Newbury Park (& Colin Sahlman) Plans

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Track Meet — Sound Running

The Track Meet will continue to serve athletes looking to grab that PR, qualifier, or Olympic standard....and yes it is called the Track Meet.

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Colin is entered in section two of the 1500. Lex is entered in section two of the 5000.

For those that don't want to watch.

Aaron Sahlman running 800 at California state meet.

Lex/Colin skipping CA post season, running open meets. Colin 1500 at Sound Running next week, Lex Young 5,000. Colin running a mile a few weeks later and then Aaron/Colin running 800 at HS nationals. Hopefully against Flatt/Sumner?

Leo had a viral infection, took 2.5 weeks off and now just building for XC.

So here is the Newbury Park update:

Colin Sahlman and Lex Young will be skipping all of the California state meets, and will be running in some pro and national level meets, starting with Sound Running on Friday, May 6. The national level meets hadn't yet been determined but probably either Brooks PR or Nike nationals.

Colin has 3 races on his schedule. A 1500 at Sound Running, then a mile in late May, then an 800 in June, which he will be running with Aaron.

Colin wasn't allowed to say where he is going to run a mile in late May, because the meet wants to make an official announcement about it, but it's got to be at the Prefontaine Classic which is May 28. Colin said his goal is to run 3:55.

At the Sound Running meet on Friday, May 6, Colin is running the 1500 and Lex is running the 5K. Colin said his goal is to run 3:40 or faster.

Aaron Sahlman will try to win the California state 800 title.

Leo Young will not be running any more track meets of any kind in 2022, and is resting up to get fully recovered from a serious viral infection. When he starts training again he will be solely focusing on getting ready for cross country. In other words, he will be skipping all the high school national meets that will be taking place in June.

Best high schooler runner in the USA and he is so happy and impressed by his teammate’s performance that just joined the team this year.

All the videos I’ve watched of this young runners they always impressed me on how much they know of other teammates accomplishments and are truly happy for them. This is a major reason why I support and defend them.

That's too bad that the best HS runners in the State won't be at the State meet.

Thanks so much!!

I understand your point, but sometimes runners outgrow their age level.

Sydney McLaughlin dropped out of the U20 championships in 2016 after she made the Olympics as a junior in high school.

Sha'Carri Richardson dropped out of the U20 championships in 2019 after she ran 10.75 as a college freshman.

Athing Mu stopped competing for her college after she won the Olympic gold medal after her freshman year.

Colin Sahlman and Lex Young don't want to spend the next 4 weeks running against what for them would be "slow" competition. They are better off competing against their peers, which for them is national level high school athletes, college athletes, and low level pros.

So of the "NP 4" only Aaron Sahlman will be competing in the state meet qualifying, and assuming he gets to the State Meet he'll only focus on the 800. It's too bad that he didn't also compete in the 1600. That would have made for a tasty race. Based on performances thus far the early favorite in both the 1600 and 3200 (assuming he runs both) is junior Christopher Caudillo of Clovis, with 4:05 (mile) and 8:45 3200 to his name.

Has Colin Sahlman ever won a state track title?

No, his only state title is in XC.

None of those are really HS but I get it. I was thinking for the sake of the HS State meet competition, not for those individual kids. The top HS athlete won't be the ones that win the boys distance events at the State meet.

California doesn't have an official winter season, and the California outdoor state meet was cancelled the last two spring seasons. And he wasn't super fast as a freshman. So I believe the answer is no.

Colin and Lex would have had to run a series of qualification meets over the next 3 weeks in order to make it to the state meet. If California allowed the top 5 or 10 athletes in each event direct access to the state finals, then Colin and Lex might have done that.

But obviously California isn't going to change their entire system around just for 2 guys.

But as a freshman he did win the "Rising Stars" mile at Arcadia, in 4:16, so I guess that's his consolation prize. In fairness I would say that 4:16 for a freshman is superfast. BTW, as a middle schooler he had decent times, but not as fast as his brother Aaron or either of the Young twins.

You never know what the future holds, for better or worse. The kids should win state titles so they get little banners and commemorations hung up in their school and focus on pro meets next year. Unless they are making money doing otherwise, they should be running their state meet

There is no "next year" for Colin Sahlman because he is graduating.

You think that Colin winning at the state meet against a group of boys that he has already beaten multiple times is better than Colin running at the Prefontaine Classic in the country's most famous track stadium against the best runners in the world on national TV? Well, Colin disagrees with you.

The Newbury Park coach let each of the top 4 boys make their own decision, and they ended up with 3 different decisions. Their life, their decision. I'm OK with that.

Different things are important to different runners. A few a years ago a runner that qualified for the California state meet in the 3200 from the Southern Section decided to attend his Senior Prom instead of the state meet. He stated there would be other races, but only one Senior Prom. He the went on to run for UCLA.

So Big S and Lex have chosen their own path. Good for them. I hope they achieve their goals.

And Marty Liquori did the exact opposite. He skipped his senior prom because he thought that a late night out would ruin his chances of running a sub 4 mile. He ended up running 3:59.8, so he was happy with his decision.

Different people have different priorities.

Cmon state titles only mean so much..how many professional runners never won a state title and made it far when they were older? Plenty!