T alent ... gobs and gobs of it. And, yes, some luck, too. Culture, that’s important. And so is the support — from administration, families, and the community. Those are the bullet point headliners Aaron Thomas came up with when he was asked to pinpoint the keys to the success of his Gilbert boys cross country program over the past 17 seasons. At no point in this discussion did he bring up his own coaching, but his modesty aside, you better believe that’s played a signif- icant role as well. There is no perfect answer to the question, of course, just like there is no perfect team or season. The Tigers were pretty close a sea- son ago, though, and it only added to the mys- tique of a program that is unquestionably one of the best the state of Iowa has to offer. And it think, it wasn’t that long ago that Thomas himself had pangs of envy for the coaches who led their teams to the state-meet balcony. Now, he’s the poster boy for cross country success. “Back when I started coaching, seeing those teams that were in the top three at state each year, I don’t know if jealousy is the right word, but I was definitely envious,” Thomas, who is in year No. 18 at the helm of the Tigers this fall, said. “I remember thinking it would be really cool to have a team that was good enough to be on the deck at state.” Cut to the present and Thomas himself has stared down at the crowd from the deck of Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge — the site of the state meet — numerous times. Gil- bert has captured five Class 3A state cham- pionships under Thomas’s direction, including the last two in succession.
Is Thomas impressed by his own résumé? He doesn’t give himself much time to stop and ponder it, to be honest. He’s too busy thinking about what’s next. “In the season, once that gets going, you get hyper-focused on the task at hand, but there are times when you stop and think that it is surprising or impressive what we’ve been able to do,” Thomas, who is one of 16 coaches in Iowa to win at least five cross country state crowns, said. “We have had some ridiculously talented kids come through our program, and what has been established is this level of ex- pectations. That culture of work and what it takes to be good. They see what those ahead of them have done, and they want to have that success as well.” A 28-time state qualifier, including 13 trips in the past 15 seasons, Gilbert put together a state meet for the ages in 2024 en route to state championship No. 5. Ranked No. 1 throughout the season, the Tigers thrived in the role of favorite and proceeded to set a state-meet record for the lowest point total (33 points) since Iowa went to four classes more than two decades ago. There was no nail-biting. The chase for 3A gold was over relatively early in the race when it was clear the Tigers were just that much better than everyone else. Des Moines Chris- tian was a distant second, 45 points behind Gilbert. “Things worked out really well last year,” Thomas said. “We were kind of the heavy fa- vorite, but we didn’t let that affect us. We were very focused on what we could do to get better, and how we could run our best at the state meet. We knew if we did that, we were going to be in good shape.”
50 GAME ON | FALL 2025
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