As you’ve
probably all seen by now, the link above details the sad news that Noah
Affolder has an ankle injury and will miss at least six weeks to recover. If he
does return to action, he has said it will only be the 4x800, an event that
Carlisle won this past indoors and is the current PA #1 this spring (without
Noah). That leaves the door open in multiple individual events that Noah would
have been the favorite in, including, most notably, the 3200 meters. In his
first attempt at the distance, Noah smashed the state record for any surface on
the Armory’s 200 meter oval. With Noah out of the line-up, this will mark the 7th
time in 8 years that the indoor mile state champion was unable to defend his championship
outdoors.
He’s a
runner I’ve never seen in my 11 years of watching (and lots of other people
would agree with large sample sizes) who was willing to go all out for his
team, even if he was only at Carlisle High School for a year. He transformed a
cross country program, went all out at the indoor state championships in four
events, and got his school a national record that I’d bet will be around a
while. That’s an incredible amount of loyalty and team spirit.
That is bad news and really a shame. It just goes to show how remarkable Vandergrift was. At that level not only do you need amazing talent and work ethic, but you need to get in the right races and be lucky enough to train hard and stay healthy.
ReplyDeleteBut I wouldn't rule him out based on that article. If he can get some work in a pool and on the bike to maintain whatever fitness he can and is lucky enough to get back a couple of weeks sooner and qualify for the 1600, he'd still be the favorite. If he's not back, well his younger brother is getting better every day. I'd consider him the favorite in the 1600 now, which is saying a lot considering Hoey's ability.
- JEB
It is sad cause he's been great but there's still plenty of really good dudes in PA that will run great and guaranteed some guy we never heard of will come up big in May.
ReplyDeleteI can see Noah coming back for districts with a sick 4X8 leg.
ReplyDelete