NEWBURY PARK INTERVIEWS
In late July, MileSplit's Kevin Selby ventured to the Newbury Park mountain training compound in Big Bear, CA to visit with Coach Sean Brosnan and a handful of the top returning runners for the Panthers.
Brosnan spoke about preparations for the fall 2021 cross country season in a year coming off the COVID-19 shutdown of the 2020 season where the Panthers competed out of state running for the Newbury Park Athletic Club.
"Just to be in a Newbury Park (High School) uniform and just go after some big things this year," Brosnan said when asked what he was looking forward to this fall. "We want to continue with the state titles, we want to continue the NXN -- we want to win NXN again. I want my girls to be on the podium, the way they are running well. We want to break some records at a lot of the courses that we run. Honestly, want to kinda break every record at every course we run. We'll see how that goes."
In another soundbite from the interview, Brosnan discusses goals.
"I want these kids to be well-rounded and understand if you want to be great - they want to be the best team ever. We want to walk away next year and the year after with people saying no one's going to be better than them for a long time. And to do that they've got to make some sacrifices and it's not training hard, not running more miles but it's maybe doing all these other little things that most high school kids can't do."
Check out the full interview embedded above where Brosnan discusses, among other topics, what he does differently now as a coach, why basketball coaches are brilliant, how enjoying the process is key to achieving goals, and on rebuilding Colin Sahlman.
COLIN SAHLMAN, Senior
Sahlman is a senior and the reigning Gatorade California Cross Country and Track and Field "Player" of the Year from 2020-21. The national brand "Player of the Year" program recognizes top individuals in each state in various sports, including XC and TF. Sahlman follows in the footsteps of former Newbury Park runner Nico Young, who not only won both the XC and TF state honors but was named the National winner for each. In the interview, Sahlman compares where he was as a sophomore training with Young and Jace Aschbrenner - the team's senior leaders on the 2019 CIF-Southern Section, CIF-State, and Team Nationals champions - to now.
"'I'm up front now," he says in the interview.
"Two years ago I was lingering behind Nico and Jace in workouts. Now I know I'm up front. I'm at where they were at that level. I'm pushing myself in workouts to become at that level because I want to be as close to what Nico did his senior year. I would really like to do that. So, I've been pushing myself in workouts."
Check out more of Selby's interview with Sahlman where he discusses, among other topics, his growth as a racer, his best race, managing distractions, and what he's looking for in a college.
LEX YOUNG, Junior
As a sophomore, Lex Young ran some historical times on the track. Here he talks about his trust in the process that has served him well so far.
"What (Brosnan) is having us do I know has worked in the past and I know it's setting us up really well for what's to come. ... The previous successes help to build the confidence that I know what we're doing is going to set us up well."
Among other topics in the interview, Lex talks about his 8:43 for 3200m from Arcadia, focus on diet, health and commitment.
LEO YOUNG, Junior
Among the topics discussed here, Leo Young talks about the team's training camp at altitude in Big Bear.
"It's a month of hard work that gets you fit quick and ready to come home and crush some real intervals and hard workouts."
