The Etrain 11: The Journey to Footlocker

by Jarrett Felix

Nathan Henderson, Sr JP McCaskey

After a breakthrough 2015 season that included his first district championships, Henderson got an unexpected challenge to start his senior season as Noah and Sam Affolder transferred to Carlisle High School. Many runners would have been intimidated by their arrival, but Henderson saw it as an opportunity to raise his game. He started the season with a big win at the Big Spring Invitational, setting himself up well for his first encounter with the Affolders at the Carlisle Invitational. Here, he battled tooth and nail with Noah Affolder, and was rewarded with a 14:58 time. It was 43 seconds faster than he had run on the same course the previous season.

As championship season began, Henderson continued to keep his foot on the gas. He won the Lebanon Lancaster League title in hot conditions against a very formidable opponent in Zach Lefever. At Districts, he earned the silver medal in a very fast 15:33. As recently as 2014, that time would have demolished the course record. Then, at the state championships, Henderson fearlessly chased Noah through the Hershey hills, a fight few were brave enough to attempt and even fewer were strong enough to survive. At the finish, Henderson ran a time of 15:48, good enough for the silver and the second fastest time in the course’s brief history.

After states, it was time to focus on the long grind to the regional championships. Nate had contested the Footlocker Regional meet a year earlier, but come up short of a top twenty finish. This time, armed with extra experience and confidence, he adjusted his race strategy to include a more conservative start. It paid off as Henderson rolled through the back half of the course and punched his ticket to nationals with a 9^th place finish.

Out in San Diego, I expect Nate will continue to do what he has all season: run fearlessly. There is plenty of talent at Footlocker, but he knows that he has raced and held his own against the top two finishers from the region.

Zach Skolnekovich, Sr Quaker Valley

Quaker Valley’s Zach Skolnekovich had a phenomenal 2015 season that ended with a silver medal at the state championships. After a terrific track season, he entered his senior year ready to chase that elusive first gold. In his first meet, he rolled to a victory at the Red, White and Blue Invitational, running up in the AAA classification. He rolled through the Sharpsville Invitational as well, clocking one of the fastest times of his career.

Zach entered the district meet undefeated, preparing to battle another undefeated runner in Ben Bumgarner. These two had faced off on the big stage many times before and each knew their biggest competition. The race began fairly conservatively and Skolnekovich and Bumgarner were in a crowded group at two miles. But over the final 1.1 the duo opened up a 30+  second advantage over everyone else. In the end, Skolnekovich was able to pull out the victory, winning in the fastest time of the day at 16:15. Adding to the accomplishment, was the success of his team. QV finished second overall in the district and punched their first ticket to states in quite some time. At the state meet, they would finish 5^th overall.

On the Hershey hills, Skolnekovich entered hoping for gold. He had just defeated perhaps his biggest rival a week earlier. But on race day, a fast early pace opened the door for some craziness. The race went through the mile in 4:50, the fastest start of any of the three classifications. Then Bumgarner made his move to try and surge away from Skolnekovich’s big kick. In the end, Zach couldn’t catch up and he had to settle for a second straight silver.

Naturally, he was disappointed, but with the Footlocker Regional Meet still on his schedule, he refocused. He was hungrier than before and ready for vengeance. However, Skolnekovich had yet to contest the regional championships and his inexperience not just for the race, but also the extra weeks of training, could have been his undoing.

But Zach ran a poised and confident race, looking like someone who had been there before. As a result, he finished 8^th in the region and became just the second AA Footlocker Finalist in the past 11 seasons. He will have his eyes on the top WPIAL finish at Footlocker (Zach Hebda, 18^th) when he travels to San Diego this weekend.

It’s worth noting that in the past 11 seasons, PA has now had 23 Male Footlocker Finalists. Of those 23, 6 were state champions their previous week and 17 were not. 7 were silver medalists, 5 were bronze and an additional 5 were outside the top 3 entirely (Max Norris and Chris Campbell were 4^th, Casey Comber was 6^th, Ben Furcht was 11^th, and Vince McNally was 18^th).

Sam Affolder, So Carlisle

At the start of the season, most PA fans had familiarized themselves with Noah Affolder’s accomplishments. It was understood that he had almost instantly become the state title favorite. But his younger brother, Sam, wasn’t quite as easy to figure out. As just a sophomore, Sam came into the season with something to prove and a standout brother to chase. At the PTXC Invitational, he finished as PA’s #2 runner. Behind only his brother. At Carlisle, he ran 15:17, a time that would have tied him with course record holder Kyle Dawson … if not for his brother’s new course record of 14:47 (as well as Nate Henderson’s 14:58).

At Mid-Penns, Sam grabbed silver again before heading to districts where he was just 4^th overall. It seemed possible that the super sophomore may finally be vulnerable, especially as he trekked to the unknown hills of Hershey. But Sam came to play. After a relatively conservative start, Affolder moved from 18^th at the mile and 8^th at the 2 mile all the way 3^rd overall, just two seconds away from 2^nd and 9 seconds clear of 4^th.

Now it was time for the regional championships. His brother Noah was the defending champion and the ideal training partner for a runner like Sam. The two looked like they were excelling during the extra weeks of training, running fantastic times at the Henderson 3200 and placing 1-2. Then, at the Regional Championships, Sam made a well-timed surge and moved all the way up to his brother’s shoulder. The brothers finished off the race with the top 2 spots in the Region.

As just a sophomore, Sam pulled off the very rare accomplishment of qualifying for the Footlocker National Championships. He is PA’s first sophomore to pull this off. And get this, Sam has yet to win at an Invite this year, having been in the same race as his brother each time. So the guy who finished 3^rd in the state and 2^nd in the entire Northeast Region has yet to win a race this year. How often does that happen?

Noah Affolder, Sr Carlisle

From Day 1, Noah has made it clear that his achievements in New York would translate just fine to the state of Pennsylvania. He crushed the Enos Yeager course. He crushed the Carlisle course. He picked up wins at Manhattan and McQuaid in PA course records. He torched Big Spring in a mind-blowing 15:17. And then, to cap things off, he won the state championship with a 15 second margin of victory, an even bigger margin than Jake Brophy had in his state record run from 2014.

When Noah lined up for the regional championships, where he was the defending champ, I thought he would win, but I didn’t realize he would dominate once again. He cruised to a 15:28 on the VCP course and won by 8 seconds over his closest competitor (his brother). So even when we expand from the state to the region, it’s hard to say that Noah has been truly pushed to his limits.

Now we enter the Footlocker National Championship with PA’s best ever hope for a winner. What does he have left in the tank for his final cross country performance of his historic high school career?