Calhoun Colts run to another title

The Calhoun boys’ cross county team recently ran away with its second straight Nassau Conference II championship, and to say the Colts battled through adversity to do it would be a giant understatement.

Four of the five squad members developed pneumonia early in the season, and battled through symptoms all year leading to the conference championship, according to coach David Hendler.

“It’s one of the hardest seasons we’ve ever had because of all the sickness,” Hendler said. “But once we got healthy, we really took off. But it took us to the end of the season to get healthy.”

The team lost its first two meets to begin the season, which is something it hadn’t done in several years, according to Hendler.

However, as health improved, so did the Colts. They “destroyed” the competition in the conference championship, said Hendler, with junior Zachary Toner leading the pack, completing the 3.1 mile race at Bethpage State Park in 17:00.3. The time was good for second overall in the entire race.

The rest of the boys all finished in the top 15, with Christopher Landi running a 17:29.9, Jack Curran running 17:34.2, senior captain Nicholas Haile running a 17:38.3, and Abe Lahood finishing in 17:56.2.

“Our theme of the year was patience,” Hendler said. “They really worked hard, they trained through sickness and pain and through injury until the end of the year when they all got healthy.”

The team was hoping for a repeat in the overall Nassau championship race, which it won last year, but finished in second behind Port Washington.

In the race, also at Bethpage State Park, Toner and Landi both broke the 17-minute mark, finishing 16:41,9 and 16.50.7, respectively. Both runners qualified for the state championships, which was ran upstate in Verona.

“[Toner has] been our No. 1 all year long,” said Hendler. “He really stepped up and saved us.”

With the exception of Haile, the entire squad will be returning for next season, a season Hendler hopes is not plagued by health issues.” If we were healthy the whole season, it might have been a different ballgame,” said Hendler.

“But you’ve got to be proud of these guys,” Hendler continued. “None of them ever gave up. Everyone knew we can get better, and they all worked like maniacs until they got there.”