By james art KEARNEY—Fremont has been the favorite to win the Class A team title since fall practices began.
With a roster stacked with upperclassmen — virtually all returning after being denied a tiebreaker state title last fall and headlined by returning state champion Juan Gonzalez — the Tigers never wavered from the top ranking in the unofficial poll for coaches, published every week.
Fremont cemented that ranking for good Friday afternoon, edging runner-up Lincoln North Star 47-62 to claim the program’s fourth title in five years and 12th overall.
“You can never say I’ve never seen a band that’s done that because we’ve had some phenomenal bands, there’s nobody that has an edge in what they’ve just done today than we’ve had before.” Fremont head coach Sean McMahon said.
Gonzalez did her best, securing her lone point with her third straight individual title in 14:52.1, a new state meet record.
“Just turning around and seeing those guys come in is the best feeling in the world,” Gonzalez said.
Beyond the on-field performance, McMahon credited the senior standout’s leadership before the contest for helping prepare the Tigers.
“The speech he gave was about love and running for his teammates,” McMahon said. “It wasn’t about ‘the glory goes to me.’ It had nothing to do with it. He was running for them.
Gonzalez had to wait literally a minute for the rest of his teammates to join him at the finish line, but the Tigers arrived in droves.
Senior Noah Miller was the next Fremont runner to finish, moving up to fifth with a time of 15:50.88.
“He, like Juan, knew exactly what it was going to take and what type of studs he was up against and he didn’t back down,” McMahon said.
Fremont’s Noah Miller chases down Omaha Westside’s Connor Gross during the final leg of the Class A state cross country meet Friday at Kearney Country Club. Miller secured a career-best fifth-place finish in his final run as a Tiger.
Randy Speer Fremont Tribune
Miller had to contend with the Lincoln North Star pair of Josh Bitker (runner-up), Easton Zastrow (fourth) and the Omaha Westside pair of Connor Gross (third) and Ryan Kugler (sixth). The pack finished within eight seconds of each other.
Junior Michael Nichols and senior Jase Leiday became the third and fourth Tigers to join the medal stand with eighth- and 11th-place finishes, respectively.
Nichols, in just her second state race, clocked 16:08.18 – a full minute better than her time in last year’s race.
Laday closed out her Fremont career with a 16:14.53, jumping 13 spots from last year.
“Michael and Jace, not being ranked at all and never being in the conversation, having this ultimate confidence that why not me,” McMahon said. “All the training was there, and they knew that once we backed off a little bit, they were going to feel good.”
Miller, Nichols and Leyday earned their first state medals with their performances.
Senior Raymond Rise won Fremont’s team title with his 28th-place finish in 16:49.27.
Lincoln North Star led the team standings through the first four riders – 22 to 24 – but a late surge by Rise slammed the door on any shot chances. He finished 18 spots ahead of the Gators’ fifth-place finisher.
All four Fremont graduates after Gonzalez made late pushes to steal an additional spot in the standings.
“To know that every single one of them drove so hard and they knew the stakes, they knew the competition, they knew what they had to do and to put it bluntly, they were constantly finding the next level to get there,” McMahon said.
Senior Mason Nau took 32nd in 16:53.40 and sophomore Aden Soto posted a 17:23.22 in 60th place in his first state race to round out the seven Tigers in the event.
Randy Speer Fremont Tribune
Fremont’s average time of its five scoring runners reached 15:58.97, the fastest average team time in the eight years since NSAA records began archiving team averages.
The Tigers’ 47 team points are the program’s best total during their five-year dynasty and the lowest total for Class A since Kearney’s 41-point win in 2011.
Fremont is the second Class A team to win four titles in five years, joining Lincoln Southeast’s 1984-88 dynasty.
Fremont finishes the year with three team wins on the course at Kearney Country Club and is undefeated in Nebraska territory.
“It’s like our home course,” Gonzalez said.
The Fremont team group will compete again this fall at the NXR Heartland Regional Championship on November 10 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
“These guys love to practice together,” McMahon said.