Photo by Ethan Rissell
The conditions were perfect. The course was flat and fast. The compeititon was there. But anyone who has followed XC in the state of Pennsylvania was probably surprised when two, yes two, PA runners broke the 15 minute barrier in an invitational in late September.
Carlisle's Noah Affolder stunned the crowd with a 14:47, the fastest 5K in PA XC since Paul Springer ran that exact time at the District 1 Championships at Lehigh in 2006. JP McCaskey's Nathan Henderson also dipped under 15, running 14:59 and joining an elite class of Pennsylvania high school harriers.
The girls' race was fast, too, with Padua Academy's Lydia Olivere smoked a 17:22 to beat Downingtown West senior and PA#1 Aislinn Devlin, and the Manheim Township girls ran a great race to pick up the team win. Check out our race recaps: