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NORCO -- In winning the Boys Sweepstakes race at the 39th Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in a stunning solo effort of 13 minutes, 39.7 seconds, Newbury Park (SS) senior Nico Young shattered the course record by 15.3 seconds, shattered the SilverLakes 3-mile course record by 18.3 seconds and set a new national 3-mile cross country record in the process.
Young, a winner here as a junior in 14:01.1, led essentially from the start and aggressively pulled away from a stellar field. Only teammate Jace Aschbrenner was somewhat able to keep Young in his sights, not unlike their training sessions. Aschbrenner was second in 14:04.8 as Newbury Park established a new team time record, now at 71:10, and had a 14:14 average.
Junior Nicholas Goldstein was the third Panther across the line and seventh overall in 14:25.6, sophomore Colin Sahlman was 10th in 14:26.9, and sophomore Daniel Appleford rounded out the scoring, crossing 24th in 14:36.7, just a stride ahead of one of Young's freshman twin brothers, Lex, who was 25th in 14:37.4.
In the Girls Sweepstakes race, Clovis Buchanan (CS) senior Corie Smith, like Young, essentially went wire-to-wire, going to the front early and methodically creating separation. Smith crossed in 16:04.8 with freshman Lauren Ping of Desert Vista (AZ) second in 16:09.8 and Texan London Culbreath (McKinney North) third in 16:22.9.
Smith, who holds the No. 3 all-time mark on the SilverLakes course of 15:58.4, run in 2017, slots No. 9 with her winning time Saturday. She ran 16:11.1 last September, a mark that now ranks 16th all-time in meet history and 12th all-time on the SilverLakes course.
Junior standout Harper McClain of St. Helena (NC) was fourth in 16:23.9 with sophomore Cate Joaquin, the first of two top-seven finishers from Sacramento St. Francis (SJ), crossing in 16:25.7. Those are now the Nos. 2 and 3 times in the state.
Palos Verdes (SS) senior Savannah Scriven was sixth (16:28.9) and Joaquin's teammate, senior Isabella Fauria, seventh in 16:33.3.
The girls team scoring required a sixth-runner tiebreaker to decide the title, and Morgan Hutchison's 71st place finish in 17:45.8 earned Buchanan the winner's award. Southlake Carroll of Texas was second (129 points), Great Oak (SS) was third (135), Sacramento St. Francis placed fourth (160) and the girls from Newbury Park placed fifth (167).
Newbury Park's boys team time of 17:10 obliterated the previous meet and course record of 1:12:36 set last season by Great Oak. The previous meet record was 13:55.0 set by Blake Haney of Stockdale (CS) in 2013 on the Estancia course. The previous course record was 13:58.0 set by Luis Grijalva of Armijo (SJ) in 2016.
Third in the boys race was Anthony Monte, a senior from Austin (TX) Vandegrift, crossing in 14:14.5, with Thousand Oaks (SS) senior Michael Mireles fourth (14:17.6) and Christian Simone leading the way for Great Oak, running 14:23.8 for fifth. Young is only the sixth runner in the meet's 39-year history to run the course in less than 14 minutes.
Newbury Park, with only two seniors in its lineup -- Aschbrenner and Young -- clearly established itself as not only a team to beat nationally in 2019 but a team to contend with for the future.
Great Oak, second at NXN last year, with a strong group returning, had Aric Reza (14:262), John Worthy (14:32.7), Gabriel Abbes (14:34.5) and Chris Verdugo (14:43.8) cross in the 11-30 range.
In the Boys Sweepstakes race, the top 69 runners all went under 15 minutes and the top 15 were faster than the winner of the Boys Rated race, Great Oak's Austin Montez (14:30.5).
Before Montez dropped the fastest clocking of the meet - for the moment - it was Peninsula's Ewan MacFarlane holding off Stockdale's Adham Maher to win one of the color-coded Varsity Boys races, crossing in 14:39.3. Two boys races later, Oak Park's Sebastian Sawyer dropped 14:45.3 to claim the Varsity Gold A Division title. Redondo Union sophomore Christopher Waligorski was another Varsity Boys race winner, taking the Gold B Division competition in 14:54.2.
The top 20 in the girls race all went sub-17 and the top 38 were faster than the next fastest winner of the day's 13 girls races, Kaitlyn Childress, a junior at Cedar Park HS in Texas (16:04.8).
In the 199-runner field of the Girls Sweepstakes race, the top 30 was a who's who of CA elites. Amber Rios of Colony (SS), who impressed with the late-August victory at Cool Breeze, was 11th here in 16:41.4. Skyler Wallace of Sage Creek (SD), third at State in D-IV last year, was 12th (16:43.5). Hana Catsimanes of San Clemente (SS), a Foot Locker National Finalist as a junior, was 14th (16:49.7). Emma Hadley of Anaheim Canyon (SS), one of the state's elite freshman in 2018, was 15th in 16:49.9. Riley Chamberlain of Loomis Del Oro (SJ), the State D-III champion and the No. 1 freshman of 2018, was 16th (16:52.9).
Tori Gaitan, a senior at Great Oak (SS) running in her first significant competition since NXN last December, was 20th (16:59.7). Gaitan, the 2018 Woodbridge Sweepstakes Champion, missed all of the track season following a growth spurt.
Among other top-30 girls, Oakland Section distance record-holder Eleanor Wikstrom of Oakland Skyline (OK) was 27th (17:05.7), Jacqueline Duarte, a sophomore at Chino Hills and the State 1600m champion on the track, was 28th (17:06.5). Carly Corsinita, a senior at Capistrano Valley coming off a runaway victory the previous week at Laguna Hills, was 29th (17:06.9).
Correction: An earlier version was corrected. Young's time is a new national record for 3-miles.