Affolder aims to cap undefeated season in San Diego

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Ed Boardman, the cross country coach at Carlisle PA, said he was feeling some nerves for his standout runner, Noah Affolder, this week.

“There’s only one thing that is nerve-wracking from my perspective,” Boardman said. “I haven’t seen him be pushed yet and I think he’s going to be pushed (on Saturday).”

Boardman admitted that he wasn’t sure whether Affolder shared that concern.

After all, Affolder has been to the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships and Boardman hasn’t.

The Syracuse-bound senior, who has called eight different states home while growing up in a military family, has been focused on Foot Locker ever since placing 15th at San Diego’s Balboa Park one year ago.

In June, Affolder left Carthage NY, where he became a national-caliber runner, and moved to Carlisle PA for his senior year.

Affolder is aiming to become the first boy from Pennsylvania (or, for that matter, New York) to win the Foot Locker championship. He is undefeated this season, including repeat wins at McQuaid, Manhattan, and the Foot Locker Northeast regional. His younger brother Sam, a sophomore, was second and will join him in San Diego.

“Winning Foot Locker is my highest priority,” Affolder said earlier this season. “It’s all I’m worried about this cross country season.”

For Boardman, there was at least some potential for an alternate scenario. Carlisle was strong through four runners and if it could have developed depth at No. 5, the coach held out some hope that he could have a conversation with Affolder about steering toward Nike Cross Nationals instead.

“I decided early on we would cross that bridge when we got to it,” Boardman said. “Our best (potential fifth man) got a stress fracture. Had he continued, and we won the state meet and looked like a better threat to make nationals, I would have talked to Noah after the state meet.”

In addition to selling the team aspect, Boardman would have dangled the carrot of a showdown with American Fork’s Casey Clinger.

But it was a discussion that never happened. Carlisle finished a distant second to Council Rock North at the Pennsylvania state meet (76-118) despite a 1-3 finish from Noah and Sam Affolder. The odds of earning an NXN berth grew too long.

Noah Affolder went straight to work preparing to peak at Foot Locker where he has the opportunity to etch his name alongside recent winners Drew Hunter, Grant Fisher, Edward Cheserek and other legends. and end his senior season as a national champion.

Boardman has been doing all he can to help the Affolders get ready. The coach is eager to witness Foot Locker for the first time and for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see two runners from Carlisle in the fabled race.

“I’ve never seen someone with Noah’s ability,” Boardman said. “He’s amazing.”

Affolder may enter the meet as the favorite, but there are serious challengers that aren’t going to simply yield.

Sam Worley of Comal Canyon TX, the Foot Locker South champion, was the runner-up to Clinger at last week’s Nike Cross Nationals after going 76th in 2015. It was a confidence-boosting result.

“It shows me I can compete with the good competition across the nation,” Worley said. “I just need to go into that race with the same kind of mentality to attack, to compete, to do as well as I can and just go for it.”

Seth Hirsch and Finn Gessner are the top two returners and both finished ahead of Affolder in 2015.

Hirsch (Millard West), the Nebraska state champion, was ninth last year at Foot Locker and is coming off a fourth-place finish at NXN.

Gessner (Madison La Follette), the Wisconsin state champion, was 11th at Foot Locker last year and also has designs on winning nationals. He turned down an NXN berth after winning the Heartland regional in order to focus his attention on Foot Locker.

There an additional six boys back from the 2015 Foot Locker final.

Reed Brown from Southlake Carroll TX placed 16th a year ago and comes into the week fresh off a sixth-place finish at NXN.

Matt Pereira of Lake Zurich IL was 24th last year and earned a return trip to San Diego by placing seventh at the Foot Locker Midwest regional.

Talon Hull of Weber UT and Tibebu Proctor of Northwest School WA earned return trips to Foot Locker by going 1-2 at Foot Locker West. Hull was 37th at nationals last year, Proctor 28th.

Waleed Suliman from Douglas Freeman VA will return after placing fifth in the South regional. He was 29th last year.

Matt Grossman from Millburn NJ qualified out of the Northeast region for the second year in a row. He was 35th last year.

In addition, there are some talented newcomers to this week’s championship. California Division 1 state champion Luis Grijalva from Armijo turned down an NXN berth in order to have an off week and focus on Foot Locker. He’ll aim to be the first Californian to win the title since Chad Hall in 2006. Likewise, CIF Division 4 champion Callum Bolger opted for Foot Locker over NXN.

Junior Dylan Jacobs of Carl Sandburg IL won the Midwest regional, which makes him someone to keep an eye on. The Midwest champion has won five of the past nine years. Jacobs was 19th at NXN last weekend.

Connor Lane of Cardinal Gibbons NC was a record-setter at the North Carolina state meet and was the runner-up at Foot Locker South. Elliot Gindi of Ocean Township NJ was the New Jersey Meet of Champions winner. Jack Aho of Grayslake Central IL is the Illinois Class 2A champion and was 17th at NXN. He'll be joined this week by his twin brother Matt.

One of the most interesting newcomers is Flower Mound TX sophomore Alex Maier, who was third at Foot Locker South and finished fifth at NXN – one spot in front of Reed.

Oyster River NH senior Patrick O’Brien has a Foot Locker pedigree. The Northeast Regional third-place finisher is the son of 1984 national champion Cathy (Schiro) O’Brien.