By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor
PORTLAND — Aaron Sahlman hadn’t won a cross country race since middle school.
Seemingly always a step or two behind his older brother, Colin, or the Young twins, Leo and Lex, it was Aaron who stepped up on Saturday to lead Newbury Park to a second Nike Cross Nationals title.
Sahlman wore the same pair of Nike spikes that his brother wore to win the RunningLane Championships last year at Alabama.
“It means a lot,” Sahlman said. “I wasn’t expected to win here, I didn’t expect myself to win, but I was Leo (Young) with a mile to go and I thought I might be able to out-kick him if I can stay with him and I did.”
Imagine a high school team so sturdy and resolute that it can survive its top two runners faltering late in the race, but the presumed No. 3 runner on the team surges to lead up the final set of hills and wins an NXN race.
Well, that’s Newbury Park. And since the program’s breakthrough win in 2019, led by Nico Young, this team has stretched possibilities and belief in all sorts of ways.
But what unfolded at Glendoveer Golf Course, in sunny, windy conditions, might go into history remembered for how unpredictable it was.
Newbury Park, after all, won the championship with a record-low total of 66 points.
Lex Young, last week’s California state champion, hit a wall before the final kilometer and finished 35th. Leo Young, his twin brother had the lead and seemed to be on a glide path to matching older brother Nico’s 2019 victory, when he tied up at the final set of short, steep hills. He finished 11th.
Sahlman ran in the same Nike spikes that his older brother, Colin, wore when he won the Garmin RunningLane Championships race last year and broke the all-time high school 5,000-meter cross country record.
Portland (Jesuit) delivered the best team result by an Oregon team, taking second with 152 points. Right behind Portland was a surprising and resurgent Herriman UT team that had placed fourth at its state meet in October.
A second Oregon team, Southern Oregon (Crater) was fourth with 171 points, just ahead of American Fork (173).
The states of California, Oregon and Utah accounted for the top seven teams.
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