Rye High School won four state championships in the 2025-26 academic year, doubling the school’s previous single-year record. On Monday, the Garnets received added context about where their all-time great sports season ranks historically.
For the first time, RHS was named winners of the Kerr Cup All-Sport Championship by the New York State Sportswriters Association. The Kerr Cup assigns points based on schools’ postseason finishes across all sports.
Garnet teams captured state titles in football, girls soccer, boys ice hockey, and boys lacrosse, and scored in five other sports to rack up 89 points and fend off Massapequa (79) and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (62.4).
“Most student-athletes under NYSPHSAA never even make a state championship game, let alone win one,” said RHS Athletic Director Susan Reid. “To do it in multiple sports in the same year – so many students work that hard and never get that opportunity.”
The winning total ranked second only to Fairport’s 91 points in the 2023-24 school year. The NYSSWA has been awarding the Kerr Cup since 2009. In 2023-24, Rye won two state championships and finished fifth in the state-wide Class A Kerr Cup standings.
Aside from the other state tournament showings in 2025-26, including a trip to the boys state soccer finals and appearances in the quarterfinals in boys basketball and girls lacrosse, Rye teams reached a Section 1 final in field hockey and won a sectional title in boys golf, which is a non-scoring event in the Kerr Cup.
“This was a season for the ages for Rye athletics, not only because of the incredible success our teams achieved,” said RHS Principal Andrew Hara, “but because of the culture that made that success possible.”
Rye competes in Class AA. The Kerr Cup champions in the other classifications were Massapequa (AAA), Westhill (A), Marcellus (B), Tuckahoe (C), and Bolton (D).
Check out the Rye Record print edition Friday for a full recap of 2025-26 successes, and an in-depth look at the fall sports season ahead.
