Spring Break
The Daily OrangeBand of Brothers: Ryan and Mark Cahak are SU athletes and best friends
By Mark Medina
Posted: 2/23/06, 2:10 AM EST Section: Sports
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Mark Cahak still laughs about it.
As his days at Fayetteville-Manlius High School dwindled, so did his college choices. Narrowing it to Syracuse and Le Moyne, Cahak took another visit to each before he made a final selection.
Ryan, his older brother, told him jokingly, "If you choose Syracuse, I'll go there with you."
At the time, Ryan Cahak played basketball for Dominican College, a Divsion II school in Orangeburg, N.Y. But when Mark decided on Syracuse, the quip became a promise rather than an offhand remark.
Ryan joined the Syracuse men's basketball team as a walk-on and Mark committed to the men's lacrosse team as a defenseman. Though the Cahak brothers play different sports, they have remained united through their longtime competitiveness with each other.
In their early years, the Cahaks played sports year-round - football, basketball, lacrosse. They never faced each other in organized competition, but they practiced against one another in pickup games and in their backyard. Though it was always for bragging rights, they improved each other's performance.
One moment stood out, though, in which that wasn't the case. When Mark was in seventh grade and Ryan was a high school freshman, they were playing lacrosse and trying to impress their parents.
As a former attack, Ryan faked his brother out, scored, but broke his brother's arm in the process. Mark spent that summer with a cast, not being able to play any sports. It was the first of many setbacks for Mark.
"After the injuries, I think I grew even closer to him," Ryan said of his brother. "He kept suffering injury after injury. But he never gave up and never had a bad attitude about it. I felt sorry for what he was going through. But at the same time, I was inspired by how he reacted to it."
During Mark's freshman year, he tore his meniscus in his knee which required surgery. He missed the football and basketball season, but was ready for lacrosse in the spring. The following year, the same knee kept bothering him. Halfway through football season, doctors determined the stitches didn't fully hold. He was forced to rehab all the way into March until doctors sewed up his meniscus tear.
Then during his second day of preseason football camp his junior year, Mark suffered a virus infection in his heart. He was rushed to the emergency room and then taken to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for more treatment. He missed football and basketball season again due to cardiovascular rehab.
It was then he decided to concentrate solely on lacrosse. Rehabbing in time for that sport proved to be challenging enough. Trying to play two other sports, especially when he missed the previous seasons, wouldn't do much justice.
