who gets the better of his teammates on any given day? Not. At. All. • In a nutshell, that is why Gilbert is such a heavy favorite to hoist the hardware yet again this fall. An off day for Bleich, Tallman, or Squiers usually means they lose to their re- spective teammates, but that’s it. Barring in- jury, they’ll be at or near the front of the field, and it doesn’t matter if the meet is the sea- son-opening Webster City Invite or the sea- son-ending state meet. “We have so much respect for each other and we all know we’re fast,” Bleich said. “It’s not like one of us is so much better than the other guys. Yeah, I like beating these guys, but that’s not my priority.” Squiers and Tallman agree. When they cross the finish line at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, the site of the state meet, they’re not looking to see where they finished for individual glory. They’re immediately at- tempting to decipher how much they helped the team. “At state, I do not care who places where,” Squiers said. “I’m only thinking about what we did for the team.” That team-first mentality has been the Tigers’ calling card during Thomas’s tenure. This season, the Tigers also return Emrick Ryan and Preston Stensland from last year’s title team. There is plenty of competition for the varsity roster’s other two spots as well. “There are only seven spots on the varsity roster and if you want to make it you’ve got to
put in the work,” Bleich said. “Everyone wants to be in one of those spots,” Squiers said. “We trust our training, we trust our coaches, and we trust everything we’ve been doing. It’s worked so far.” Yes, yes it has. • Seven miles in a smidge over 45 minutes. Squiers and Tallman are still hunched over catching their breaths when Bleich reaches the end, but they’re quick to meet their team- mate and offer a high-five and encouraging words. That’s what good teammates do. That’s what family does. It may not be by blood, but this is definitely a family. This type of workout, they do it five or six days a week during the offseason with very lit- tle time off. In their eyes, this is what it takes to make them great. They don’t need coaches or their families to tell them to train; they do it because they love it and because they know it’s what is needed. These are the faces of Gilbert cross country. These are three of the faces of cross country in the state of Iowa. The program and the cross country scene statewide are in very capable hands.
FALL 2025 | GAME ON 11
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