Boys' Distance Recap
Noah Affolder of Carlisle had arguably the greatest day of any distance runner in PA indoor state meet history. He was part of winning relays in the 4x800 (a near state record) and a state meet record-setting DMR (more on that here!). In individual events, Affolder won one and took second in another.
Noah Affolder won the mile in a time of in 4:15.21, cruising to the win, doing just what he needed to do to pick up the victory. Owen J. Roberts' Liam Conway ran a great race with a monster kick to grab second place in 4:15.65. Conway, a junior, will be one to keep a serious eye on this outdoor season. Two other juniors---Winschester Thurston's Tristan Forsythe and LaSalle's Evan Addison---took third and fourth respectively in the race. Carlisle's Sam Affolder (PA#2) dropped out of the race.
Affolder returned in the 800 meters in what turned into a duel between him and Bishop Shanahan's Josh Hoey. Affolder took the race out from the start, running the first 400 is 52 seconds. But Hoey slowly reeled him in in the final lap and a half before breezing by Affolder in the final stretch. Hoey took the win in 1:52.21. Affolder was second in 1:53.84. Quakertown's Hudson Delisle took third and Penn Trafford's Nick Wagner was fourth.
The 3000 meters was the final individual event of the day. JP McCaskey's Nathan Henderson went to the front early on (against coaches' orders) and was able to hang on the rest of the way. Henderson held off Neshaminy's Rusty Kujdych, who stuck on Henderson for virtually the entire race. Ephrata's Zach Lefever was third and Souderton's Connor McMenamin took fourth. Waynesburg Central's Ben Bumgarner, the top seed coming in, suffered a fall in the middle of the race and finished ninth. For Henderson, it was his first career state championship.