After finishing right on Robert Mechura’s heels at last year’s boys cross-country state meet, Minnetonka’s Sean Fries made sure to avoid any close calls Saturday.

Fries, a Stanford-bound senior, won his first Minnesota cross-country state championship after building a 26-second lead by the 2-mile mark of the Class 3A race at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights.

Mechura, from Roseville, won the two previous Minnesota state titles before heading to the University of North Carolina. With Fries pushing him at state last year, Mechura finished in 15 minutes, 3.7 seconds, which stood as Minnesota’s Class 3A record for a 5,000-meter race until Fries bested it Saturday at 14:50.6.

Shakopee senior Owen Stuwe was second in 15:24.5.

Fries acknowledged that coming so close last year motivated him all season.

“I was hoping to end with a really good finish last year at state, and obviously coming in second against Rob isn’t anything to be really disappointed about,” Fries said. “But yeah, I was obviously hoping to better that today.”

Fries said he used a “boring race strategy.”

“No need to overcomplicate things ever,” he said. “I just kind of went out strong and tried to keep going from there.”

Blaine won the 3A team title, the Bengals’ first cross-country team championship. Wayzata finished second and Rosemount was third.

Class 2A: Como Park makes history

Como Park entered the state meet ranked fifth in Class 2A and wound up winning the team title, the first cross-country title for any St. Paul City Conference team.

Cougars junior Charlie Loth won his first individual state championship, finishing in 15:31.1.

“It feels incredible,” Loth said. “I had no idea that this could be possible.”

Loth noted the team was a little down based on the pre-meet rankings, until coach Tim Kersey held a long meeting with a pep talk.

“Today was really the first day we’re able to pull it off all together as one group,” Kersey said. “I couldn’t be more proud.”

Perham finished second in the team competition, and Orono was third.

Class 1A: Erik Semling repeats

Winona Cotter/Hope sophomore Erik Semling won his second consecutive Class 1A title with a time of 15:19.7. That time bettered his 15:23.5 from last year, which was a Class 1A state record for a 5,000-meter course.

Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson/Houston won the team competition, with Winona Cotter/Hope second and Redwood Valley third.