Calhoun Colts gallop to county title

Before the season, Calhoun coach David Hendler and the boys’ cross-country team set their goals for the fall as winning the division, the conference, the county championship and the state qualifier. They put boxes next to each one and would draw a check mark when it was accomplished.

After last weekend, there were four check marks.

Logan Schaeffler and John Schwab finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at the New York State qualifier 5K race on Nov. 6 and helped the Colts capture the Nassau Class A team title at the Section 8 Championships at Bethpage State Park.

Schaeffler was the top sophomore finisher with a time of 16 minutes, 21.93 seconds, almost four seconds faster than Schwab, a senior. Four more Colt runners, juniors William Hughes and Gavin Giordano, senior Alexander Rosario and junior Matthew Belmonte, finished in the top 22 as the team finished with 58 points, three fewer than second-place Port Washington.

Those five runners, all All-County recipients, will all be competing at the state competition this weekend at Chenango Valley State Park.

“We expected the fact that this was going to be where it was going to end up,” Hendler said. “We talked about it all year long. Everybody did their 500 miles over the summer and they knew the talent that they had. They all worked together to get there.”

The win came a week after Calhoun placed five runners in the top nine at the Nassau Class II championship, which was also run at Bethpage. Schwab and Schaeffler placed second and third on the muddy course, respectively, and Hughes rounded out the top five with Rosario (7th) and Belmonte (9th) completing the quintet.

Schwab finished five seconds after winner Alexander Kasper of Jericho on the muddy course, but the Colt got some revenge on his rival by edging him by about three seconds at the state qualifier.

“He ran a great race,” Hendler said of Schwab’s county trip. “He felt like the course hurt him a little bit, but it was neck-and-neck coming down to the end. They go back and forth all year long.”

Schwab was the top-ranked runner in the county and No. 2 in the conference in both the 5K and 2.5-mile events. Schaeffler was second in the county in the 5K, third in the county in the 2.5 and third in the conference in both. Neither finished outside the top five in any of their 5K starts this season.

The Colts went 13-0 in the regular season and have not lost in 2021. The team also went undefeated last spring for its first county title since 2015.

Seniors Joseph Bilardello, Michael Gunn and Aidan Kopelman earned All-Conference honors for their efforts this season.