V 12 N. 20 Newbury Park's 4x1 Mile Record

From Richard Mach:

If you haven't seen this.   Our narrator is another math nerd whose enthusiasm borders on hype.   WMU set the collegiate record of 16:50.4 at the Drake Relays in the spring of ‘61. 

              Dale Story, Oregon St., John Bork, Western Mich, and Jerry McFadden, Mizzou

                                                      Drake Relays 1961

With Bork’s leg of 4:07 blowing Oregon State’s NCAA X-C individual champion, Dale Story, that fall, away.  And now a high school team within but a few miles of John’s home in Camarillo bests that by at least 21 seconds.    And outdoor could they not go faster?

The Newbury Park 4 x 1 Mile Race    Link

They served notice last fall in a possibly national HS X-C meet with 1,2,3 and 5 with the same 4-some.  Assuming they’ve an archive.  Averaged just a tad over 4:07.   On one team. In high school.  And two sets of brothers as far as I can tell.   Could be burnout city once they get in college and become just one of the pack. 

 

Comments from George Brose:

Newbury Park Cross Country   Link     Here's the cross country race Richard Mach refers to.

In this race, The Garmin Running Lane XC Championships in Alabama,  Newbury Park took 1,2, 3, 5 with their first runner in 14:02 a high school all time best for 5km XC and their fourth runner in 14:15, but also to be noted is that 65 runners broke 15 minutes in this race.

What Makes Newbury Park So Special?

Is it the coach, the milieu, the kids, or is it the damn shoes?  Probably a bit of each, but I don't really know what kind of shoes they are using.  As their coach Sean Brosnan says in an interview.  Every school has kids with potential to run this fast.  You just have to find them and convince them to come out for the team and dedicate themselves to excellence.  A lot of coaches have that philosophy, but not many can carry it out to the level that Sean Brosnan has. 

Here are the splits of their four runners on that 4x1 Mile record

                            Aaron Sahlman 4:11.37

                            Leo Young        4:06.86

                            Lex Young        4:07.35

                            Colin Sahlman  4:03.74

The narrator of the youtube video on that 4 x 1 Mile relay notes that their record of 16:29.31 is 3.23% below the previous record, a whopping 32 second improvement.  He notes that only a few breakthrough records are over 2%.  I never thought of records in those terms, and they don't sound like a huge improvement when you look at percentages, but 32 seconds looks like a hell of a lot.  

Put that 3.23% into perspective with the 2% that using Nike Vapor Fly's and Dragon Fly's supposedly will give you and things (maybe) become a little more clear.  

The Nike Dragon Fly Next 2% By You  is listed online for $190.  That's the spike.  A Zoom X Vapor Fly training shoe can go for $350.  So you can bring your team to fruition for a $2160 plus tax investment.  Of course you may go through a few pair of the trainers on the way to that big meet.  But like divorce, it's expensive because it is worth it.

  Hopefully one or two will thrive in the next stage of their careers.  None of these kids is as great for their time as Jim Ryun was in his day.  Ryun was way further ahead than any of these individuals.  But as a team, Newbury Park is as far ahead of the pack as Ryun was individually.  

Still it would be a great story to follow on with as to where they go and what they do in life and running.  Sort of like  "The Boys in the Boat".   Wonder what the coach has to look forward to?  He appears to have a few more up and comers in the stable.   Will he go on to college coaching?  Some of these successful high school coaches are completely out of their element in university settings, others do very well.

Here is an interview with Sean Brosnan Nov. 28, 2021 after the California State High School Championships.  If I were an A.D. looking for a distance coach, I think I would hire him.  

Brosnan Interview     There are many other interviews with Coach Brosnan on youtube.

Other sports at Newbury Park High School don't seem all that great.  Football went 3-7 including a loss to Calabasas 66-7 and the basketball team is a bit better at 9-8.  So those distance running results are atypical of the school teams.  

Just being curious, I googled 'demographics, Newbury Park, CA" and came up with the following information.  

According to the U.S. Census 2010, 76.81% of the population identify as White, 10.72% Asian-American, 1.88% African-American, 0.09% Native-American, and 6.78% claim 'other'. 19.18% of the people in Newbury Park claim Hispanic ethnicity or heritage.

Here's more according to Wikipedia:

Newbury Park is a populated place and town in Ventura County, California, United States. Most of it lies within the western Thousand Oaks city limits, while unincorporated areas include Casa Conejo and Ventu Park.   About 28,000 residents of Thousand Oaks reside in Newbury Park.^[9] Newbury Park makes up around 40 percent of the total land area of Thousand Oaks.^[10] Lying within the Conejo Valley in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Newbury Park abuts the Santa Monica Mountains. It is approximately 35 miles (56 km) from Downtown Los Angeles and less than 7 mi (11 km) from the Los Angeles County border in Westlake Village. The closest coastal city is Malibu, 22 mi (35 km), which may be reached through winding roads or hiking trails crossing the Santa Monica Mountains. It makes up all of ZIP code 91320, and is within area code 805.    TMI?  Maybe.

What do people living there do, how much do they earn, what do their homes cost?

There are 44,968 residents in Newbury Park, with a median age of 42.3. Of this, 49.65% are males and 50.35% are females. US-born citizens make up 79.6% of the resident pool in Newbury Park, while non-US-born citizens account for 11.12%. Additionally, 9.28% of the population is represented by non-citizens.

White-collar workers make up 88.14% of the working population in Newbury Park, while blue-collar employees account for 11.86%. There are also 3,207 entrepreneurs in Newbury Park (14.24% of the workforce); 15,396 workers employed in private companies (68.36%); and 2,611 people working in governmental institutions (11.59%).

The average annual household income in Newbury Park is $150,240, while the median household income sits at $118,986 per year.

In February 2022, the median listing home price in Newbury Park, CA was $950K, trending up 11.8% year-over-year. The median listing home price per square foot was $454. The median home sold price was $1M.

Crime Statistics

Crime is way below US average in all types of crime.   Don't need to run fast to be safe in Newbury Park.

                                                        Newbury Park on the western edge of Thousand Oaks, CA

You can probably find a few other towns in the US, Italy, Morocco and Azerbaijan that fit this description if you are looking for a place to settle and raise your future distance star.  Or the west Kenyan Rift Valley area too, but I don't think you would find that median income anywhere in country.   Happy Trails.   George

From Roy Mason:

I did this research a month ago.  Income, real estate values, % college grads, etc.  Lots of places like this in So. Cal.  Yes, this guy lucked into finding two families of exceptionally genetically blessed offspring but his work can't be diminished by the number of kids.  If the Youngs and Sahlmans only had one kid each, there would have been two kids better than any two in any school ever.  As memory serves, his 6th best kid is a 9:10 32 guy.  Good on you, coach.

Irresistible force meets immovable object test: Coach Brosnan comes to Ukiah High.