Brendan Callahan was the pinnacle of North Coast Athletic Conference distance runners in the early 2000s. The twot-ime NCAA Div. III Championships qualifier in cross country earned two NCAC Athlete of the Year honors and graduated as a six-time conference champion.

Callahan was attracted to the liberal arts program and the small campus. Wooster was on the radar due to his mother growing up in Ohio, giving him familiarity with the Midwest despite being raised in Connecticut. The expert guidance and consistent support from longtime head coach Dennis Rice, plus the "model of excellence and integrity provided by team captain Nick Chiorian" are who Callahan credits his impeccable success to.

Callahan's breakthrough started as a sophomore. He swept the distance races at the NCAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, parlaying winning times of 8:58.68 and 15:10.27 in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters, respectively, into NCAC Athlete of the Year honors for middle distance and distance events. Callahan's dominance carried over to the outdoor season, where he won the 10,000 meters at 32:12.70.

Success was synonymous with Callahan as a junior. A 15th-place finish (26:06) at the NCAA Div. III Regional qualified him as an individual for the NCAA Div. III Championships, where he debuted with the 199th-place time of 27:27. He helped Wooster's distance medley relay win the title at the NCAC Championships with a time of 10:39.05. A first-place double at the outdoor championships in the 5,000 (15:10.98) and 10,000 meters (30:56.99) resulted in a second NCAC Athlete of the Year award. Callahan's 30:56.99 in the 10,000 meters still rates as the program record, while his collegiate-best of 14:50.24 in the outdoor 5,000 meters in 2002 was the school record until 2019.

Callahan traveled abroad during the fall 2002 semester and missed the spring due to injury. He returned with a first-place finish at Oberlin College's non-scoring tri-meet, which kicked off the 2003 cross country season. He went on to finish as the NCAC runner-up (26:35.00) for his second first-team All-NCAC award. A ninth-place run (25:51), in which he was 21 seconds behind the Great Lakes Regional champion, qualified Callahan for the Div. III Championships for the second time. There, he placed 177th with a time of 27:46.6.

"Brendan was an excellent team leader who led through hard work, a positive attitude, and a commitment to overall team success," said Rice. "Brendan's team commitment and enthusiasm for team success made him one of the most respected team members I have coached. He thrived on the training process and excelling at the championship meets."

The 10-time All-NCAC performer was a history major at the College. He has since pursued that as a career, teaching middle school and high school social studies in Connecticut. At present, Callahan is the K-12 curriculum director for history and social sciences at Glastonbury Public Schools.

Callahan and his spouse, Whitney Kasserman, reside in West Hartford, Connecticut, with their children, Sadie and Charlotte.