L&L vs. Aaron “Alpha” Sahlman PPV Live next Saturday Night on Runnerspace+

Alright, then how are they going to kick the kid for underage drinking, without them turning in the kid into the law at NXN, and again back home, and think they aren't breaking some law to just expel a runner from the track team for underage drinking?

I can't speak to how Newbury Park handles things specifically, but it's extremely common for high schools to require students to sign some sort of code of conduct or honor code form in order to participate in school athletics. I've personally never known of a school that didn't require something like that for extracurricular participation. It hopefully helps the coach out by providing some clear expectations for acceptable behavior, and also is meant to cover the school's butt in case kids do something common but potentially dangerous or illegal, such as underage substance use.

A code of conduct lays out school rules and expectations, but it isn't connected to state or federal laws, so breaking it doesn't require turning a kid in to law enforcement. It's similar to a kid breaking a school rule such as skipping class to hang out in the halls and then receiving a consequence such as detention.

Refraining from drinking or smoking while on a school trip, while using school resources, while acting as a member of the team, etc. is pretty much always a rule on these forms. If AS did actually get caught drinking at NXN (I have no personal knowledge either way), then Tonya and the AD would be expected to follow school policy by handing down the stipulated consequence, such as suspension or dismissal from the team.

We all know that many teenagers drink or smoke when they can get away with it, and I don't think it's some big moral failing in itself. However, it does lead to scenarios where high school coaches have to hand down consequences for school code-of-conduct violations not infrequently. That could very well be what happened here, not that L&L were just able to "vote" AS off the team because they don't get along.

Oregon law and other local county/city laws supercedes Newbury Park school policy and code of conduct. Depending on Oregon law, trying to punish a kid caught underage drinking without turning them into Oregon could be admitting to a serious crime, by falling to report, in Oregon. Then there are California and local laws, all of which supercede Newbury Park policy and codes of conduct. Underage drinking isn't like skipping class.

Point taken. But prior to the after party the young’s looked like sore losers. And regardless of what Aaron did later the fact that the young’s didn’t congratulate him and then unfollowed him on IG makes it look like they are mad they were beat. These kids have been running together for years and Then their team mate is kicked off the team at nationals and these kids don’t even care!?!?!? sounds like the team has been toxic for a long time and it’s every man for themself-or in this case for the youngs. We have all been sold a social media lie. These kids only care about themselves and they hate each other. Also worth noting that Brosnan unfollowed Aaron. I am stunned that the kid that helped them win a national title and won individually has been strung out in the cold. I get that rules are rules but he didn’t cost the team a title-they should be surrounding him and supporting him. But they got beat and they are pissed about it. And they care about their brand and that’s all. Not about being an actual team mate. I mean even Shelby’s team mates supported her and her burrito story. Sore losers is what it looks like on the outside.

Grow up my god. Nobody gets turned into the police for getting caught underage drinking. Pretty much every school in America catches kids drinking at football games / prom etc, all that stuff gets dealt with in house. You can get arrested for jaywalking as well, but nobody cares about that.

Are you gonna pretend hundreds of kids don’t just get a casual write up in college for underage drinking in the dorms? None of that gets reported to police, relax it’s not that deep. In a year he’ll be absolutely blasted at NAU after NCAAs and nobody will care

It gets dealt with in house, because the kids prefer it that way, almost always easier on them. However, if AS was my son, and Newbury Park tried to expel him from the track team, then I'd lawyer up and they'd better be immaculate, or they'd losing millions.

Was at NXN, AS got busted with a backpack full of alc Saturday night, don’t know what else happened after that. I also know other big names like Connor Burns were up to similar stuff. Bottom line is nobody really cares besides the people on this form

No, the state/county/city laws of Oregon and California are separate from school policies for something like this; the former does not "supersede" the latter. Schools are free to set rules and consequences for behaviors that are not illegal. Otherwise, assistant principals wouldn't be able to give kids detention for disrespecting a teacher, since doing so isn't in violation of a law. Kids are legally entitled to a free and appropriate public education, but that doesn't mean they're entitled to doing school extracurriculars under any circumstances. If kids are dismissed from extracurriculars due to being part of a legally protected class (race, religion, sex, etc.), then that would be a legal issue. A kid being denied for breaking a school rule that they were aware of and signed a form saying they wouldn't do is not a legal issue.

Adults are not required to report underage drinking merely because they witness it. They would be in legal trouble if they A) purchased/provided the alcohol to the minors, or B) owned/hosted the property where they knew that underage drinking was taking place. Neither of those scenarios seem to be relevant here. Potentially you could ask if a school employee were shirking their duty as a mandated reporter by seeing minors "in danger" and not reporting it to authorities, but that's a real stretch for walking in on teens drinking in a hotel room, and I really doubt anyone would try to apply it here. School employees might also have rules they have to follow from their school district about reporting witnessing student substance use to administrators, but that likely would happen in this (alleged) scenario anyway.

This type of scenario happens all the time. Sometimes local law enforcement is aware and involved, such as when they break up a house party, but they oftentimes will let parents and school administrators handle the consequences if no one gets hurt and they all cooperate. There are needlessly punitive police and local judges out there, but most of the time no one wants to see a teen get an actual legal consequence for something like this, and the school and parental consequences are deemed sufficient.

All of the facts about the hotel strictly limiting access to alcohol may be true. As someone who ran at NXN this was always the case though that didn't stop others (and maybe some of us...) from sneaking what we could into our hotel rooms. What I will say is that I heard from another alum who is currently a coach at our school that made the meet this year that the New Gen Party (which I guess basically replaced the dance?) was out of hand even by previous NXN standards. Kids stumbling in and out of the room, and even though the hotel controlled all food and beverages being served it didn't stop kids from bringing in bottles of their own which was something that security used to confiscate at the dance. Not necessarily saying this is all New Gen's fault as there are many wild stories about previous NXN and Footlocker after parties, but it sounds like the lack of accountability and security provided by New Gen, who I believe are mostly young 20 somethings themselves, made the environment feel less innocent and more dangerous.

Speed Ratings ARE a real thing. Used by many to rate and compare... teenagers are not consistent, obviously...Speed Ratings are, by far, the best tool there is to compare teams and individuals... is it perfect? far from it but there is nothing better....more and more people in the know, those that select teams and kids often use it...

it's not a fake thing...performances ARE comparable... Neither Aaron Judge nor Ingebrigtsen know what it is nor should they.

But wasn’t Aaron caught with alcohol BEFORE the race ? After the race wouldn’t make any sense because they clearly already had some drama going into the year.

Anyway, the whole thing probably started way before NXN and not just because of alcohol, you don’t unfollow your long time friend and teammate just for that.

going into the race*

Idk if you guys were just out of the loop in HS because you were all runners, but at my high school prom people were sneaking in coke and doing it in the bathroom even though there were police officers walking around. I wouldn't make the jump from high schoolers drinking at a party --> the people organizing it were giving them alcohol. Idk what happened there, but I wouldn't be blaming it on New Gen without knowing way more of the story.

Also at my HS they were VERY clear that you'd be kicked off the team and sent to alternative school for a semester if you were caught drinking at a school sponsored event, even if it was off campus. I'm 100% sure they'd include NXN since it's the XC team and coach. You have a right to an education, but you don't have a right to be on a team, and you don't have a right to go to NPHS, so long as you can reasonably go somewhere else.

For the record, it was a parent that called the cops on AS and co. Drinking happens every year at NXN, but the group in AS's room was making it just a little too obvious.

But it isn't a school sponsored event, nor is it the XC team, nor is really the coach, the coach is more chaperone, and it isn't required that the chaperone be a high school coach at all.

At York HS in IL, when Joe Newton was coach if you were seen smoking or drinking, you were off the team- and that happened one year to York's #1 runner. Hell, if you missed 2 practices for any reason you were off the team. Those were the rules, there were no favorites and everyone knew to follow them. But I also heard that Sahlman was seen drinking, and that relations between him and the Youngs is not good. Now, here is the thing: if he was caught with alcohol before the race, and the coach allowed him to run only to pitch him later, that would really be bad. I have to assume that this is all post-race, or the coach herself could be in trouble.

Ironic that Aaron's dad is a cop too