Matthew Calem (pictured far left) with his Maccabiah Games teammates for Team USA
James Madison rising senior Matthew Calem, arguably one of the state's top 10 returning distance runners, traveled to Israel this summer to compete for Team USA in the track & field portion of Maccabiah Games, which is an international Jewish athletic event that gathers Jewish athletes in various sports from countries all over the World. Calem was most recently the Group AAA state runner-up at 1600 meters this spring with a personal best time of 4:16.89, while also running a 3200 PR of 9:26 at the Northern Region Championships to finish his junior year of outdoor track at James Madison High School in Vienna on a strong note to draw strong consideration and finally be selected to be part of the United States delegation for track & field in the 2013 Maccabiah Games. Held in Jerusalem, Calem had a very successful first appearance on the international stage as he earned 3 bronze medals in his two individual events with third place finishes between the 1500 (4:08.19) and 3000 (8:55.71) meter races as well as running a leg on the third place 4x400 meter relay.
