How did Union Catholic get so good?

Snowball effect. They also really lucked out with some of their guys being surprising talents. And also they have a scum bag coach recruiting the kids from all over the state.

They do have a sophomore Alex Saldana who transferred from River Dell this year

And Brosnan which they got from I think West Orange in 2020. And the Devines from Ridge this winter. And Peyton Hollis from Columbia this winter. There's a reason #staypublic was trending in the distance running community in New Jersey around the time of NBNI.

Wow seems like they get as many transfers as Loudoun Valley used to get when the Hunters were coaching.

They've had a really good track team for over a decade but it had been mostly focused on sprints. They started working on improving the distance side of their team a few years ago.

As a private school they have an advantage in that they can get runners from anywhere in New Jersey. Very few of their athletes are from the town where their school is located. (Sydney McLaughlin wasn't from that town either.)

They do have a good coach but their real secret is that their school can accept runners from dozens of miles away. It's not just recruiting though. Lots of talented junior high kids from around the state ask their parents to go there. Sydney McLaughlin made the school well known when she made the Olympic team in 2016 and that helped a lot with getting kids to want to go there.

Another thing about Union Catholic is that they only had 740 students in grades 9-12 in 2019-2020

Anyone else surprised that Shane Brosnan did not choose Newbury Park?

Union Catholic uses tinman training from the man himself, certain people you've listed were tinman coached before and it made more sense to be on a team that was could coordinate similar tinman training programs together.

I know one of the people you listed and that's exactly what happened

Does union Catholic really recruit?

Or do people join the school by their own initiative?

Or maybe because their parents chose to move to that area for other reasons? (Work, etc.)

That's a fantasy long held by public schools that cannot compete with the parochial high schools in their state. Catholic schools get student athletes for the following reasons:

No boundary restrictions like public schools.

Parents with means seeking better educational, athletic, and networking opportunities for their kids.

Parents seeking a more disciplined and rigorous environment for their children.

Traditionally strong programs with qualified coaches that have served for many years rather than an everchanging carousel of teacher "coaches" that may not have adequate coaching knowledge or high-level sports experience.

The pandemic accelerated this exodus as public institutions largely crapped the bed with online learning in 2020-2021 while private schools had already deployed technology and simply had to switch to online classes. Most private schools already issue tablets or laptops to their students and utilize Google or Apple suites designed for school usage. Well funded private schools were far more nimble and, in our area, returned to in-person learning and sports practices months ahead of the public districts. Many parents took note and now private institutions have waiting lists to be admitted. The gap will widen in the near future.

Some Catholic schools recruit athletes, but I have seen far more abuse in public schools using waiver programs, post office boxes, and parents faking marital separations to get their promising QB or point guard into a public high school with a championship pedigree.

Here's an interview we did with Union Catholic head coach Mike McCabe last year after he was named the USTFCCCA HS Girl's National Coach of the Year.

pod.fo

The Gill Athletics Connections Podcast: #125: Mike McCabe-Union Catholic (NJ) High School

@podfollowhq

Mike was recently named the USTFCCCA National Girl's Coach of the Year presented by the US Marines. We sit down to talk about an amazing accomplished year, what he learned through the disruptions o...

Link:pod.fo/e/f08ed

Experienced NJ runner here, it is blatantly obvious that UC has been recruiting multiple kids to run for them. They recruited people like the Devine twins and Saldana. Other teams, such as CBA, don't need to recruit runners to be great. The sky is the limit for them this year, they are going to be 2nd in the country!!!!

And don’t forget that UC only has 2 seniors on varsity this year. Just like last year. They could be one of those teams challenging for a national championship next year

How come Saldana and the Devine twins did not race on Saturday?

they were transfer evan weber is the best uc runner tho

If they don’t get to varsity for XC, how did they get to race varsity track for UC?

2 seniors on varsity. Looks like UC ran all of their transfers