All indications are that Fremont senior Juan Gonzalez has a good chance to break the state record of 14 minutes, 58 seconds.

“There’s a state record for a reason, so obviously he’ll try for that,” Fremont coach Sean McMahon said.

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

The Class A boys race is Friday at 12:30 p.m. at Kearney Country Club. The Class B boys race will kick 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 temperatures are in the 80s or higher. That changes at the state meet.

“I think he’s looking forward to not being held back, and just really getting out there and going,” McMahon said.

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

“It is a course that is so tough that you cannot really have your chance with time. You have to be aware and respectful of the difficulty of that,” McMahon said. “But do I think a sub-15 (minutes) is within his reach? Yes, I do.”

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

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

“He was so small, but he could move,” McMahon said.

When Gonzalez was a freshman, McMahon knew something really special might happen.

That year, Fremont had the best class of seniors at distance it has ever had, and Gonzalez kept up with them.

“Here’s this 14-year-old — he’s actually a year young for this class — and he’s training toe-to-toe with 18-year-old guys who have been running really well for a few years,” McMahon said. “He ran 9:29 and placed eighth in the 3,200 at the state track. And at that moment I thought if he stays the course and maintains his lifestyle, he could be not only the best we’ve ever had, but we’ve ever seen in Nebraska. And he absolutely did that.”

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

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

He holds course records at major regional competitions in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Pella, Iowa.

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

“When he joined some of the great individuals last year and ran 14:33 at the Nike race in Sioux Falls, it shocked me,” McMahon said. “I think his PR up to that point was 15:07. At 2:33 PM you talk 200 meters in front of that.”

Gonzalez then placed 10th at the Foot Locker national competition in San Diego.

Gonzalez has been recruited by some of the top 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 stood out a little bit,” McMahon said.

That evening, the Oregon coaches had a home visit with Gonzalez.

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

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

Fremont narrowly defeated North Star the only time they faced each other in the conference this season. It was so close that Fremont’s athletes initially thought North Star had won the meet. Fremont won by a 50-53 margin.

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

“I think it will be just like the conference,” McMahon said. “North Star’s fifth, sixth and seventh boys did really well; they are very solid Class A varsity guys. But their top four guys aren’t your regular top four. That’s a pretty special group of guys.”

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