Leo and Lex Young are The Star's Boys Cross Country Runners of the Year
Their older brother was Gatorade National Runner of the Year.
A year ago, they ran on the team some labeled the greatest high school team ever assembled.
Try running in those footsteps.
But Newbury Park’s Leo Young and Lex Young managed the pressure as seniors by sharing the burden.
“When you attack the training, you’re not doing it by yourself,” Leo said. “I have Lex by my side. It allows us to push ourselves a lot further.”
And, by extension, they helped extend the Newbury Park High boys cross country team’s run as the No. 1 team in the country to a fourth straight season.
“They all had their own part to play,” said coach Tanya Brosnan.
A team within a team, the Young brothers finished 1-2 in four of the biggest races of the season.
Leo won the 5,000-meter Asics Clovis Invitational in 14 minutes, 25.9 seconds, on Oct. 8 and the three-mile Marmonte League finals in 14:50.9 on Nov. 3.
Lex won the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 finals at Mt. San Antonio College in 14:38.1 on Nov. 19 and the 5,000-meter CIF-State Division 2 championship in 14:27.9 on Nov. 26.
In all four meets, the brother who didn’t win the race finished in second.
Which is why the Young brothers — both Lex and Leo — are The Star’s All-County Boys Cross Country Boys Runners of the Year.
“It’s amazing what you can do if you don’t set mental barriers to stop yourself,” Leo said. “We get to work side by side with each other. We’re able to strip down those mental barriers and reach our potential, as far as training goes.”
Both twins credit their older brother for blazing the trail they are running.
As his younger brothers prepared for the Division finals on Nov. 19, Nico Young, a sophomore at Northern Arizona University, finished second at the NCAA Division I championships, driving the Lumberjacks to their third straight national championship.
“A lot of people think that it’s probably a lot of pressure or stressful,” Lex said. “I never really feel that. He paved the way. He showed us what’s possible. We’re just following and expanding upon that.”
More:Payton Godsey is The Star's Girls High School Cross Country Runner of the Year
More:The Star's All-County Girls Cross Country First Team for 2022
Teammates since berth — whether it was youth soccer, working in the yard or their YouTube page — Lex and Leo decided to continue working together in college. They both committed in August to run at Stanford University.
“I think it’s awesome,” Lex said. “I’ve always loved being a twin. We work so well together. We’ve been working together our entire lives. We can get the work of three people done.”
The ultimate goal was to finish 1-2 again, this time on high school cross country’s biggest stage at Nike Cross Nationals.
They entered the meet as the No. 2- and No. 3-ranked runners in the country, according to DyeStat.com.
They dominated for much of the race earlier this month in Portland, Oregon. One of the Young brothers held the lead for the majority of the 5,000-meter race at Glendoveer Golf Course.
Lex led at the 1,300-meter mark. Leo led at the 1-mile, 4,000-meter and 2.75-mile marks.
“I think Lex and Leo did a lot of work out front for the first 4k of that,” Brosnan said.
But both found their limits in the final 400 meters.
“Lex hit a wall like he’s never seen before,” Brosnan said. “There was nothing he could do about it.”
Leo could feel the pack quickly making up ground.
“You’re just trying to find a way to put one leg after the other,” Leo said.
Newbury Park teammate Aaron Sahlman finished strong to grab the individual national title, just as his older brother Colin had at Garmin RunningLane nationals the year before.
The Youngs were left to celebrate the team’s incredible achievement, defending a national championship previously earned in Portland in 2019 and Huntsville, Alabama, in 2021, while attempting to learn from their individual performances.
“We didn’t have anything left,” Leo said. “Looking back, I know I committed myself completely during the race. I was focused on grinding through it. I can’t be incredibly mad or anything. … I gave everything I had.”
As did Lex, who missed the postrace award ceremonies recovering in the medical tent.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted, but we put ourselves into so much pain in that race,” Leo said. “We’ll be able to take that a step further. We’ll be able to race at a higher level because of the level of discomfort we’re willing to put ourselves in.”
They hope to build on the experience as their cross country seasons continue. That’s right, continue.
The Youngs will compete in the Under-20 men’s 8K at the USATF Cross Country Championships on Jan. 21 at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia.
The goal is to represent the United States in February’s Under-20 World Championships in Bathurst, Australia, before returning for their season track and field season at Newbury Park.
The Star's All-County Boys Cross Country Second Team
Dev Doshi, Newbury Park
Aaron Cantu, Newbury Park
Tyler Smith, Moorpark
Baptiste Garderes, Thousand Oaks
Liam Papavasiliou, Thousand Oaks
Thomas White, Moorpark
Diego Rodriguez, Santa Paula
Noah De la Rionda, Royal
Diego Escalante, Thacher
Nicholas Weinerth, Rio Mesa
Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Leo and Lex Young are The Star's Boys Cross Country Runners of the Year
