CROSS-COUNTRY

Old Bridge's Rey Rivera is the HNT Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year

Andy Mendlowitz
@andy_mendlowitz

How come nobody is passing me? Please, someone, go ahead.

Rey Rivera couldn’t have been doing much more to willingly fall into the pack. The Old Bridge High School senior spurted to an early lead in the Central Group IV cross country championship, but slowed up before the first hill. Like really slowed, as he called it “kind of walking up.”

“I really wanted someone to pass me because I really don’t like leading races,” he said. “But I don’t think anybody wanted to pass me because they considered me, maybe, one of the top guys in the race. It’s weird because I don’t really consider myself on the same level as like a lot of the guys in the state. … I guess it’s just a mindset thing that I never really adjusted to.”

READ: FRANKLIN'S HILL IS THE CN BOYS XC RUNNER OF THE YEAR

Old Bridge's Rey Rivera races to the finish line in the Greater Middlesex Conference Cross Country Championships at Thompson Park in Jamesburg on Oct. 22, 2016. Rey took first place with a time of 16:12.84

In track, no question Rivera is among the best. He's won three Meet of Champions titles in 800 meters — two in outdoor and one in indoor — and has committed to Georgetown. But cross country was just something he did to get training in, and “despised” the long interval workouts. Still, he had success in 2015 with a Greater Middlesex Conference title.

In 2016, he took it to another level. Yes, Rey, get used to it — you’re one of the best in the state.

Rivera is the Home News Tribune Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year for the second straight season. He repeated as GMC champ (16:12.84 on Oct. 22 at Thompson Park in Jamesburg) and won Group IV (15:47 on Nov. 12 at Holmdel Park) — the first individual group champion in school history.

On Nov. 5, Rivera set the Thompson Park course record in 15:21.90 with a Central Group IV win. It also broke his personal record by 27 seconds and set the Old Bridge record, which is significant because the school has had many star runners and major team titles through the years.

“He’s one of the top guys that’s ever come through our school,” Knights coach Jack Campbell said. “In terms of cross country, yes. Definitely.”

RELATED: RIVERA, WALSH WIN TITLES AT GROUP XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Campbell, a longtime cross country and track coach at Old Bridge and Madison Central who’s back as the boys head coach following Rich Gebauer’s retirement, said that it’s rare for a top 800 runner to compete at an elite cross country level. Simply, most of the top 3.1-mile stars typically come from a 1600 and 3200-meter background.

Indeed, at the Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park on Nov. 19, Rivera finished 12th in 16:14, a time he was disappointed with. The winner, Elliot Grindi of Ocean Township (15:45), was second in the outdoor track MOC 1600 meters, and fourth-place finisher Matt Grossman of Millburn (15:55) was the outdoor track MOC 3200 winner.

Rivera didn’t even run cross country as a freshman, playing football before running his sophomore year and battling injuries most of that fall. Campbell, who along with first-year assistant Travis Mahoney, a former Old Bridge and Temple University star who competes nationally in the 3000 steeplechase, said their goal was to get Rivera to believe that he could be one of the state’s best.

“I just think it was maturity from year to year,” Campbell said. “And seeing his workouts improve gave him the confidence to get out there and race with those better 3200 guys. I think it gave him the confidence. Once he saw that he could handle that, then I think that gave him the confidence to race in those big meets with those guys.”

Rivera said, “This is the first year that’s really felt where I was in control more. And I was competing at a really high, good level. I felt more comfortable. I felt like a cross country runner more than just a 800 runner in the middle of a field.”

And those long workouts that he hated?

“Now it’s probably one of my favorite workouts,” he said. “This year was a lot easier. It’s a mindset thing. I was a lot more into it. It wasn’t a chore. It was fun and I was having a good time every day at practice. Overall, it was a lot better season mentally than it’s been. I was a lot more engaged this year.”

Old Bridge's Rey Rivera competes in the NJSIAA  Group IV sectionals at Thompson Park on Nov. 5.

His race strategy was to hang with the top runners until the last 400 meters of a race, before applying his strong kick finish that he uses in track.

“For me, it’s about staying and holding on until the end,” Rivera said. “It’s stressful throughout the race. Then once I get 400 to go, it kind of dies down. Then the closer I get to 200, 100, I feel a lot better and I’m just able to go.”

At the GMC race, Rivera and South Amboy’s Patrick Walsh were even until the Old Bridge runner pulled ahead. Walsh said it was his leg speed that propelled Rivera to the win.

“Rey’s the nicest kid you’ll ever meet,” Walsh said after the group championships. “It’s a privilege to race against kids like that and it’s good, healthy competition that makes each other better.”

While Rivera said setting the Thompson Park record was one of his highlights since Old Bridge often competes at the course.

“I was surprised,” he said of getting the mark. “It’s kind of weird to think about it because I don’t really consider myself, like a really, really top-tier runner. A lot of guys that ran it before were really great XC guys, so to be ahead of them is pretty cool.”

How about that, the guy who didn’t consider himself a great cross country runner will now have his name in the program as the best ever at Thompson Park.

“Until someone takes it down,” he said with a laugh.

2016 ALL-GMC BOYS CROSS COUNTRY SELECTIONS

As selected by the coaches

ALL-CONFERENCE

Rey Rivera, Old Bridge; Patrick Walsh, South Amboy; Jake Beacher, Metuchen; Brandon Diaz, South Brunswick; Cyril Harvey, Old Bridge; Justin Dekovics, Spotswood; Kenneth Mohs, East Brunswick; Jacob Fracobandiero, Metuchen; Ethan Bull, Highland Park; Rahul Tanna, Piscataway; Divij Gupta, Metuchen.

Coach of the Year: Tim Stark Highland Park

ALL-RED DIVISION

Leland Davies, East Brunswick; Kevin Leight, Old Bridge; Matthew Costello, St. Joseph; Joey Coyle, East Brunswick; Shailesh Murali, South Brunswick; Arthur Dzieniszewski, Old Bridge; Ethan Febinger, South Brunswick; Rishi Taparia, East Brunswick; Christopher Smith, Edison; Victor Porcelli, South Brunswick; Neehar Mahidadia, J.P. Stevens.

Coach of the Year: Jeff Sundberg, East Brunswick

Sportsmanship: Piscataway

ALL-WHITE DIVISION

Andrew Rebele, North Brunswick; Steven Payne, Woodbridge; Nick Toth, Spotswood; Dylan Rodriguez, Sayreville; Michael Marques, Sayreville; Lamont Harris, Perth Amboy; Connor Rebele, North Brunswick; Eric Marcus, Colonia; David Essel, Bishop Ahr; Brandon Jarrett, Woodbridge; Abhay Kamath, North Brunswick.

Coach of the Year: Julie Mercier, North Brunswick

Sportsmanship: Woodbridge

ALL-BLUE DIVISION

Eduardo Cermeno, Dunellen; Caelan Johnson, Metuchen; Austin Brooks, Metuchen; Stephen Tang, Metuchen; Joe Wells. South Amboy; Peter Tilton, Highland Park; Michael Nielsen, Dunellen; Ed Malague, Metuchen; Ivan Mondaca, Highland  Park; Anthony Buccino, Dunellen; Edgar Heras, South River.

Coach of the Year: Tim Stark, Highland Park

Sportsmanship: Dunellen