The Etrain 11: Carlisle Transformed

Carlisle Senior Matt Wisner sprinted down the homestretch, locked in a tight battle with Jaxson Hoey of Downingtown West and Joe Espinal of Wilson. The 800 specialist and Duke commit rolled through, fighting until the very end and ultimately coming up just short of his first ever state gold. All the same, Wisner crossed the line with a huge PR at 1:51.49, one of the top 50 times ever in Pennsylvania 800 history. And just like that, it seemed like the Carlisle state title window was over.

Zach Brehm had won a state title each of the previous three seasons at the 800, 1600 and 3200. Wisner was his prime protégé, waiting in the wings, learning from Brehm and honing his strength to match his mind numbing speed. Ultimately, it paid off in huge gains for Wisner over the course of his senior year. He grabbed a cross country medal as well as a pair of silvers in the 800. With Wisner graduating, it appeared like it would be an end of an era for a great Carlisle program who had pushed through state qualifying teams in the fall and district champion type relays in the spring. Without a logical star in the waiting, it seemed like another district three school would now rise in their place.

But then news broke. Stunning, nearly unprecedented news. A pair of brothers from New York, known as the Affolders, were scheduled to move to Carlisle area for the 2016-2017 school year. So naturally, it was time to look up these runners and see what kind of skills they had. It didn’t take long to find out they were truly remarkable athletes. The previous season, Noah Affolder, the oldest of the two brothers, had been Footlocker Northeast Regional champion over arguably PA’s best ever XC runner in Jake Brophy. And his little brother Sam had bested the national freshman class record in the steeplechase and placed 8^th at NY Federations meet.

Of course two runners is not enough to win you a state championship. Well, not in Cross Country anyway. Therefore, it was time to investigate who returned from last year’s squad. With Wisner gone, not a single member of the Carlisle returners had broken 17 minutes on the state cross country course the previous year en route to a 13^th place team finish. But there was more here than meets the eye. While Isaac Kole was just 93^rd at states the previous fall, he had shown real promise during the track season with sub 9:40 and sub 2:00 clockings in the 3200 and 800 respectively. Plus, they had Jack Wisner, Matt’s younger brother, who had been the top freshman in AAA at 110^th place. Given the natural improvement rate from freshman to sophomore age, it wasn’t unreasonable to speculate we would see big improvements from this youngster.

What proved much harder to qualify was the mental edge that the Affolder boys have to the Herd. From day one, Noah was a record setter, crushing every course in his path in never before seen times. Sam, at two years younger, was just as phenomenal, even running his brother’s shadow. And knowing how great those two were, combined with his own training alongside them in practice, Isaac Kole was ready to break out.

From the jump, it was clear Kole had hit another level. He rolled to an all-time great performance at Enos Yeager, impressed at PTXC and then smashed the 16 minute barrier at his home invitational. As a result, he solidified the top 3 for the Herd and the Carlisle boys defeated District One powerhouses CR North and DT West in back to back invites to cement themselves as the title favorites. In their home invite, Carlisle put five runners under 17 minutes, three under 16 and one under 15 as Noah Affolder ran a previously unthinkable 14:47 to smash the previous course record. This squad was here to stay.

But nothing was set in stone. Cross Country is, first and foremost, a team sport. Even with Kole’s development, the Herd needed a bit more at the back end of their varsity line up if they were going to hold on at the loaded state meet. DT West had been five runners in front of Jack Wisner, Carlisle’s #4 runner, at the invitational. Their young sophomore had a lot of pressure on him to continue to grow. And he rose to the challenge. Knowing he needed to step it up, Jack added a 16:24 on the difficult Big Spring course to place 24^th at Districts. He was getting healthy and peaking at the right time, ready to make a charge at states. Everything seemed to be coming together for Carlisle to do what no District 3 team had done in over a decade: win the AAA Cross Country state title.

However, over in District One an old foe was gaining steam. Council Rock North, one of the most historic programs in Pennsylvania, had put together their best ever showing at a district championship. With four guys under 15:50, they looked incredibly formidable. And other schools were improving quickly as well. Pack programs like DT West, CB West and LaSalle had looked excellent in recent weeks. New WPIAL power Seneca Valley was coming off a thrilling upset victory with momentum on their side. Carlisle, who had seemed like a state title hopeful for so long, now looked like they could struggle just to get a top 2 podium spot.

On race day, the Herd ran like a poised group of professionals, despite the fact that they were up against programs who had historically been on this stage, in this position, much more frequently. Through the first mile, Carlisle was tied for 8^th overall in the team standings. Then, the boys started to turn it on, moving up to 4^th with Noah now taking over the individual lead. But they still had a long way to go just to get to 2^nd. With only a mile left, the boys turned on the jets. Sam Affolder moved from 8^th to 3^rd, Isaac Kole from 17^th to 14^th, Jack Wisner from 54^th to an incredible 33^rd, and #5 man Max Fiorentino had his best race of the season, moving all the way from 183^rd up to 151^st.

When the final points were tallied, Carlisle finished with the state champion and new course record holder in Noah, two other top 15 finishers and a four top 50 finisher in Jack Wisner. That, combined with a strong last mile from Fiorentino, put them 40 points ahead of 3^rd place and comfortably on the podium for the first time. However, the fire power from CR North proved to be too much. Ultimately, North’s top 4 held ground and then Ethan Koza of CRN pushed the team over the edge with a 5^th top 50 finish for his team.

There was disappointment surely after such a long struggle to try and take state gold. Getting second place was never easy. But a determined group set their sights on the next challenge and the next chance to raise the trophy as team state champions.

This came on the indoor oval, a surface that Carlisle had only recently started to utilize. Zach Brehm never contested an indoor state championship, despite his excellent resume, and it wasn’t until Matt Wisner burst onto the scene that Carlisle became a real player. In 2017, with a lot of buzz about the Herd’s DMR potential, the boys decided to put their chips in for a big winter.

Right from the start, we saw that the Affolder’s would have just as big of an impact on the track as the trails. In the team’s first big meet at Ursinus, Noah tripled with the 4x8, open 8 and DMR as Carlisle rolled to big time victories. It would prove to be a sign of things to come. After becoming the indoor state record holder in the mile at the Millrose Games, Noah Affolder decided he would go for an unprecedented quadruple at the indoor state championship. Knowing they needed every point they could get to defeat Bishop Shanahan, Affolder decided to try the 4x8-Mile-800-DMR quadruple. It was a risky move, one that would require a lot of sacrifice from Carlisle’s top dog, but it was one that he willing accepted.

Taking the lead from Noah, the Herd attacked the state championship. Sam Affolder led off well against all-time great Nick Dahl in the 4x8 to start the day and then Jack Wisner and Isaac Kole powered through the middle legs to set up Noah in the perfect position. Coasting along gracefully, Noah turned on the jets at the right time, shutting down when the race was sealed so that he could conserve for what was to come. It was a fairly remarkable effort as the team nearly broke the state record in the 4x8 without even pushing all the way to the line, running 7:45.

The big day wasn’t done as Noah cruised to a victory in the mile, defeating future state champ Tristan Forsythe as well as great runners like Evan Addison and Liam Conway. Then, on his third race of the day, he nearly stunned a fresh Josh Hoey in the 800, leading through 600 meters before being hawked down at the final straight. All the same, he ran a new PR of 1:53 and grabbed 8 more points for the team. That left only the DMR to come. We got a great preview of what record attempting performances would be in the future as Sam Affolder broke the race open from the start and the team never looked back. Isaac Kole and 400 runner Jared Griffie soloed great performances and got the stick through to Noah with a big lead. From here, he was able to cruise home in a new meet record of 10:13. Noah competed in four events that led to a spectacular 38 points for his team. But ultimately, just as in Cross Country, the team came up just short of that team title. Bishop Shanahan was now the school to unseat them as Carlisle was 2^nd yet again.

However, Carlisle didn’t get down. They were built more for outdoors anyway. They had top hurdlers and jumpers who could really take advantage of the outdoor set up. The sprint relays were also trickier to negotiate at outdoor states and the Carlisle distance squad was confident they could continue to improve. A prime example was the New Balance Indoor National Championships. Here, Carlisle got their name in the history books for perhaps a long time to come.

They broke the state and national record in the DMR by running 9:56 for the 4,000 meter race. Noah anchored the team home in 4:04 after his brother ran a 3:02 split on the lead leg. Isaac Kole was the man tasked with 800 duties, running 1:57 to hold serve in the middle leg. But the Affolder boys were really the stars of the show and the press. The next day, Noah became the state record holder in the two mile with a mind blowing 8:46.08 and Sam moved into the top 25 in PA history (indoors or out) with a 4:09.89 mile time. Despite only running for two thirds of a year at a PA school, Noah was already getting some well deserved buzz about his position as the greatest high schooler ever in the state of Pennsylvania.

Then, disaster struck. After giving everything he could for his team at indoor states and nationals, it was revealed that Noah had suffered a serious ankle injury that would sideline him for the rest of the season. In all my years writing on the blog, I don’t think I’ve ever seen news that hit the readers of this blog so hard. There was not only a lot of desire to see just how fast he could run during outdoors, but also there was a ton of respect for this runner and the heart he had shown while racing in a Carlisle uniform. For weeks, people speculated that maybe he could return, but it was not meant to be. A short while later, it was revealed that Sam Affolder would be moving again the following year. That meant this spring would be his last time racing for the Herd despite the fact that he was only a sophomore. In a blink, the Affolder tornado passed through Pennsylvania.

Yet there was still a season left to be run and Carlisle, never one to give up, was ready to take their last stab at a state title. Knowing that they may never get a chance like this again, they put their foot on the gas early and often. With Noah out of the picture, Carlisle needed someone to step up and fill the void. While Sam continued to be amazing, running 4:08 and 1:54, the man who made the most noticeable strides was Isaac Kole. The senior clocked a 4:18 1600 at Shippensburg before unleashing a fantastic 3:04 lead of leg at the Penn Relays to hand off in first place. As the season progressed, Kole won the District 3 title in the 800 on his fourth race of the weekend and made himself a medal contender for states. With Jack Wisner clocking a 1:56 of his own, the Carlisle boys had a loaded 4x8 relay as well as a crop of potential scorers at the state championship.

The question became: what was the best way to disperse the talent? After a very rocky district meet, the question became much more important. Although Carlisle was hoping to get a big lift from their jumps and sprints, things didn’t go their way as championship season started. That left a gaping hole in their projected totals that needed to be filled elsewhere. So the Herd staff made the tough decision to bail on the 4x800 relay and instead put Sam Affolder in the 3200 and 1600 with Isaac Kole focusing purely on the 16. Those two combined with their jumper Millington and 800 runner Wisner could hopefully score enough points to overcome their District One opponents.

Although Kole and Affolder both made the 1600 finals with ease (Kole PRing in the process), the young sophomore Wisner couldn’t quite navigate his way to the 800 finals. And Millington left the track with no points in the field. That put this team in a big uphill battle. They would need a truly herculean effort for Sam Affolder and Isaac Kole in their last ever Carlisle races if they were going to have any chance. And even still, they would need a fair bit of luck on their side.

On State Championship Saturday, Sam seemed to get things started in the right way. Throwing down a massive kick on the final lap, it looked like the sophomore was going to unseat #1 seed Nathan Henderson and grab 10 points for the Herd. But amazingly, Henderson responded on the last straightaway and stole the victory over Sam in the final strides. With another 2 points now gone, Sam Affolder was left kicking himself furiously on the sidelines. It was clear how badly he had wanted that win, not just for himself, but for his team.

Now the previous state championship, Sam had tried another tricky double: the 4x8-Mile. This one had not gone very well. Sam had to drop out of the mile as he seemed spent, even at a reasonable pace. So how would the sophomore handle an absurd double outdoors? Meanwhile Kole, although a strong runner, had been mid pack at the district championships in the 1600. His PR was behind many of the top guys in this field and he had never even competed in an individual event at the outdoor state championships. So it was hard to expect much from this duo in their last gasp for team points.

And yet, we got something anyway. In a gutsy performance, Kole battled through the tight, tactical field and threw down a terrific kick to pull away the last 100 meters. Then, moving all the way up from out of contention, Sam Affolder came flying into the picture on the last lap to give the Carlisle boys an unprecedented 1-2 finish. Without their best runner and with one runner on the double from the 3200, Carlisle took 1-2 in the state 1600 meter final. We will never see anything like it again.

In their post race interview, the Carlisle boys revealed that they had stopped worrying about the team title by the time they got to the 1600. They had seen it as an impossible goal and it was time, for perhaps the only time in their season, to run for their own individual success. So in that way, it is truly poetic that, as soon as they stopped racing for their team, they got the success they needed to miraculously take down the outdoor team title. With points from only Sam and Isaac, the Carlisle boys were Outdoor Team Champions in one of the most unique state title races in history. After three seasons of trying, they finally got it.

The arrival of Noah and Sam Affolder at Carlisle gave us an amazing, unforgettable experience. And as they leave for what is sure to be other big things, it’s hard to not think about everything they were able to impact. There are, of course, record books that have been reset. Noah himself leaves with three state records and two state meet records. There are state titles, both team and individual. But there are also the countless stories of runners who they empowered and inspired to be great. Most notably, of course, is Isaac Kole. A big talent who was already on the ascension, but who got the extra push he needed from the arrival of these two superstars to end his career with a state championship of his own. But there are also guys like Jared Griffie and Jack Wisner. Or even District 3 runners in general like Nate Henderson or Jesse Cruise who grew so much in their pursuit of the Affolders.

In recent years, District 3 has struggled during XC as D1, D7 and even D12 have had their number at times. But this year, the District had their best team finish in a decade, produced the top 4 individuals overall, had 9 medalists and almost 15 top 50 finishers. We had the deepest DMR and 4x8 we have ever seen at the indoor state championship with GFS throwing down two absolutely terrific times as they gave chase to the Carlisle squads. And then we had one of the deepest, tightest top 8 finishes in the state 1600 where basically everyone ran a PR in the state final, some of them being pretty huge ones might I add. Everywhere this team seemed to go, success and fast times seemed to follow.

And lastly, it’s worth mentioning, that the Affolders didn’t have much of a reason to be loyal. To make sacrfiices. They’ve moved around a lot. Heck, Sam is moving again next year. It’s not like they grew up with the kids at Carlisle or the surrounding districts. It’s not like they had years fighting together for a joint cause.  They came in, they knew it might only be a year, but they decided that this one year was going to be special. Not just for themselves, but everyone they met. And I think it’s fair to say, they were successful.