Calhoun runs to county crown

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Calhoun’s boys’ cross-country team ran past the competition in Nassau County, finishing up its regular season with a perfect 13-0 mark and also finished first at both the Section 8 New York State Qualifier on Nov. 7, and Nassau Conference II Championships on Oct. 31. Both events were held at Bethpage State Park.

The Colts also qualified to run their entire team at last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships at Monroe-Woodbury high school with senior Elias Platanias finishing 19th overall in 16 minutes, 34.8 seconds.

The Lady Colts, meanwhile, took fourth in Conference II, finishing their season at 10-3. Senior Grace Moore was third overall (19:08.8).

Platanias, the leader of the pack for Calhoun, ran away from the competition at the State Qualifier, setting a personal best with his time (15:57) and beating out the second-place finisher, Mepham’s Chris Perillo (16:29.7) by 32 seconds. Platanias’ first-place finish at the county meet was a little closer but not by much. His time (16:08.2) was 22.6 seconds better than runner-up Aidan Smith of Massapequa. “He came up and decided he wanted to be great,” Colts coach Dave Hendler said of Platanias, a three-year varsity runner and the team’s first County Champion in three years. “He puts in 500 miles over the summer. He gets faster every year, which is a rare thing. He works hard and he’s a great team leader.”

“If you watch him run a race he [starts] fast and gets faster [throughout]. He’s able to do that because of his training. ”

Platanias’ goal at the State Qualifier was to break the 16-minute mark and his finishing kick helped him achieve the goal. “[To win] the State Qualifier by that gap is amazing because it’s the best of the best,” Hendler said. “With 1,000 meters to go he saw the back of the clock and knew he had a shot [at sub-16:00] so he started his kick.”

Senior Ryan Curran finished sixth at the State Qualifier (16:49.7), shaving nearly 45 seconds off of his 21st place time (17:32.5) at the county meet seven days earlier. The No. 2 runner for the Colts, Curran battled injuries leading up to the County finals before getting in good workouts in the week leading up to the State Qualifier. “These boys had a great season,” Hender said. “Syosset was the favorite going in [to the County’s] and they upset them.”

Senior Mike Dobkowski finished 11th at the State Qualifier (17:02.0) and 13th (17:11.2) at the County Championships, while senior Elijah Maduro was 15th (17:12.1) and ninth (16:58.8). Rounding out the Colts’ team of runners at the NYSPHAA Championships last Saturday were juniors Dan Haddock and James Donohue and sophomore Alex Rogers. Junior Pete Roberto was the alternate.

For the Lady Colts, senior Emma Joseph finished 13th in the county with a time of 20:50.7, while sophomore Nadya Resnick (21:36.9) was 24th. Junior Christina Garbarin was 26th (21:43.2).