Athlete of the Week: Fremont track and field’s Juan Gonzalez

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Runners like Fremont’s Juan Gonzalez don’t come around often.

“He’s a once in a generation athlete,” Tigers track and field head coach Sean McMahon said.

The junior broke the 3200-meter state record at the Columbus Invitational in March with a time of 8:51.46.

Last weekend, he set the state record in the 1600-meter with a time of 4:08.99 in front of the home crowd at Fremont.

“I was a bit scared if I got it or not,” he said. “But when I heard everyone excited I was like ‘finally, I got it.’”

Which state record meant more?

“It had to be the 1600,” he said without hesitation. “In front of the home crowd and all your friends and family are there, it’s special.”

McMahon said Juan’s success is the product of relentless work.

“He sets the record for me on his work ethic and follows through with all the daily lifestyle things,” he said. “Of course he has a tremendous about of natural talent but if he doesn’t have all three things, you can’t do what he just did.”

With another year at Fremont ahead of him, Gonzalez is hoping there are many more records yet to come.

“It gets me extremely excited because when I’m doing things like this as a junior it kind of motivates me knowing I could go to the national stage and do even more special things,” he said.

“I’m sure there are people who can’t wait for him to graduate, but we’re not one of them,” McMahon said. “We’re happy he has another year and the thing about track is you can always get faster and we have more things to look forward to.”

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