Season Preview: Calhoun Boys Winter Track

The Calhoun boys winter track team will look to conquer the Nassau competition yet again as it shoots for back-to-back county titles.  

Many of the members on the Colts three-time defending county champion cross country team, such as a crew of seniors in James Panetta–who received all-state honors in early November–Tim Campbell, Casey Bader and Brendan Abrams, will look to anchor a solid winter track squad when the season kicks off on Thursday at the St. Anthony’s meet.    

“With the seniors, experience is always a good thing, but they won it last year with little experience,” Calhoun head coach David Hendler said. “The thing that sets them apart from others is that no one kid tries to steal the show. They are a team and that is how they were brought up and continue to act.”  

Calhoun captured the county title the last winter season by a narrow five-point margin over conference rival, East Meadow, a team that edged out the Colts in their end-of-the-season conference championship meet in 2009.  

Calhoun will seek that coveted title again competing out of Conference II-A with East Meadow, Port Washington, Long Beach, Plainview-Kennedy, Valley Stream Central, Herricks, MacArthur and Great Neck South.  

“East Meadow and Uniondale are always tough,” Hendler said. “Port Washington is going to be there with some good distance kids. Then Massapequa will be good, too.”  

Panetta and Campbell look to serve as the backbone for some of the distance events for the Colts, such as the mile, two-mile, and 4 x 800 meter relay.  

“I would like to win a county championship like we did last year,” Campbell said. “I want to help out as much as possible and that will probably mean winning at least one individual title.”  

Senior Zack Kronstat is the team's top triple-jumper and looks in top form as the season closes in.  

“I would like to go all-county and qualify for the triple jump," Kronstat said. "Fourty three feet is my current personal best, but I would like to reach 45 feet this year."

Abrams, who will look to contribute in the long distance events, points out the recent success that many of the runners experienced this past fall season as a large booster to compete at the highest level in the winter.  

“Since we just won the cross county county title, it is great for confidence, so we could use that as momentum for the winter,” Abrams said. “It is a big motivation factor and something to help us get started and push ourselves to continue winning ways.”  

When the champions are crowned and the seniors have graduated, a few current underclassmen such as juniors Nick Haile and Matt Calo will be looked at to provide critical leadership.  

“Running in the state meet this fall shows you how fast people can go and ultimately how you could go,” Haile said. “I want to run as close to 10 flat as possible in the two-mile event.”  

Senior Chris Murphy will lead Calhoun in the hurdling events; seniors Kenny Woo, Chris Weinstein and Will Fugina will bolster the sprinting and short distance events, and Bader will compete in distance events as well.  

There is little doubt that the Calhoun Colts have the talent and work ethic to repeat as Nassau County champions. Coach Hendler only sets up the workouts for his young men, and the rest is solely up to them.  

“It is the work ethic and what they decide to put into it," Hendler said of his team. "I don’t ever question that this team is going to work really hard. We will be in it at the very end.”