Daily Pilot Boys’ Cross-Country Dream Team: Ocean View’s Maury Young made mark by breaking 39-year-old record
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Maury Young’s reason for running might surprise you.
Simply put, it makes him feel free.
For the past two seasons, Young surprised many but never himself. The Seahawks senior distance running standout said he regularly sets goals, and after making a trip to the CIF State cross-country championships as a junior, the expectations rose while the list got shorter.
What was left? The school record.
The record book may not stay forever Young, but it is for now. Young made the school standard his own during a sterling senior season that also saw him return to the state meet.
For his achievements, Young is the Daily Pilot Boys’ Cross-Country Athlete of the Year.
Young went into the Ocean View record book on Oct. 18, when he lowered his lifetime-best 3-mile time to 14 minutes 36.2 seconds in the Orange County championships at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado.
The time bettered the previous record of 14:51, established by Haissam Sabra at the Dana Hills Invitational in 1986.
“I always tell my coach what I want to do,” Young said. “Before a race, I’ll tell him, ‘I want to run this time,’ or, ‘I want to get in this position,’ and most of the time, that’s where I get and that’s what I get. O.C. Champs, I was already feeling sick, but I knew my training wasn’t bad. I knew my health wasn’t bad. It’s just [that] I was sick. I knew the only biggest problem I was going to have running was my breathing. … I tried to run a faster time, but I’m really grateful for the time that I did run.”
Young also claimed the Empire League championship, adding to his accomplishments after taking home the Golden West League title the previous season.
As a senior, Young was a known commodity, oftentimes serving as a measuring stick for others. Young remembers what it was like to look up to others, including Edwin Montes, who graduated from Ocean View in 2019.
Ocean View coach Daniel Hurtado compared Young to Montes and brothers Ryan and Jason St. Pierre, all key contributors to the Seahawks’ rise.
Ryan St. Pierre led the pack when Ocean View captured the Golden West League team title in 2016. Edwin Montes and Jason St. Pierre started on back-to-back state-qualifying teams, including the Seahawks’ initial state berth in 2017.
“With Edwin, there were multiple times, [same with] Maury, a minute faster than all of your teammates,” Hurtado said. “Most of his workouts, he did by himself. There were multiple instances at the park where I would just be writing down his splits, and I almost wished there were more people around to be like, ‘Did you see that?’
“It never looks like he is running as fast as he is, and that’s the same feeling I would get when I was coaching Edwin,” Hurtado added. “There’s just a fluidity on his stride. Then again, the competitiveness, knowing when to compete because the competition matters more than the times, and when to go for times. That’s something I feel like it reminded me of the St. Pierres.”
Ocean View placed second to Fullerton, 40-58, in the Empire League and came close to making it to the state meet as a team. Young said every time he needed motivation, he didn’t have to look further than his teammates, citing a bond formed from a preseason trip to Big Bear.
“My coach is big on our team’s connection,” Young said. “We have this Big Bear trip where we all kind of open up. Everyone on my team, I know their story, and they know mine. Every time I am unmotivated, [then] every time I see them, I’m motivated and it’s gone. Every hard feeling, everything I’m down about, it’s gone. When I’m running, I kind of block all of that off, and it’s just me and my team.”
COACH OF THE YEAR
Daniel Hurtado
Ocean View
Ocean View fell short of its goal to advance to the state meet as a team this year, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. The Seahawks were the first team left out of the dance, finishing 16 points behind Big Bear for seventh place in the CIF Division 4 final. Under Hurtado’s leadership, Ocean View, the second-place team in the Empire League, was one of three local boys’ cross-country teams to advance to the section finals this season, a group that also included Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach.
FIRST TEAM
Michael Appell
Huntington Beach | Sr.
The Oilers’ frontrunner broke the 15-minute barrier in September with a time of 14:54.5 in the Woodbridge Classic, giving him a new personal record and something to build on for the rest of the season. Roughly a month later, he was a top-five finisher in the medium schools varsity race of the Orange County championships. He placed third in the Sunset League finals, helping the Oilers finish fourth as a team and qualify for the CIF preliminaries.
Connor Dixon
Ocean View | Sr.
Dixon saved his best for last, as the senior established a new lifetime-best time of 15:31.5 on the Mt. San Antonio College rain course during the CIF finals. His 36th-place finish was a 41-position improvement from his junior year, a big reason the Seahawks found themselves in the hunt to make it to state as a team. The performance marked his fourth personal record of the season.
Logan Kwong
Fountain Valley | Jr.
Kwong’s consistency saw him deliver four sub-16-minute times in six 3-mile races, including a personal record of 15:33.7 in the boys’ sweepstakes race of the Orange County championships. He finished eighth in the Sunset League finals, helping the Barons secure a spot in the CIF preliminaries with a second-place team showing behind Los Alamitos.
Zack Longo
Sage Hill | So.
Longo won’t be a longshot to make some noise in the postseason as his career progresses. The emerging talent dropped his lifetime-best time to 15:29.9 at the Dana Hills Invitational, adding top-10 finishes in the Pacific Hills League finals (seventh) and the Brentwood Small School Invitational (ninth). He closed with a time of 15:37.6 (23rd) in the CIF Division 5 final.
Ulysses Rios
Fountain Valley | Sr.
When he stepped on the scene as a sophomore, Rios had already contributed to the team score in a Surf League championship for the Barons two years ago. As a senior, Rios navigated to the front of the pack to pace Fountain Valley. He was the runner-up in the Sunset League finals, seven seconds behind Los Alamitos senior Matthew Mayhue. He broke the 15-minute barrier with a time of 14:49.8 in the Orange County championships at Oak Canyon Park.
Kevin Steinman
Corona del Mar | Sr.
Max Douglass, the CIF Division 4 titleholder and the Daily Pilot Boys’ Cross-Country Athlete of the Year in 2024, was a tough act to follow. Steinman gave it a go and heated up late, placing fourth in the Sunset League finals, then following it up with a second-place finish in the Sea Kings’ heat of the CIF preliminaries. It proved vital, as CdM made the section finals with a cushion of just six points over Brea Olinda.
Empire Vo-Courtney
Fountain Valley | Sr.
In the category of you can’t make this stuff up, the Barons started an Empire. Vo-Courtney hadn’t broken 16 minutes before this season, then did it in five of six 3-mile races as a senior. He posted his personal record of 15:37.8 in the Central Park Invitational, then replicated the outing at the same venue in the Sunset League finals in a sixth-place showing.
SECOND TEAM
Name, School, Year
Aidan Algazi, Corona del Mar, Sr.
Zachary Byerley, Edison, Jr.
Khyler Bonaparte, Newport Harbor, Jr.
Elisha Case, Ocean View, Jr.
Ross Day, Corona del Mar, Jr.
Liam McRae, Laguna Beach, Sr.
Maddox Vann Nguyen, Marina, Jr.
Nate Yoo, Sage Hill, Jr.
