Developing A Winner's Mentality: North Shore's First State Title and Peter Callahan

Peter Callahan was a part of the sports scene before he was even allowed to compete. His two older brothers were outstanding athletes in the Upper School, and Callahan would often tag along to their sporting events.

“I would go to all the games," said Callahan, who started at North Shore in first grade. "I would actually run the scoreboard and stuff for a lot of the games.” 

That’s where he first met Pat McHugh, who wouldn’t have to do much convincing to get Peter out for track and field. Both of Callahan’s brothers were on the track team for North Shore, running on the 4x800-meter relay team that took 12th at the state championships in 2002.

The results came quickly for Callahan. As a freshman in 2006, he qualified for state in the 1600-meter race and was a part of North Shore’s 4x800 relay team. The next year -- after missing the beginning of track season with a broken foot suffered during basketball -- Callahan placed fifth at state in the 1600.

McHugh saw the potential for Peter to be a state champion and asked him to quit basketball and focus on track during the winter months. Peter obliged, putting aside his basketball career.

Instead of drastically increasing Peter’s weekly miles, McHugh heeded Gambetta’s advice and put Peter into an individualized plan that treated him more like an athlete rather than a distance runner. They ran a lot of hill workouts, repeats and interval runs, trying to develop strength and speed.

The plan succeeded. Callahan ran the 1600 in 4 minutes, 20.52 seconds at the state championships to beat out Tremont’s Parker Thompson, the defending state champion, and win the state championship as a junior in 2008. Callahan would go on to defend his title as a senior, doubling up with a win in the 800 at state as well.

“There’s no question in my mind Peter Callahan wouldn’t be Peter Callahan without having met Vern Gambetta,” McHugh said. “Peter had the natural talent to become a state champion whoever coaches him, but breaking the state record in 800 meters and running 4:05 [in the 1600], the fourth-fastest time in the nation his senior year, and coming from a school that had no track, that takes a little bit more.”

Callahan was the first individual state champion for North Shore in any sport. He was the tipping point for an athletic community that was beginning to realize that success would ultimately follow a commitment to training.

“When you come from a school that doesn’t necessarily have a state championship history, it’s hard to imagine North Shore on the podium sometimes,” Callahan said. “If it happens once you kind of get a snowball.”

North Shore did not have to wait much longer for its next state champion. 

Stay tuned for Part Five on Friday.

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