Gonzalez wins the district title for the second year in a row

“We just wanted to run together,” Fremont boys head coach Sean McMahon said. “There’s nothing special about running super fast times in districts.”

For the Tigers, all five runners finished in the top 10 and all seven runners finished in the top 15.

Fremont's 25 team points were well ahead of runner-up Omaha Westside's 54 points. South Sioux City secured the district's final team qualifying spot with a third-place finish by three points over Elkhorn South.

Gonzalez took the race hard in the first mile and then went into cruise control for the final two miles. He won his second straight district title with a time of 15:39.20.

“I just relaxed the last two miles after simulating the first mile to get a feel for what I was going to do at state,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t want to keep the pace too high for the rest of the route, I just relaxed and enjoyed it.”

While Gonzalez was eliminated alone, Noah Miller battled for second place with Omaha Westside's Conor Gross.

Gross edged Miller by two seconds, going from 16:23.80 to 16:25.30, landing the Tiger in third place.

Michael Nichols added a fifth-place finish at 16:32.50, followed by Jase LaDay in sixth place 10 seconds later.

Mason Nau rounded out Fremont's counting times with 17:06.30, good for 10th place. Aden Soto and Raymond Rise placed 14th and 15th consecutively in 17:17.0 and 17:18.7, respectively.

It was Fremont's first time running on the track 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 the venue was in a different part of the site.

“It was a little difficult to determine the location of the terrain, especially with the 30 mph gusts,” McMahon said.

There were strong winds in the upper part of the course, but the majority of the run took place on narrow paths within a heavily wooded area that blocked the wind.

“I liked how our kids handled it,” McMahon said. “Sometimes there is bloodshed on a narrow path with about 20 bodies, and they handled it very well.”

If Fremont punches its ticket to the state championship, the Tigers will have a chance to win a fourth state title in five years, something that hasn't happened since Lincoln Southeast between 1984 and 1988 – the Knights were also dethroned after winning three straight titles then back to get her fourth.

Gonzalez will be seeking his third straight individual state championship.

“We know that if we are there for each other and compete for the right reasons, everything will work out the way we want in the end,” Gonzalez said.

The Class A boys race will be held at Kearney Country Club on Friday, October 25th at 12:30 p.m.

For the first time in seven years, Fremont's girls cross country team will not be represented in Kearney at the state meet.

The Tigers finished seventh in the team standings with 207 team points and no individual finishers in the top 15.

“There's been a lot of growth, not just in time, but in their spirit and the way they race, and that's what we wanted to see today,” Fremont co-head coach Beth McMahon said. “They were able to compete at a different level than before.”

Zoe Kenney was the first Tiger to cross the finish line, securing 35th place in 23:23.30.

Maddie McBratney finished 40th in 24:09.30 in her final cross country race as a Tiger.

Yuridia Avalos Samaniego crossed in 24:44.10, followed by Charlotte Ganzel in 44th (25:02.0) and Jordyn Vachal in 45th (25:02.50).

Samantha Mulliken added 47th place in 26:05.

Fremont is expected to return six of its seven varsity runners next fall, with McBratney the only senior on the roster.

“I think the offseason will be a good period of growth for us,” Beth McMahon said. “We will definitely get together again during the track season and then it will be good for us to have some time off to increase the mileage.”