As a long-time running and general sports fan, I understand why some on these boards and elsewhere are beginning to call for some brakes on the Newbury Park hype machine. Fawning coverage has been seemingly non-stop since last Fall, when they stunned the U.S. running world with their 3-mile performances at the Woodbridge Invite in Southern California. Even prior to that seismic event, they've received exceptional attention since at least their 2019 Nike Cross Nationals Team Championships behind Nico Young's dominating win. So much disproportionate focus on NP has overshadowed many other worthy stories during this period. And even for the stalwart NP fan, reading ever more extravagant declarative statements of their mushrooming greatness, or reviewing the endlessly recurring loops of heated comments regarding nature (talent) vs nuture (coach), nefarious school districting machinations, or super shoe lamentations is getting exceedingly tiresome.
Which all begs the question: Why does Newbury Park receive more in-person and media attention than any U.S. prep running team in history? Why do we collectively care so much? What generates all these posts, all this passion? I humbly submit three reasons:
1. More than any other sport, U.S. distance running fans revere the prep scene. I've been following U.S. sports closely since the early 70s, when I was a military brat abroad. I've enjoyed many a passionate discussion over the decades related to not only running and major U.S. team sports, but many Olympic sports as well. And from my vantage point, no one -generally speaking- cares about their prep scene like U.S. distance running fans. Time and again, I'll observe even elder eyes glazing reverently as immortal feats are recounted of this or that legendary figure or race from the glory days. Other sports fans may also cast a fond eye back in time, but more often they are more interested in collegiate or professional-level games and feats. This fixation on prepdom is fathomable, when one considers the utterly byzantine nature of U.S. professional distance running, its lack of charismatic and world-leading stars, the general disinterest by the public, and so forth, but even among serious fans of other Olympic sports like swimming, tennis, soccer, and even T & F sprinting, jumping, and throwing, nothing else compares. Accordingly, when a unique phenomenon like NP comes along, U.S. distance fans are electrified.
2. Newbury Park is an all-time Super Team. Americans follow Super Teams. Nico Young dominates Nike XC Nationals! Boldly wins Arcadia in a stellar time! Sets a new indoor 3000m prep record of 7:56! Eye candy headlines for the typical U.S. distance running aficionado, good for a momentary sugar high, or even a stretch of video-enthralling entertainment. But those headlines are quickly subsumed by the endless parade that is the next superlative mile, XC individual or team feat, state championship result, etc. If you've followed the sport for decades like I have, you get a bit jaded by the yearly succession of 4:0x milers, 8:40s to low 8:50s two-milers, the latest XC state team winning performance by this squad or that. Every few years, a truly historic performer like Webb, Fernandez, Verzbicas, or Kessler will rocket onto the scene, re-invigorating my interest and appreciation of the prep scene, then often disappear.
This jaded attitude -for me- is both a product of time (following the sport since the late 70s) and timing. The fact is I was spoiled with an initial interest during the halcyon age of U.S. and California distance running from the mid-60s to roughly the mid-80s. When I decided to put away my mitt, bat, and shoulder pads for Dolphin shorts and Nike Waffle Trainers, Jeff Nelson was training to run 8:36, on the recent heels of other Golden State 8:40s two-mile legends named Hulst, Kimball, Hunt, and Serna. Pre's tragic death was still fresh, as were the epic racing feats of 60s and 70s American immortals like Mills, Ryun, Lindgren, Liquori, Shorter, and then Rodgers, Salazar, Virgin, and Scott. Topping such a fanboy start to the sport would prove elusive, as successive decades of U.S. prep and professional runners usually failed to build upon the ground-breaking successes of these predecessors. In other words, U.S. distance running failed to grow, which only served to keep turning the gaze of many fans like myself to the past.
Then arrives Newbury Park like an earth-shaking comet. If they consisted of 'only' 1-2 epic stars, that would still be of considerable interest. Hard to ignore another generational talent like Colin Sahlman, or Nico Young just before Colin's peak. But they wouldn't be a phenomenon. What makes them utterly unique is the simple fact that the two greatest sets of brothers in U.S. history are accomplishing historic individual feats at the same time on the same high school team. You simply couldn't make this stuff up; no serious reader or watcher of running fiction would stand for it. To have four 4:00 mile & sub-8:35 talents racing their best together on a single team? Are you kidding me? That's comparable to, say, the great Golden State Warrior teams not only adding Kevin Durant to Steph, Klay, and Green, but say prime Giannis as well. That's Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond, and Miguel Indurain on the same cycling squad in peak Tour condition. We're talking UCLA Men's Basketball's 88- or UConn Girls' 111-game winning streak stuff. We're talking all-time Super Team greatness. Maybe comparably greater than any NY Yankees, Chicago Bulls, or Patriot, Steeler, or 49er team. That good. So good that their initial foray at the 4 x 1 mile relay 'only' breaks the previous national record by, what, a full indoor lap? So good that fans start busily posting theoretical throwdowns between NP XC and, say, California's 5 best ever two-milers who didn't attend NP?
Throw in an innovative, energetic coach and his wife who are relentlessly driven to succeed conventional limits, one of the deepest supporting casts of team talent ever to grace a track oval or harrier course, and an ideal environment within which to train, and this athletic storm achieves perfection. Americans loves Super Teams, U.S. distance fans rarely witness them in-house, and then arrives one that blows everyone's mind. Irresistible stuff.
3. These Newbury Park kids are cool. If you watch a few of their videos and interviews, it quickly becomes apparent how poised and media savvy Colin and the Young twins are (especially the Young twins). You get the impression that these young people understand the historical gravity of what they are accomplishing. And yet, by the same token, they do not come off (to this observer at least) as being arrogant about it. The Youngs in particular often talk about how they enjoy involving their ever-expanding crowds and fans into their singular pursuit of history. Their coach and themselves often mention the 'f' word (i.e. fun) in the same breath as this or that racing goal. They seemed to grasp the fact that U.S. distance running on every level could use a jolt of excitement, and they are happy to meet the call. Centered only an hour's drive or so from Hollywood and the beach, they exude California chill. They are ambassadors of the sport to a degree we have rarely seen on any level, not just high school. Despite all of the increasingly tremendous pressure they, the media, their followers, and their coach place on their shoulders, they rarely disappoint. That in itself is remarkable. This is their world for the moment, and we should continue to appreciate and enjoy the fact that we live in it. Once they graduate, the 'real world' will envelop them soon enough. Their memory will begin to fade, as with all things. The running world will likely return to its regular rhythms. The NP nay-sayers will have their moment back. Until then, let us enjoy the show without placing undue pressure or expectations upon their already burdened legs. This show only comes by once in a lifetime.