosmos 1500 4:26 2019 8th grade Leo Young Camarillo Cosmos 1600 4:55 2019 8th grade Colin SCamarillo Cosmos 1600 4:48 2018 8th grade Aaron SCamarillo Cosmos 1600 4:46 2019 8th grade
To put these times into perspective yesterday at Nike five kids ran under 4:40 in the middle school mile, with the winner at 4:27.35. At Brooks six under 4:40 for 1600.
So the NP runners were all very good in middle school but not the very top in the U.S. Nobody runs the times these kids have this year without having some inherent ability, as reflected in their middle school times, but then it's up to the coach and athlete to develop further.
So much depends on how much training kids are doing at that age. I don’t know if the Youngs and Sahlmans were casual track runners or if they were hard core. The fact they didn’t seem to do meets outside of their league indicates they may have been casual.
Now, for the sake of argument, if you took the 4-11th place runners at Brooks and put them all on a high school team, how do you think they would do?
Check out how early NP’s top 9 guys started running. Dev Doshi - 2014 - 6:48 Aaron Cantu - 2013 - 6:11 1500 Lex Young - 2013 - 6:12 1600 Leo Young - 2013 - 6:14 1600 Aaron Sahlman - 2016 - 2:54 800 Hector Martinez - 2013 - 5:54 1500 Colin Sahlman - 2013 - 3:00 1500 Dan Appleford - 2012 - 3:13 800 Zaki Blunt - 2014 - 5:59 1600 You can see that almost all of last year’s top 9 have been running since they were in 2nd grade.