Cross Country

14 Panther Prowler • Oct. 25, 2021 sports

NPHS XC sprints through national records

Nandini Patro Editorial Editor

On Sept. 18, Newbury Park High School further established their name as a nationally-ranked team at the Woodbridge Cross Country Invitational. Woodbridge is the first official meet of the year and also the largest cross country High School meet in the country with just under 10,000 runners. Teams from all over the country come to this meet.

A few years ago Nicholas Young, a Newbury Park alumni and future Olympian, set the national record for the fastest highschooler to run three miles. Nicolas’s time of 13:39 was considered insane for a high school runner and he therefore set the national record. People believed that this record would stay for a while, considering how hard it was to beat. But, two years later Nicolas Young’s very own brother, Emilio Young, junior, has proved the nation wrong and beat his brother’s record with a time of 13:38 in the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic. “[The race] went very well, I enjoyed it a lot,” Emilio said.

Not only did Emilio excel in this race but the top four leaders of the race were all from NPHS. Emilio Young, Aaron Sahlman, junior, Alexio Young, junior, and Colin Sahlman, senior, all placed under 14 minutes merely seconds apart from each other, respectively. “The race went amazing,” Alexio said. “Team wise, we were able to control it from the start, which was the plan, we were able to work off each other and kind of divvy up the workload of pacing and leading, which I think is what in the end really allowed us to dominate so much in that race.” Overall the team averaged 13:54 beating the record of 14:14.

The teams’ training starts early in the summer where they travel up to Big Bear for four weeks. “We’ve been training all summer,” Emilio said. “We’ve accumulated a large base of fitness throughout training in altitude and we’ve run a lot of hard workouts up there.” Running in high altitudes helps the runners’ endurance and pushes them to work much harder than they would closer to sea level.

The team runs about 60-65 miles a week, whether it be in their early morning practice before school or after school. All practices are supervised by Coach Sean Brosnan, the head coach of Newbury Park’s Cross Country and Track teams. Brosnan believes it’s worth it to do less miles if the quality is better, “There are a lot of other programs out there that do 70-80 [miles]... We believe in more quality over quantity,” Brosnan said. “We do a lot of the little things. You know, we have morning practice where we do supplemental training, we work on hip strengthening, glute strengthening, ankle stuff.” The culture and the environment on the team largely contributes to their successes. “We just have a good culture right now where everybody kind of believes in everything and it’s been good,” Brosnan said.

After their victory at Woodbridge, the team headed to the Clovis Invitational confidently on Oct. 9. As expected, the team emerged very successful with setting a new national team record for the 5k with a time of 14:44. Yet, another national record this team has beat. Individually, Colin Sahlman got first place with a time of 14:29 and the following places were Emilio Young, Alexio Young, and Aaron Sahlman. This marks another time that these runners have placed in the top four. The environment of running in a pack greatly helps the runners in the real races, “If someone is having a bad day, the other people can pick it up,” Aaron said.

Overall, this team continues to make it clear that they are the best in the nation by continuing to work hard and push themselves more than they ever thought they could.

Almost there-The NPHS cross country boys push through the very end of their race at Clovis and begin to kick, the term used to describe how you close the race, “You’re just digging deeper than what you thought you had, because you’re already maxed out, you’ve already run as fast as you can for the time that you were running. So then it’s just all about hurting even more than you possibly thought you could.” Alexio Young said. Emilio Young/With Permission

Drew Caswell dances their heart out

Reese Kelem Chief Photographer

Pose- Drew Caswell dances among his team members,Presley Read, Olivia Pimentel, and Mika LAST during the football halftime show on Sept. 30. “I think since I feel like I’m confident when I perform and stuff like that, I could take it to a collegiate level and possibly beyond the professional” Drew is the first male to be on the NPHS dance team since 2019, But he has been dancing at Thrive dance center since 8th grade. Reese Kelem/ Prowler

As the NPHS football field lights up again and the bleachers fill with roaring crowds, the Panther dance crew is back to performing at halftime shows. On their team, they carry Drew Caswell, junior, the first male dance member on the team since 2019.

Prior to being on the Dance team, Caswell has danced for Thrive Dance Center since middle school and NPHS’ All Male Dance Crew. “You get more recognition on dance team, definitely. Because on Thrive, for those competitions, you get more awards, but here, colleges look at a high school dance team rather than a studio,” Caswell said.

Many dancers, including Jane Saylors, senior, have enjoyed his presence and what it adds to the group dynamic. “It kind of breaks up all the girliness. It adds a completely different vibe to the team. He’s just really fun to be around. He’s funny, and I absolutely love having him on the team,” Saylors said.

Although Caswell was new to the team, he quickly learned the choreography. “I [did] have to change a lot of the choreography because, I guess, it’s kind of choreographed for girls. But the coach is really accommodating,” Caswell said.

Cameo Carolan, the NPHS dance coach for the past 17 years, said Caswell is a committed and passionate dancer. Caswell is always ready to make sacrifices to carry out his dance team duties, including missing an NFL football game that conflicted with an NPHS football game performance. “When he found out that we had a performance that day, he hands down was like: ‘I’m not going to the game. I’m going to go to our show, and I’m going to perform,” Carolan said.

Dancers and Coach Carolan alike see Caswell for his drive and work ethic. “That comment that people say, you know, make lemons into lemonade. That kind of saying, that’s who Drew is like. If a door shuts in his pathway, he finds another path. And typically that other path ends up being a better adventure than the one that was right in front of him,” Carolan said.

Caswell plans to carry his passion for the sport into college and beyond. “I feel confident when I perform. I think I could take it to a collegiate level and possibly beyond to professional,” Caswell said.