Northern Arizona Star Broke Collegiate Record At The TEN, But Says He Could Have Been 'More Daring'

By Aaron Heisen for DyeStat

Chuck Utash photos

Nico Young of Northern Arizona checked every box with his sensational performance at The TEN, where ran an Olympic standard in the 10,000 meters and finished second behind Grant Fisher. 

And yet, with some time to reflect on his 10,000 debut, the fastest ever by an American on their first try, Young believes he could have done even more. 

“I wish I was a little bit more daring and went earlier because I think I could have run better if I did,” he said. 

Young ran 26 minutes, 52.72 seconds at the March 16 race at San Juan Capistrano, Calif., about 100 miles southeast of where he grew up in Newbury Park. 

He became, at 21, the third-fastest American in the event behind Fisher and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp. He smashed the American collegiate record by 40 seconds. 

Young was also just a week out from completing a 3,000/5,000 double at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston.  

His experience at the TEN displayed the positives of his calculated approach and offered teaching moments that showed where there is room to improve. 

With 300 meters remaining in the 25-lap race, it was the American record holder, Fisher,  making the decisive move. The veteran, 26, expended just enough energy to attain the Olympic standard while winning the race.

For 15 laps, Fisher sat in the group behind the leaders, which consisted of Young’s former NAU teammates, Abdihamid Nur and Luis Grijalva. He didn’t let the pace lights escape his reach. 

Young stuck with Fisher, taking a similar race strategy. He had been told by Woody Kincaid, a mentor of sorts, that the 10K “goes in waves.” The initial push may be arduous, but that doesn’t mean your energy will be zapped by the home stretch. 

In retrospect, Young said Kincaid was spot on and that if he had been more confident in how the race would unfold, he would have kicked sooner. 

Instead, he tailed Fisher and caught the lead pack on the way to second.

The wherewithal to make an earlier move will come with more experience. 

“We want them to learn to take risks,” Northern Arizona director of track and field and cross country, Mike Smith, said of Young’s race. “It’s about trusting yourself and overlooking the fear of not getting what you want. Someone’s gotta take the buzzer beater shot and if you’re just thinking like, ‘I can’t miss it.’ You got to be okay with missing it.”

Young proved he has the physical tools to stick with weathered professionals. He’s developed the mindset to match them, too. 

It’s not just focusing on his day to day process. 

“There’s only so much influence I have on my success,” Young said. “That’s not going to change what I’m going to do. The process is going to stay the same, and whether or not that yields an outcome that I like is not in my control. So I’m trying to let go of that.”

It’s working. Cinching that Olympic standard is validation of that, he said. 

The success of the night also bought him time. Young will have nearly three months to focus on training and preparation before the NCAA Outdoor Championships and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, both in Eugene, Ore. 

Smith said the aim is to build up to a peak that begins to crest in late May.  

“My focus right now is on making that team,” Young said, referring to the Olympic trials. “Especially after the 10K (at The TEN), I think my chances are high in that event.”

Young is one of three Americans, a long with Fisher and Kincaid, who have met the stringent 27:00 Olympic Games qualifying standard.

Young, of course, has been preparing for this moment for years. 

Smith credits his upbringing at Newbury Park, where he became one of the nation's best distance runners under coach Sean Brosnan, even with his senior year of track wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Young came to Northern Arizona with the “mindset of a professional athlete,” Smith said. 

Even as a freshman at NAU, Young was pushing the program's standard of excellence.  

“He raised the game for everyone,” Smith said. 

Strains increase at the collegiate level. Training regimens are more strenuous.  Young embraced it all, in stride.

He’s had to learn, though — as any athlete transitioning to college in a day and age where high schoolers compete alongside pace lights — to place less value on results. 

Time goals come as a byproduct of competing. That idea is at the root of Smith’s teachings.  

“Pour all your attention into the process of how you’re living your life each day, practicing each day,” Smith says. “Process-oriented goals inside racing, and then you will love the outcomes.”  

Live right, stay healthy, and the NCAA Championships and a trip to Paris could be within Young's grasp.