“They saw it was possible and I think that’s what’s happening with these guys,” Brosnan said, referring to his athletes. “We’ve created this culture where I have three or four guys who don’t think four minutes in a row is fast for a mile. One of them has already broken it. And probably this year we will have more breaks. That’s the approach you need.”
In the fall cross country season, Newbury Park flexed its slow twitch muscle fibers. At the California State competition, brothers Salman and Young took four first places, and Daniel Appleford, a senior, finished seventh. A week later, Colin Salman led the team to their second straight national title with a first-place overall finish of the five-kilometer course in 14:03.29, with Leo and Lex Young finishing second and third. All three runners broke the national high school record for the five-kilometer cross-country course that Datan Ritzenhain, the future Olympian, laid out in 2000.
Not to be overlooked: Sam McDonnell, the senior team that led the women’s team to second place in state competition, finished sixth in national competition.
“We don’t limit ourselves,” said Leo Young. “It’s a mentality that if you work your hardest, you can trust yourself to put it all out.”
Difficult to train under close attention
Last year, Brosnan said, coaches and parents from opposing schools filed 14 complaints about him and his program with the California Interscholastic Federation, known as the CIF, which is the state’s governing body for high school sports. Brosnan listed some of the alleged infractions, such as arranging practice on race day — “They did a cool down,” he said — and practicing on Sunday, which is also against the rules. According to him, he and his wife ran into a couple of team members in the park.
“They say hello and chat a little,” said Steve Hawkins, assistant coach. “Someone was hiding behind the bathroom and taking pictures of them.”
A CIF spokesperson said the organization does not comment on allegations or complaints about member schools.