I disagree with all those who assert that the Youngs went out too hard in the wind. They didn't exactly gap the field by a huge margin the first mile. The Youngs are mechanically built for a day and course like this. They shuffle and are very mechanically efficient. They are supreme strength runners. And they usually work off of each other to their advantage. And, they have the unique advantage of having an older brother who won this race going away three years ago, who runs with similar characteristics.
The fact is, Leo had the race in the bag with 100 meters to go. Lex could/should have been right there with him. Both have 13:40 5K and 4:00 mile track speed. They could have ideally run 14:40 today or faster. But for whatever reasons, first Leo last week at Cali State, then both of them today at different points, spectacularly imploded.
How they recover from today's dumpster fire, who knows. They have many weeks to prepare for Worlds. Kudos to them for even having the balls to shape their whole senior year around racing the true XC studs on the planet.
We'll find out more later. It's useless to speculate now. Let's just congratulate the Newbury Park team for entertaining us all with the easily the greatest cross country and track distance squad in American prep annals these last few years. RIP Newbury Park.