It was not what one would call perfect conditions for the Steinert boys’ cross country team.
The Central Jersey Group III meet was taking place at Jamesburg’s Thompson Park during a brutally hot November day. The top five teams would advance to the Group III state meet, and the Spartans felt they had a pretty good chance.
And then things started to happen. Distracting things.
In the girls race, which went off first, Lisette Zamichieli began sputtering, then passed out and was taken to the hospital. She would be all right, but at the time it naturally had an adverse effect on her brother, Anthony, as he readied to run the boys race.
“It was pretty crazy,” said Zamichieli, who was Steinert’s No. 1 runner. “When I saw that Lisette was starting to slow down and was visibly exhausted, it got me worried for her, and when she passed out all I wanted was for her to be OK. Running means a lot to me, but I didn’t want to run that race if she was not OK.
“I actually prayed to God that if it was His will, let me pass out too so I could share the pain. Little did I know what would happen after I finished.”
He didn’t pass out, but came darn close after finishing as Steinert’s third runner and 33rd overall in a time of 18:51.
“I went out a little too fast, and got exhausted from the heat,” Zamichieli said. “Right before the hill, I noticed myself slowing down and starting to get passed by people. When I finished it was definitely a sad moment because I felt like I let the team down, and for that to be my last race, it was not a pleasant feeling. And also I was sick, my heart and breathing were going crazy after the race and I was just laying down for a while.”
There was, however, a happy ending to the whole ordeal, as it would not be Zamichieli’s last race. While coach Mike Giacobbe was scrambling to figure out the scores to see if his team got through, Hopewell Valley coach and former Steinert running great Aaron Oldfield yelled over and held up five fingers, indicating that the Spartans did make it.
Once Zamichieli was aware of that, he almost took a turn for the worse.
“I heard Giacobbe’s voice saying ‘fifth,’ and I immediately got so excited, I almost had a heart attack,” he said. “My breathing and heartbeat was getting under control but once I heard that I just started laughing out of joy and shock that we made it after all had happened. And that’s a big shout out to everyone on the team.”
It wasn’t the most conventional way to get to the group meet, but it was certainly a memorable way.
“It was a crazy day,” Giacobbe said. “We have a runner pass out and taken to the emergency room and we’re trying to scramble back and get the boys focused. After the race, we couldn’t find Anthony, he was down behind a tree somewhere. By the time we put everything together Oldfield’s yelling my name and putting up a number five. It was one of those meets where our number one runner drops to third because he’s not feeling well and everyone steps up.”
Indeed they did, as Steinert was able to advance to the state meet for the first time since 2016.
Junior Max Kostin finished 23rd in 18:24, followed by sophomore Tyler Hurst (25th, 18:35), Zamichieli, junior Nihar Kolachalama (36th, 18:58), junior Nathanial Bigger (46th, 19:11) and sophomore Adam Szpakowski (19:31).
“Toward the end of the race I saw that Anthony was struggling quite a bit,” Kostin said. “After realizing this, I knew I had to step up. In this moment the only thing that mattered was finishing the race and getting by as many kids as possible to get better placement.
“This day meant everything to me. I saw that Anthony wasn’t feeling the greatest when I saw him that morning. I was extremely stressed and nervous because I knew that I was next in line to lead the team.”
He did just that, along with Hurst. The sophomore showed enough promise that Giacobbe bumped his seventh runner and inserted Hurst into the lineup for the CJ III meet.
“He was a soccer and basketball player last year then he came out for spring track,” the coach said. “I’ve known him and his family since he was a little kid. He’s a pure runner, but he was hurt this year. He didn’t even run an event until we got to the Mercer County JV/freshman meet. He ran that just under 19 minutes in the pouring rain in about two inches of mud. Once he did that we knew we had something going into sectionals. He was almost like the missing link.”
Although Steinert did not advance anyone from states into the Meet of Champions, Giacobbe could not have been happier with their effort at Holmdel Park as most runners dropped time from the previous week.
Zamichieli resumed his number one spot, leading Steinert with a 17:45, followed by Hurst (17:50), Kostin (18:14), Kolachalama (18:20), Bigger (18:59) and Szpakowski (19:32).
“All of the guys truly believed for the first time all season they truly belonged,” Giacobbe said. “They were relaxed, they were smiling, it was a perfect day to run at Holmdel. I think they relaxed and responded to everything we’ve done all season.
“Now you’re going up against the best of the best. There are runners in that race running 15 minutes. You can give all the speeches you want — anything can happen on any given day within the team and it really showed. We had two runners that broke 18, three that broke 19.”
It capped a stellar postseason effort for Steinert, which also took fifth in the Mercer County meet. Zamichieli finished 22nd in 17:57, followed by Kolachalama (25th, 18:00), Kostin (31st, 18:16), Bigger (61st 19:13) and Szpakowski (65th, 19:19).
“I am extremely proud of how the team as a whole performed this year,” Kostin said. “During our pre-season I did not think we had it in us to move on to groups. I didn’t think we had enough kids with good running experience to make it. The odds were not in our favor.
“Once we ran our first race I saw some potential in the team which gave us hope. As the team progressed I knew we were going to somehow qualify. I wasn’t sure how, but I knew we would figure it out.”
The Spartans’ other key senior was Cole Goldenbaum, who did not run in the state meets but who Zamichieli said “really stepped up this year.” Giacobbe said of Goldenbaum “He was was one of our big team leaders. He was in our top seven, then dropped out, unfortunately. It’s a tough sport, the clock doesn’t lie. But he was a leader, never missed a meet, showed up all the way through.”
The Spartans seventh man was junior Will Sheridan, who ran for the first time after playing soccer. Sheridan ran track a few years ago and Giacobbe felt he might be a good harrier, saying “You see the runner’s face going around the track, you see their form and you say ‘You know what, he’s got something too.’”
Zamichieli was the clear cut number one this year, and looks back on the season and his career with great joy and thankfulness.
“Max and I were the only runners with two years of experience coming into this year,” he said. “To see everyone step up and improve, especially running together as a team, was amazing. It really showed in our races. We had groups on our mind the whole season. Instead of looking at the other teams we were focused on improving ourselves and once we started getting closer to sectionals we realized, we have what it takes.”
When it came to persevering personally, the senior leaned on his faith; especially after running a PR in the Group III met.
“God had to take me through the pain to really appreciate the success,” he said. “There were a lot of unknowns heading into groups. I tested positive for Covid, and my heart was bothering me. It’s really tough mentally because every season it feels like I peak early on and get gradually slower towards the end when it really matters. I had a tough spring track season last year, and God taught me a lot through that.
“I knew that this would be the last race of my cross country career in high school, so I was willing to give it my all, but only because God is with me.”
After Zamichieli, Giacobbe said the second-through-four runners were an interchangeable pack with Hurst, Kostin and Kolachalama.
“That’s where the magic happens,” the coach said. “When you can get three runners clustered together like that, you don’t mind giving up the first four or five spots. You don’t need those points.”
Giacobbe felt the team’s main strength was its closeness. There were countless group trips to Chick-fil-A and Red Robin or parties at a runner’s home.
Kostin was in complete agreement.
“The biggest reason we did so well this season was because of our team chemistry,” he said. “Every varsity runner was at almost every captains practice during the summer, every regular-season practice, and at all cross country events. The amount of time we have spent together as a team is genuinely crazy. We all were there for each other during everyone’s ups and downs and have supported each other through everything.
“Yes, our two through four runners are very close in time which gave us a super huge advantage on most of the other teams because we don’t have that ‘star runner’ who can out run every single one of us by three minutes. But that’s not our biggest strength. We are an extremely close team that I would go as far to say that they are like a second family to me, and I think most of the kids on the team would say the same thing.”
That’s good news for next year, since every key runner will return other than Zamichieli.
“We will have our top six spots already decided, so we can focus on training harder and doing more detail oriented training for our varsity runners,” Kostin said. “I am also extremely excited to see the individual progression from this year to next year for the whole team, not just varsity.”
Giacobbe has been around long enough to know that nothing is a given. He loves the potential of next year’s team and hopes it gets fulfilled and the Spartans can do even greater things. Regardless of that, there is one thing that makes him especially excited for 2024.
“There’s no egos, it’s just amazing how they all work together,” he said. “They push each other, they work together. You talk about likable and coachable kids. They listen, they get it. That’s all you can ask for.”
Steinert cross country runners Nate Bigger, Max Kostin, Anthony Zamichieli, Adam Szpakowski, Tyler Hurst, Nihar Kolachalama and Will Sheridan. (Photo by Mike Giacobbe.),
