Photo by Ethan Rissell
Boys' Puma Challenge Race | Affolder goes 14:47, Henderson 14:59 in crazy fast race
We talked about how this one would be a big one, and man, did it not live up to its bill?
Noah Affolder continued his terrific first and only season at Carlisle High School, running an incredible 14:47 to take the win over an extremely strong field that included three of the next four ranked runners in the state and some New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland stars, too.
His winning time of 14:47 is the fastest we've seen in PA since Paul Springer's 14:47 at districts in 2006 and the first PA prep under 15 since Colin Abert of Easton did it at Paul Short in 2014. The elder Affolder spoke with us afterwards:
Not far off the defending Foot Locker Northeast champion Affolder was JP McCaskey's Nathan Henderson, who also dipped under 15, running 14:59 for second in the race. Henderson showed signs of great fitness at Ben Bloser last weekend and really proved it on Saturday with a tremendous race. While Affolder took the win, Henderson showed that he won't go down without a fight in District 3.
Sam Affolder was third for Carlisle and Don Bosco Prep from New Jersey took the next two spots with David Rosas and Justin Touhey. Bishop Shanahan's Josh Hoey, in his first big test with his new team, ran 15:37 for fifth, outkicking Dalton Hengst of McDonough (MD) and Kyler Shea of Lower Dauphin in the closing meters.
Don Bosco ran away with the team crown, scoring 111 points to take the 30 point victory. Carlisle was second with 131 points. Isaac Kole was 13th for the Herd, while Jack Wisner (60th) and Tyler Hallman (70th). Downingtown West came away with a great team result, taking third just ten points off Carlisle. Despite losing its top three from 2015, the defending state champs have proven that they've retooled well. Lower Dauphin took fourth with 168 points.