Boys Countdown to XC Day 2: Newbury Park

In a way, Newbury Park arrived at the top of the California XC scene a year early. After all, you rarely see a boys' team with two freshmen and a sophomore in the top reaching the state meet at all, let alone winning the Division 2 title and going to NXN (where they finished 6th). That king of youth suggests that this program hasn't peaked yet, and could be even better in 2019. On the other hand, the Panthers did graduate two top 5 seniors from their 2018 squad, and depth was an issue in their returning 5K and 3 Mile rankings (in particular, a big gap after their top 4). Spring season results show significant improvement on that front: Newbury Park had 6 boys under 10 minutes in the 3200, including returning #5 Daniel Appleford and #6 Thomas McDonnell, plus 2018 JV runner Benjamin Kohlhepp. While that will certainly create more competition for the 5-7 spots and therefore improve the team as a whole, there is still a noticeable break in the middle of the top 5 for both 3200 and 1600. Of course, having Nico Young up front helps cover up those kinds of gaps, and Jace Aschbrenner would be a strong #1 on many teams after clocking 9:05 on the track. With 8 returning runners at 4:40 or better, the pool of talent is deep enough for what this team wants to accomplish, and now we just wait to see how good they can be. The Panthers will have their hands full in Division 2 with Claremont, not to mention competition with D1 Great Oak for the NXN auto bids, so it will be fun to watch that three-way battle play out over the season!