Fremont boys cruise to district title behind Juan Gonzalez' win
OMAHA - The Fremont boys cross country got what they came from Thursday morning, securing the Class A-1 district title and a second district title for senior Juan Gonzalez.
"We wanted to just run together," said Fremont boys head coach Sean McMahon. "There's nothing extra special about running super fast times at districts."
The Tigers finished with all five counting runners in the Top 10 and all seven runners inside the Top 15.
Fremont's 25 team points finished well clear of Omaha Westside's runner-up score of 54 points. South Sioux City scratched out the last team qualifying spot from the district with a third place finish by three points over Elkhorn South.
Gonzalez took the race out hard for the opening mile then shifted into cruise control for the final two miles, clocking in at 15:39.20 to win his second consecutive district crown.
"Kind of just relaxed the last two miles after kind of simulating the first mile to kind of get a feel for what I'll do at state," Gonzalez said. "Didn't want to keep the pace too hot for the rest of the way, just kind of relaxed and enjoyed it."
With Gonzalez out on his own, Noah Miller duked it out with Omaha Westside's Conor Gross for the runner-up spot.
Gross nicked Miller by two seconds, 16:23.80 to 16:25.30, landing the Tiger in third.
Michael Nichols added a fifth place finish in 16:32.50 followed by Jase LaDay in sixth place 10 seconds later.
Mason Nau rounded out Fremont's counting times with a 17:06.30, good for 10th place. Aden Soto and Raymond Rise finished back-to-back in 14th and 15th place in 17:17.0 and 17:18.7, respectively.
It was the first time Fremont had run on the course at Walnut Creek in the backyard of Papillion-La Vista South High School. The Tigers ran at Papio South during the 2020 season, but this year's set-up was on a different portion of the property.
"Getting the lay of the land was a little tricky, especially with the 30 mph gusts," McMahon said.
Heavy winds surged through the upper part of the course, but the majority of the running was done on narrow paths inside of a heavily wooded area which held off the wind.
"I liked how our kids navigated through that," McMahon said. "Sometimes on a narrow path with 20 some bodies, there's carnage that happens and they handled it very well."
Fremont punching their ticket to state gives the Tigers a chance to win a fourth state title in a five-year stretch, which hasn't been done since Lincoln Southeast did so between 1984-88 - the Knights were also dethroned after three-straight titles then came back to get their fourth.
Gonzalez will be going for his third-straight individual state championship.
"We know at the end of the day it's all going to work out the way we want it to if we're out there for each other and we're competing for the right reasons," Gonzalez said.
The Class A boys race will run at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25 at Kearney Country Club.
Fremont girls season ends at districts
For the first time in seven years the Fremont girls cross country team won't be represented in Kearney at the state meet.
The Tigers finished seventh in the team standings with 207 team points and no individual finishers inside the Top 15.
"There was a lot of growth, not just in time, but in their spirit and how they raced and that's what we wanted to see today," said Fremont co-head coach Beth McMahon. "They were able to compete on a different level than they had previously competed at."
Zoe Kenney was the first Tiger across the finish line, securing 35th place in 23:23.30.
Maddie McBratney notched a 40th place finish in 24:09.30 in her final cross country race as a Tiger.
Yuridia Avalos Samaniego crossed at 24:44.10 followed by Charlotte Ganzel in 44th (25:02.0) and Jordyn Vachal in 45th (25:02.50),
Samantha Mulliken added a 47th place finish in 26:05.
Fremont is expected to return six of their seven varsity runners next fall with McBratney being the only senior of the bunch.
"I think the offseason will be a good growth period for us," Beth McMahon said. "We'll come back together in track season for sure and then it'll be good for us to have some downtime to get that mileage up."
