Watch Nico Young's final CIF race on the track, the 2019 State Championship 3200m.
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Each time Newbury Park senior Nico Young stepped on the track during his interrupted senior season, he set a new standard of excellence.
Although Young's racing was limited by the coronavirus shutdown of the 2020 outdoor season, he still managed a couple of races and his typical jaw-dropping performances.
In recognition of his unparalleled excellence, Young has been named California's top boys track athlete for the 2020 season, announced Monday in a release. In the fall, he won both the CA and National Cross Country Boys Runner of the Year awards from Gatorade.
Young joins Westlake junior pole vaulter Paige Sommers, who was selected last week for the girls award, as the Golden State's two candidates for Gatorade's national track and field honors to be announced in July.
From the Gatorade release:
"The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of 
academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Young as California's best high school boys track & field athlete.
"The 5-foot-11, 135-pound senior raced to a time of 13:50.55 in the 5000-meter run (last week), which shattered the 34-year-old state record by 11 seconds and ranked as the nation's No. 4 clocking in history among prep competitors.
"The 2019-20 Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year, Young also set a national record of 7:56.97 in the 3000 in his only race of the 2020 indoor track season. Winner of the Nike Cross Nationals Final in December, he also won a 2019 outdoor track state championship in the 3200.
"Young has volunteered for the past three summers as part of the Team Leadership program at Camp Many Mansions, a seven-week residential enrichment opportunity for youth from under-resourced communities.
"Nico has proven to our team at Newbury Park that if you set your standards high and work hard, anything is possible," said Newbury Park coach Sean Brosnan. "He continued to train hard after winning Nike Cross Nationals in order to go after the High School 3000-meter indoor track record. Then he flew out to New York and accomplished his goal."
"Young has maintained a weighted 4.68 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship at Northern Arizona University."
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(Inserted photo from the 2019 CIF-State Championships by DeAnna Turner)
