Indoor Nationals PA Recap: 9:56.18

By Jarrett Felix

What a meet! I was excited to get to watch most of the PA performances this weekend, including a national record, a state record, and some of the top all time marks we’ve seen in indoor history. Let’s break down some of the big performances. Let us know what you think were the best results, what this means for outdoors and if I missed anything you thought deserved more chatter.

DMR

It’s official. PA is a national record holder in the Distance Medley. After O’Hara came less than a second away in 2014, the boys from Carlisle took to the track to try and finish the job. Things got off to a promising start earlier when sophomore Sam Affolder stormed to the lead in the second half of his 1200 meter leg and opened up a gap on the field. It was a much more even and controlled effort with a similar overall result as the state championship. Affolder handed off in 3:02.11.

Jared Griffie took the stick next. He had already run a solo 400 at the DMR at PA’s state championship meet and was likely comfortable in that spot. He ran 51.71 on his leg, one of the faster splits of the top teams, despite the fact that he was alone. That got Isaac Kole the baton, maintaining a solid lead of roughly 3 seconds. But Carlisle didn’t hold that margin the entire way. Matthew Kehn of Western Cary in New York stormed out very quickly on his 800 leg, catching and even passing Kole on his leg. But similar to Sam, Isaac had run a nice controlled race and he had plenty left for the second lap. Kole officially split a 1:57.41 and, although I didn’t have a watch on it, I’d estimate he had a negative split on his leg.

That gave Noah Affolder the baton. To break the national record of 9:59.94, Noah would need to split a 4:08.6 or better. Although that was well within his best time of the season, it quickly became apparent the Carlisle senior would have to do the work himself as he pulled away from his top pursuer with a 60-61 second lap. But Noah had soloed his 4:07 state record in the mile on this very track a month or so ago at the Millrose Games and he was ready for this moment.

Just like his teammates, Noah ran a very smart and controlled pace and looked great through the first few laps. I knew the record was gone after about 1,000 meters. He just looked controlled and his pacing was very reasonable. Once he started lapping people, it gave him a bit of extra motivation and he kicked hard on the final laps to bring it home well under the record. Noah’s final split was a 4:04.95, the fastest ever indoor split in PA state history, toppling Tony Russell’s herculean 4:07 low split from 2014. It also puts Affolder in rarified air as only Paul Vandegrift and Ken Lowry in PA history have covered a full 1600 meters faster than Noah’s split.

The final time for Carlisle was a terrific 9:56.18, smashing a long standing 9:59.94 record that had seemed closed to untouchable in year’s past. Lowering that record by almost 4 seconds could mean it stays around for a while. It’s also the first time any PA squad has broken 10 minutes in the DMR indoors or out. Plus, if you take a look at the outdoor list, I believe there are just 6 teams that have bested 9:56.18 in high school history. The long standing 9:49.78 outdoor record, held by a South Lakes team that featured Alan Webb on the anchor (in 3:59) is maybe next on the agenda for Carlisle. They would need a little less than 2 seconds per person to get there. The best time from this decade was run in 2011, by an Edward Cheserek anchored St. Benedict’s squad. They ran 9:51.97.

Meanwhile, lost in all the craziness from Carlisle, Germantown Friends nearly made it a 1-2 finish. GFS came within 0.01 of Brentwood, their rivals from earlier in the season, as the two relays ran 10:12.54 and 10:12.55. Brentwood’s anchor, Brodey Hasty, got the baton about a second before GFS’s anchor Nick Dahl took over the relay. Starting in 9^th overall, Dahl raced all out to take his team up through the pack. His final split was a new PR of 4:08.72, his second career split under 4:09 for 1600 meters. That’s a monster carry and helped lift GFS to 3^rd place and one of the fastest DMRs we’ve seen indoors for a PA squad. Also on the relay were Colin Riley (3:14), Eli Schwemler (52.06) and Jonnie Plass (1:57.22).

It was that kind of year for GFS and Nick Dahl who were overshadowed at a variety of moments throughout this excellent season. In fact, Dahl was only the 4^th fastest PA runner of the weekend when you factor in Noah Affolder’s split and convert Josh Hoey and Sam Affolder’s equivalent 1600 times from the mile later in the weekend.

4x800m

GFS, who had run 7:47 at states, was slated originally to run this relay without their top runner in Nick Dahl. But ultimately, Dahl seemed to push individual events aside (he was supposed to run the 2 mile but scratched) and yet again went team first. GFS stuck with their order from both states and Millrose and gave Nick the baton on lead off. He opened up a huge advantage for his GFS teammates, rolling to a 1:55.83. That split was nearly 5 seconds faster that any of the other teams that finished in the top 5 overall. The second fastest lead off leg was just 1:57.65.

Next, Dan Stassen took the baton with the lead and the pressure. Stassen pushed hard from the front and fought valiantly against a slew of very talented second legs. His carry of 2:01.28 kept GFS in the mix up front, within a second or so of the lead. Colin Riley clocked a 1:58.10 carry on the 3^rd leg and then Jonnie Plass dropped a big 1:55.68 to help GFS finish in 4^th place overall, just half a second behind 2^nd place St. Benedict’s. Considering GFS had used 3 of these same runners in the previous night in an incredible effort in the DMR, their 4^th place finish is perhaps even more impressive. Their final time was 7:50.89 which, although it wasn’t as fast as their state run, was an excellent mark.

2 Mile

After his National Record run on the DMR, Noah Affolder set his sights on an individual championship. He entered the 2 mile with Brodey Hasty of Brentwood and DJ Principe of LaSalle (RI) ready to push each other to a fast time. Entering the meet, the top 10 performances in indoor history were as follows:

Cheserek 8:39.15

Lindgren 8:40.0

Verzbicas 8:40.70

Nelson 8:42.7

Webb 8:45.19

Hunter 8:48.22

Thomet 8:48.32

Ostberg 8:48.88

Dani 8:49.1

Puskedra 8:49.58

Noah hadn’t raced over a mile once this indoor season, instead racing miles and 800s to prepare for a quadruple at states. With that quadruple likely still in his legs, the Carlisle senior helped push the pace late in the 2 mile, hoping for a record setting time. I suspected that blazing fast miler (4:00.97) DJ Principe would be the one to storm by Noah on the last lap if he couldn’t hold on, but instead junior Brodey Hasty was the one to find the extra gear. The Tennessee runner ran 8:45.16 for the full 2 miles with Noah coming through in second at 8:46.08 and DJ in 8:47.40.

Noah’s official 3200 meter split was 8:42.944 which makes him PA’s fastest 3200 meter runner ever, breaking the outdoor record of Paul Springer set in 2007 (8:49.68). Affolder demolished the previous indoor state record which was around 9:02 from Max Kaulbach and his 8:16 3k split was faster than the old 3k state record of Craig Miller (8:22.65).

This stretch for Noah, combined with his XC season and his quadruple at indoor states, puts him in the conversation for PA’s greatest ever. Even on just 2 season’s worth of work. Certainly from a talent level, he’s the best I’ve seen, but in terms of a volume of top marks, he will need a bit more on the resume to pass Vandegrift (and Lowry is in the conversation as well I suppose). If he puts together the outdoor results that these seem to indicate (Carlisle typically isn’t heavily involved in the indoor season and peaks well for outdoors, although their indoor work has increased over the past few years), he has a shot at Vandegrift’s long standing 4:03.22 1600 meter state record.

Very quietly, junior Rusty Kujdych posted a very strong 9:11.54 for 2 miles. That’s a massive PR over this distance, as Rusty did not break 9:20 for 3200 meters last spring. The Neshaminy junior was 2^nd at the indoor state 3,000 meters and should be a fun watch this outdoors.

Mile

The mile was a very fast race, featuring some of the best ever indoor milers. Mixing it up in the front were a couple of PA’s best underclassmen. Josh Hoey and Sam Affolder became the fastest ever PA milers for their specific class years (junior and sophomore). Josh ran 4:08.59, the second fastest indoor mile in PA history behind only Noah Affolder’s time from Millrose. It moves him ahead of Sam Ritz on the all-time state miler list and into the top 5. Meanwhile, Sam Affolder, as just a sophomore, ran 4:09.89. He joins his brother, Josh and Sam Ritz as the only sub 4:10 indoor miles in PA history and moves into the top 15 or so milers in PA history.

Those results were good enough for 6^th and 7^th overall. Josh and Sam both had to fight the whole way through this race as they gave everything they had to hang in the pack. It looked a couple times like they might drop off and get shot out the back, but both runners showed great resiliency en route to the top finishes they posted.

Looking ahead to outdoors, it should be interesting to see how these two continue to improve. The previous fastest indoor milers (Sam Ritz, Tony Russell, Kevin James, Paul Springer) had mixed improvement outdoors. Ritz didn’t end up beating his best indoor mile (although he ran a very fast 1500). Russell posted a sub 4:10 1600 meter, but an injury kept him out of the outdoor 1600 state final. James didn’t ultimately best his time outdoors, but focused on the 2 mile.

Other Notes

SMR

Without arguably their two best runners, Bishop Shanahan’s Sprint Medley earned All American status with a 5^th place finish. Keegan Hughes dropped a 49.45 split on the 400 leg and handed off to Logan Yoquinto. Yoquinto, who had split a 1:56 to win the slow heat of the 4x8 at states, blitzed a new PR of 1:55.76 and held his own with a 1:53 anchor from the heat winners. Overall, that was good enough after Heat 4 and Heat 5 ran, to keep in the top 5. The final relay time was 3:32.56, less than a second ahead of 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th.

Emerging Elite 4x800m

CR South ran an 8:06.21 for 15^th in this race. It doesn’t sound like much (it’s not even their season best), but the line-up listed didn’t feature Collin Ochs who, if I’m not mistaken, was one of their best guys this year indoors. Not sure if he is hurt or just didn’t race, but if he gets healthy for spring, I think you can plug him in as a potential sub 2 leg. This team could run in the mid 7:50s and maybe more. I’m just a big fan of their speed.

4xMile

After finishing outside the top 10 in the DMR, the boys from Cardinal O’Hara came back with a vengeance in the 4xMile. Patrick James set the team up well early, fighting at the front of the pack and splitting a season best 4:25.98 for the full mile. Gavin Inglis, fresh off a 3:10 carry the previous night, rolled to a 4:22.54 and then Ryan James ran his second mile in the last 20 or so hours and clocked a 4:22.33. Those season best splits set up Eddie Issertell in a big moment. His season best entering the meet was 4:41.65 according to milesplit. He got the baton in about second place and had to hold ground against a 4:13 miler from Colts Neck. Eddie stayed strong throughout, clocking a 4:37.50 and giving O’Hara the bronze medal overall in the event. It adds to a long list of O’Hara All-American results at the indoor and national championships.