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Kal Lewis Wins S.I. 5K in a Walk

Tue, 10/22/2019 - 17:06
Kal Lewis, at right, was given the green light by his coach, Toby Green, in Saturday’s Shelter Island 5K.
Jack Graves

Because the division meet was looming, Kal Lewis and his Shelter Island High School boys cross-country teammates were prohibited from running full out at last year’s Shelter Island 5K. This year, Toby Green, their coach, gave them the green light, and, consequently, Lewis, a two-time state and four-time county Class D champion, won in a walk, as it were, in 15 minutes and 40.43 seconds on Saturday.

Almost needless to say, it was a course record for the race, now in its 20th year, and, almost needless to say, Lewis’s 15:40.43 broke the record of 16:08 that he had set at the Shelter Island 5K two years ago.

“Kal’s got those Scandinavian legs,” his maternal grandmother, Susie Lange, said after hugging her grandson at the Crescent Beach finish line.

Tyler Gulluscio, a cross-country teammate of Lewis’s, was the runner-up, in 17:46.59.

Recently, Lewis, who said he hopes to win the open division of the county cross-country championships at Sunken Meadow this year and three-peat as the state Class D champion, accepted the University of Iowa’s partial athletic scholarship offer.

“They’re the Big 10 champions in track and field,” Kal’s father, Ken, said, adding, “I’m happy for him and proud of him — he’s worked very hard. Other schools, like Alabama, Clemson, and Furman, were interested, but he really liked Iowa. He went there for an official visit at the end of August. He liked the coaches and the other kids.”

His son, he said, had worked very hard over the summer, on the roads and with Binder Pools. “He’d run at 5 a.m., go to work, and be back on the roads in the evening, after work.”

“Last year, the divisional meet was the following Tuesday — it’s a week away this year,” the elder Lewis said when it was noted his son had jogged the Shelter Island Heights course last fall.

Founded by M.E. Adipietro (the Old Montauk Athletic Club’s community service award designee), the Shelter Island 5K is a fund-raiser for three breast cancer organizations — the Coalition for Women’s Breast Health at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, the North Fork Breast Health Coalition, and Lucia’s Angels.

Frank Adipietro, M.D., one of the announcers, said the race his wife founded had raised $600,000 over the years, and that much progress in fighting the disease had been made during that span. “You can live a normal life span now, and without the suffering,” he said.

There was a tie between Team Heaven Can Wait and Ben’s Friends for the best-turnout prize. Debbie Donohue of East Hampton, a member of Team Heaven Can Wait and a breast cancer survivor, surprised herself by finishing in under 40, “running and walking, mostly walking,” she said with a smile.


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