After 32 years as a founding member of the Heartland Athletic Conference, Fremont High School will leave the conference and join the Metro Conference beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
According to the Fremont Tribune, the idea was proposed to the FPS Board of Education on Sept. 8 and later approved.
Just days before the proposal, the Heartland Athletic Conference released a statement through “Central Nebraska Today” regarding Fremont’s departure.
“Fremont has been a long-standing member of the HAC Conference and has continued to demonstrate a high level of excellence,” the statement said. “While the HAC schools will continue to compete with Fremont in regular and postseason competitions, they will be missed at our conference events. The HAC conference wishes them the best of luck as they move in a different direction.”
Many regard Fremont’s history in the HAC as one of the conference’s most successful, especially in boys cross country, which has won 23 of the last 24 conference titles.
“I know in track we strung together nine straight championships,” co-head boys track and cross country coach Sean McMahon said, “and in cross country something like 19 in a row.”
Athletes on the team also reflected on Fremont’s legacy in the conference.
“We have been pretty dominant in the HAC for a lot of years, so I would say we just left a big legacy behind,” junior cross country and track runner Aden Soto said. “To move on from that, it’s a little sad, but obviously we got more room to grow.”
Many athletes said they view the move to the Metro Conference as a new opportunity regardless of the sport they compete in.
“Honestly from what I’ve heard it’s less competition but more teams, so I am uncertain how I feel,” sophomore Brandon Larios Sagastume, who competes in cross country and track and field, said. “I like more teams. I would like the competition to stay the same, but you can’t have both, so it’s fine.”
While many aspects of competition will remain the same, some teams will still need to make adjustments.
For McMahon, the biggest change for track and cross country will be the Metro Conference’s two-day meet format.
“The only adjustment is the two-straight-day conference meet,” McMahon said. “For HAC, it was already on a Tuesday, but Metros has kind of been on a Tuesday and a Wednesday, so [it’s a] minuscule change in the pattern of what we do for training between conference and districts.”
Although Fremont will no longer compete in the HAC, longtime rivals such as Columbus will still remain on regular-season schedules, and teams are looking forward to new competition.
Sports such as cross country and track and field will not see major schedule changes because they will primarily compete in the Metro Conference during the conference meet portion of the season.
As the transition approaches, athletes continue expressing excitement about participating in a new conference.
“I can’t wait to see what the Metros has in store for our team, and I can’t wait to go out there and perform,” Soto said.