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Everything points to Fremont senior Juan Gonzalez having a good opportunity to improve on the state meet record of 14 minutes, 58 seconds.

“There’s a state record for a reason, so obviously he’ll take a shot at that,� Fremont coach Sean McMahon said.

The state meet record was set two years ago by Carson Noecker of Hartington-Newcastle.

The Class A boys race is at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at Kearney Country Club. The Class B boys race kicks off the day's festivities at noon.

It was just two weeks ago when Gonzalez ran 15 minutes, 7 seconds on the same 5,000-meter course at Kearney Country Club during the Heartland Athletic Conference meet.

McMahon said the strategy has been to not push too hard on days when the temperatures are in the 80s or above. That changes at the state meet.

“I think he’s looking forward to not being held back, and just to really get to get out and go,� McMahon said.

And Noecker showed that it’s possible to go low on the Kearney course. His 14:51 during the UNK meet in 2022 is the fastest high school time ever on the course.

“It’s a tough enough course that you don’t really call your shot with time. You got to be mindful of and respectful of the difficulty of that,� McMahon said. “But do I think a sub 15 (minutes) is in his reach? Yeah, I do.�

Gonzalez’s brother ran at Fremont — Jose was a state champion in track in the 1,600 meters in 2019 — so McMahon knew of the younger Gonzalez several years before he joined the high school team.

McMahon remembers watching Gonzalez in elementary school. He wasn’t some elite youth runner, but you could see he was talented.

“He was so little, but he could move,� McMahon said.

It was when Gonzalez was a freshman that McMahon knew there may be something really special coming.

That year, Fremont had the best class of senior distance runners it's ever had, and Gonzalez kept up with them.

“Here’s this 14-year-old — he’s basically a year young for this grade — and he’s training toe-to-toe with 18-year-old men who have been running really well for a couple of years,� McMahon said. “He ran 9:29 to get eighth in the 3,200 at state track. And right then I thought if he stays on the straight and narrow and keeps his lifestyle, he could not only be the best that we’ve ever had, but that we’ve ever seen in Nebraska. And he’s absolutely done that.�

In track, Gonzalez is the all-class state record holder in the 1,600 (4:08) and 3,200 (8:51) and has 43 career wins.

Overall, he has 18 career wins in cross country — four as a sophomore, seven as a junior and seven this season. In a division (Class A boys) where seniors are often the state champion, Gonzalez won as a sophomore and junior.

He has course records at large regional meets in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Pella, Iowa.

It was at a postseason club meet last year when Gonzalez ran 14:33 and got third at a regional meet in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that even his coach couldn’t believe what he’d done.

“Last year when he got to go with some of the great individuals and ran 14:33 at that Nike race in Sioux Falls, that one shocked me,� McMahon said. “I think up to that his PR was 15:07. At 14:33 you’re talking 200 meters ahead of that.�

Then Gonzalez placed 10th at the Foot Locker national meet in San Diego.

Gonzalez has been recruited by several of the best college cross country programs in the country. Oregon head coach Jerry Schumacher and assistant coach Chris Solinsky were at the district meet last week in Papillion.

“They stuck out a little bit,� McMahon said.

That evening, the Oregon coaches had an in-home visit with Gonzalez.

One day after the state meet, Gonzalez will fly to Oregon for an official visit. He’s also considering Oklahoma State (ranked No. 1 this week), Wake Forest (No. 7) and Nebraska-Kearney.

North Star is title contender

The Class A boys race will also be good because of an anticipated close race for the team championship between No. 1-ranked Fremont and No. 2 Lincoln North Star.

Fremont narrowly beat North Star the only time they went head-to-head this season at the conference meet. It was so close that Fremont’s athletes initially thought North Star had won the meet. Fremont won by a margin of 50-53.

McMahon said Fremont had its full lineup that day and expects another close team race on Friday.

“I think it’s going to be everything it was at conference,� McMahon said. “North Star’s fifth, sixth and seventh guys have come along really well — they’re very solid Class A varsity guys. But their top four guys aren’t your ordinary top four. That’s a pretty special front pack of guys.�

In Class A girls, Millard West is ranked No. 1 and Lincoln Southwest is No. 2. At the district meet Millard West had a team score of 21 and put all seven of its runners in the top 10. Running at a different district meet Southwest had a team score of 28.