After Chris Jones — who won the Riverhead News Review Athlete of the Year before heading to run for SUNY Cortland — the boys cross country team no longer had that low 17-minute runner to bring the team average down, regardless of what the other four runners would produce. With Jones on the roster, Riverhead made it to the New York State qualifier for three consecutive years. Without him, they needed a new formula in order to make it again. 

“It emphasizes the importance of every single athlete on this team,” Riverhead cross country coach Tyler Lobenhofer said. “We might only have 24 boys on the team, but 18 of them can run competitive times. That’s why we’re able to compete head-to-head against a lot of teams. This is the strongest pack I’ve ever had here. They’re all separated by just 10 to 15 seconds, and they have been continuing to push each other all year long.”

All-League award recipient Lester Soyos crossed the finish line first for the team with a time of 19:03.60. Grady Moore followed him with a time of 19:10.60. Dwayne Morgan, in his first year running cross country after already being one of the best hurdlers in the county, finished up at 19:24.20. David Dubon completed the race in 19:43.10 and Franz Ortiz-Galdamez rounded out the team’s performance chugging through at 20:58.70. The average of all their times was good enough for their fourth consecutive appearance at the New York State qualifiers. Riverhead was also racing without their All-League runner Darryl Austin, who suffered an injury.

“Would I have liked to get our time down to qualification standards earlier in the season?” Lobenhofer questioned. “Yes, of course. But I love to see that in the biggest moments, this team stepped up as a group. Last year, most of these boys could barely break 22 minutes on this course. Now we have just about everyone breaking 20 minutes, which is a testament to the hard work they have put in.”

All summer long, Lobenhofer emphasized winning a league championship this season. But after losing the first race of the season, effectively ending their chance at a championship, Lobenhofer witnessed what he feels was his proudest coaching moment of his career. 

“We talked about having the mentality to run with pain,” Lobenhofer said. “That’s what cross is really about. Being able to persevere through pain. Push when you don’t think you can push anymore. We lost touch with that a little bit. The day after the loss, we did 1,000-meter repeats on the track with active recovery. They ran all practice, pushing themselves. I’ve won county championships at Commack. We’ve sent athletes to states every single year since I’ve been here. That was by far my favorite coaching moment, seeing how that group responded when they were kicked down. From there on our goal was to make it to state quals and we did it.”

The group is only going to get stronger as they all return next year.

On the girls’ side, Riverhead hasn’t had an individual girl runner make it to the state qualifier since 2019. Sophomore Julia Chycherska wanted to change that. And she was so close to making the time needed coming into the final day of the regular season.

“This is what Julia has been working towards ever since she joined the team in eighth grade,” Lobenhofer said. “She’s a tremendous athlete, and I think her best days are right ahead of her.”

She was .9 seconds away from qualifying coming into the divisional race. 

“I told her at the start of the summer that she’s running with the boys,” Lobenhofer said. “I’ve never seen her smile so hard. She was up for the challenge. That really changed her training and mindset overall, I think.”

Chycherska, who earned her third straight All-League recognition this year, needed to break a 22:30 time to make the state qualifiers. She shattered it by 20 seconds and secured a top 10 finish overall in the race. 

“She’s got a different confidence this year,” Lobenhofer said. “You saw it today. She stayed up front the entire time and set a PR. That’s what she’s capable of doing every time out.”

Riverhead will compete in the New York State qualifier on Nov. 6.

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One team and three extra runners will qualify for the state championships from Class A schools in Suffolk County. The qualifiers will take place at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Runners will have to overcome serious hills in the strenuous run — including one dubbed “cardiac mountain.” Should Jones qualify, he would be the first male runner in Riverhead’s history as a large school to make it to the state championships for cross country.

“He has a chance to be Riverhead’s most decorated runner in school history,” Riverhead coach Tyler Lobenhofer said. “He’s beat all-time records for Riverhead multiple times this year. Making it to the states would really cement his legacy.”

As of this year, Jones now holds the Indian Island 5K course record with a time of 16:33.84. He also now holds the record for the Sunken Meadow 4K course, running it in 12:48.81. The last record that sits on the table is the race he’s going to run for the state qualifiers. In the Sunken Meadow 5K, Luke Coulter currently holds the school record that was set in 2015 with a time of 16:59.70. Jones’ best recorded time during an event was 17:25.35. 

“I made a vow to myself junior year that I would run every day,” Jones said, following Riverhead’s final league race of the year against Central Islip. “And I’ve done that. Honestly I think I’ve only missed five days since I made that commitment to myself.”

Jones made the switch to running full time in eighth grade, deciding give up baseball in place of spring track — and has never looked back. He’s been improving ever since.

“I think at the time I was devastated to give up baseball,” Jones said. “I loved playing baseball, but I think it worked out in the end. I wouldn’t have gotten to this place without committing to running year round.”

He’s made enormous improvements at Indian Island County Park over the years. And as a runner, seeing that time get lower and lower only pushes you harder. As a freshman, Jones posted a time of 22:55. He’s over five minutes faster now as a senior.

“To be a successful cross country runner you need to have discipline,” Lobenhofer said. “You have to work hard and you can never be comfortable with your best time. Jones fits that mold. He’s always pushing himself to the next level. And he saw success early as a sophomore. Lots of guys fall off after early success, Chris kept pushing.”

With the league season complete, Jones is laser focused on getting a good result at Sunken Meadow when the time comes. And every day, until he puts on what could be his final run as a cross country senior at Riverhead, he’s working on getting better. 

On Tuesday, the coaches didn’t want Jones to go for a personal record and instead take it easy against Central Islip because they were confident about winning the meet. It’s just part of the process; there’s days you need to go hard but then there’s other days that your body needs rest to fully heal. When he was the first to come around the corner to the finish line, Riverhead’s coaches were less than thrilled. He finished with a time of 17:19 — so, in his defense, he did slow down some.

Jones is constantly thinking of ways to cut down his time in the qualifier. Every step he takes has to be with intention.

“One thing I can really improve on at Sunken Meadow is once you get up on the big hill called cardiac, I need to open my stride,” Jones said. “Once you get moving down, you need to let gravity take over. The rest of the race is downhill or flat. You can pass so many people heading down if it’s done right.”

Jones has some other strategies that he and his coaches will implement in the division championships for the lead up to the state qualifiers. If he can cut some time off, it will only give him confidence heading into the qualifiers.

“It’s going to be me and five others that are going to be competing for those three individual spots,” Jones said. “It’s going to be a battle. We all know each other and it’s going to be whoever is at their best that day. I’m hoping to get under 17 minutes. That’s my goal.”

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