Cross-country coach goes the distance

Tom Leavy's stop watch read 1:49 as the pack of girls approached, running at breakneck pace on Calhoun High School's brick-red track on a recent Friday morning.

"One fifty-eight, Alex!" shouted Leavy, the Calhoun girls' cross-country coach. "That's a good pace. 2:06, 2:14, 2:15. That's it, Emily. Attagirl."

Leavy, who started Calhoun's girls' cross-country team in 1974, is celebrating nearly half a century in coaching this season. As the girls rounded the corner, pulling away into the distance, he commented, "The girls who ran all summer, that's showing, and the girls who didn't run, that's showing, too."

No matter whether his runners finish first or last around the track, Leavy has a kind word, a smile and often a joke for them. And that, team members say, goes a long way toward explaining his continued success as a cross-country and track coach.

Last fall, the cross-country team, with 30 members, finished second in its conference. This year, the runners say, they're shooting for first. Led by Ava Fitzgerald, a junior who qualified for the state meet in her freshman and sophomore years (she placed 22nd at the Section 8 state qualifier last November), the team has high hopes in 2009.

Fitzgerald, a team captain who, like many runners, struggles at times with jitters before big meets, said Leavy is quick with a reassuring word. "If you're nervous," she said, "he gives you a hug and tells you, 'I love you no matter what.' He's like your grandfather."

Danielle Wilson, a junior co-captain, said, "First of all, I love him. He's the cutest coach ever. He's there for you. You can talk to him about anything."

Leavy started his career in education in 1957 as a phys. ed. teacher at Old Mill Road Elementary School in North Merrick. He stayed 35 years, retiring in 1992. He began coaching at St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale in 1963, remaining there for nine years before moving to Calhoun, where he's been ever since. He also volunteers each summer to help train a Nassau-Suffolk track team for the annual Empire State Games, specializing in the decathlon and heptathlon.