Riverhead boys cross country wins first league title since 2013

Records may fall, but banners hang forever. Before the season, Riverhead cross country coach Tyler Lobenhofer had one goal: win the league. Since becoming a large school, Riverhead has had only one boys’ cross country league title. That was back in 2013.

Now there are two. 

With a 19-44 victory over Patchogue-Medford on Tuesday at Indian Island County Park, Riverhead sealed a perfect 5-0 season and etched 2026 onto the boys cross country banner in the gymnasium. It was something that they committed to and worked toward since the summer.

“We all showed up and worked,” David Dubon said. “We didn’t make excuses. It was hot and humid, but we came out in the summer and committed as a team.”

The captain set his personal best time of 17:38 on the final day of the regular season.

But it was the team that won this league title. Everyone contributed. It didn’t matter if they were the first in or the last. Everyone on the team played a role.

“Our pack dominated,” Diego Ochoa said. “We knew that if we were strong as a pack, we could outlast these teams. We just have so many great runners from top to bottom.”

Oftentimes, Riverhead wouldn’t finish first place in the event but would then bring in the second, third, fourth, and fifth finishers right after, securing enough points for the victory. Though only seven runners count towards your team score, if Riverhead’s 8th and 9th runners came in before the other team’s 7th, it only increased the distance. 

The closest matches this year were against Sachem North (25-33) and Half Hollow Hills (25-34). When it comes down to the cross country scoring, it wasn’t really that close. There was no pack better than Riverhead’s in League II.

“That’s the thing about cross country,” Lobenhofer said. “It’s not just one guy. Everyone can make an impact, and they did. They wanted this, and they deserved this. I’ve never seen a group of kids work this hard.”

Grady Moore crossed the finish line first on Tuesday, setting a personal record of 17:10. The junior is just mere seconds away from tapping into Riverhead’s all-time list. 

“It doesn’t matter about the pain we went through,” Moore said. “That pain of training made us stronger. Not only individually but doing it alongside these guys, it just means a lot more.”

Moore and Antonny Juela Munoz have been side by side all year long. One or the other would finish first. Moore holds the best times at Indian Island, Burnt Hills and Manhattan, but Juela Munoz has him beat at Sunken Meadow.

“It’s been a special season,” Juela Munoz said. “A lot of these guys quit soccer for this, and it made us even stronger. We have such a strong roster, and I’m excited to see what we can do going forward.”

Riverhead will be in action again on Oct. 27 at Sunken Meadow State Park for the Section XI Division Championships. They’re looking for their first Suffolk County Division I title in school history.

“There are many ways to create a winning formula in cross country,” Lobenhofer said. “Every meet we’ve had, we won in a different way. The counties will be no different. We’re going to come up with a game plan, and we’re going to do our best to execute it.”