Riverhead cross country grows as athletes switch sports

The fastest growing sport in Riverhead High School may not be what you think it is.

Student-athletes who have played other fall sports all their lives are now shifting to cross country.

“It really comes back to showing the kids stats and evidence on what I can do for them in the long run,” Riverhead cross country coach Tyler Lobenhofer said. “I can look them in the eye and say, ‘If you commit, we’ll find you something you’ll be successful in.’ They want to be part of a winning, growing program. It speaks a lot to what we’ve been building the last few years here.”

When Lobenhofer took over the program five years ago, there were nine distance runners on the track team and around 20 on the cross country team. Today, there are 40. Athletes have come over from soccer, football and other sports.

For those who run track in the winter and spring, Lobenhofer has stressed the importance of being a three-season runner for athletes who want long-term success.

“This is the first year that I’ve really had success with that,” Lobenhofer said. “Typically I lose them for the fall season; at least 30% of my long-distance runners play soccer in the fall. We end spring track in June. Those that do cross country with us train all summer and add another three months of training during the season. It does wonders for those that want to find that success during the track season.”

Dwayne Morgan, who graduated last season, is a perfect example. In his senior season, he decided to run cross country for the first time and ended his spring track season with a multitude of Riverhead records in the hurdles. Morgan finished second in the state in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

“It’s not just the distance guys that cross country helps,” Lobenhofer said. “It helps you in any event. It keeps you in shape. It builds muscles you wouldn’t normally work out. For Dwayne it was just about adding more.”

This summer, as soon as July began, the cross country team met three times a week. At least 20 athletes attended every single workout.

“My top guys never missed,” Lobenhofer said. “Though we had success in the spring season with our younger guys, we were placing and not winning. We want to win and these guys are showing now that they’re committed to doing so.”

Two athletes have continually led the pack for the Blue Wave: Grady Moore, a junior, and David Dubon, a senior — both of whom are captains for the upcoming season. During time trials at Sunken Meadow State Park to start the fall season, the next five runners to cross the finish line after Moore and Dubon were athletes who had never competed in cross country before.

“This is a perfect example of what hard work gets you,” Lobenhofer said. “You put in that summer season and you work hard, you will see the results. Every week you will be a little bit better, and for our top athletes seeing that drives them harder.”

There are only seven varsity spots in cross country, but Lobenhofer believes 12 athletes can fill those seven spots in any given meet. In addition to Moore and Dubon, Antonny Juela Munoz, Braylin Florian, Franklin Sebastian, Kevin Velasquez, Diego Ochoa, Daniel Sawaya, Daryl Austin, Lenny Deleon, Jose Boch and Liam Hart are competing for top spots.

“We have one of the strongest packs ever,” Lobenhofer said. “They’re all separated within 20 seconds. They are all pushing each other to get better every week. I think we’ll have one of the strongest packs in Section XI.”

Perhaps a league championship may be in this group’s future. It has only happened once at Riverhead dating back to 2013.