Riverhead's Christopher Jones fell in love with distance running when he was just a third-grader attending a private school in Cutchogue. Now a senior at Riverhead High School, he's shattering records left and right. His final goal: qualify for the New York State championships.
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."