Sean Fries shattered the state championship record Saturday afternoon on the Lee Bolstad course, finishing at 14 minutes, 50.6 seconds, claiming the title.
Fries set out to do something “special” in his senior season and accomplished his goal and then some. The Minnetonka native crossed the finish line 33.9 seconds before runner-up Owen Stuwe of Shakopee.
Rosemount’s Channing Goodwin came in fifth, while Two Rivers’ Max Molinaro was sixth.
Blaine won the team title, powered by a fourth-place finish from David Meberg. Rosemount finished third as a team.
In 2024, Fries came in second to Roseville Area senior and now North Carolina freshman Robert Mechura. But one year later, he conquered the competition and broke Mechura’s state record of 15 minutes, 3.7 seconds.
“Obviously, that’s an honor to have,” Fries said about being the new record holder. “Lots of talent that’s come from Minnesota. So I’m very happy to be able to continue that legacy and hopefully, it just continues, as Minnesota keeps on producing more.”
Fries said his race strategy was straightforward, and getting out to a strong start was a big part. He finished the first mile with a 12.3-second lead over Stuwe and furthered his advantage to 25.8 seconds after mile two.
A driving factor in his performance came from his experience with the course and his loss to Mechura last season.
“You can always use that to your advantage,” Fries said about having raced the Les Bolstad course before. “So that definitely helps just get every bit of experience you can.”
Experience that Fries had been compiling since eighth grade, since he first raced in the state meet for the Skippers.
“Five years of experience in the state meet really helps and gets you familiar with what everything will be like, what the day will be like, and kind of be able to better prepare yourself mentally for that,” Fries said.
Fries made his dream come true when he committed to Stanford on July 12. But when he started running cross country in middle school, winning a state championship did not cross his mind as a goal.
“I think every little kid in sports usually has pretty lofty goals,” Fries said when asked if a state title was a dream since the beginning. “I didn’t think that I would be able to do it, but I think it’s obviously something that everyone would want to do. But yeah, I guess I probably didn’t have it in my mind at the time.”
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