Gage Friesen celebrates shortly after becoming High Plains’ seventh state champion following his 7-4 decision in the finals at 150 pounds at CHI Health Center in February – Christian Horn YNT file photo
Written by Christian Horn
This is the second of 10 installments recognizing each of the five finalists for the York News-Times Male and Female Athletes of the Year. One installment for each of the five boys and five girls finalists will run daily for the next couple weeks, with the presentation of the Athlete of the Year awards set to occur later this summer.
POLK — There have been several talented athletes to walk the halls of High Plains Community School over the years, but Gage Friesen might just be up there near the top of the list.
A dynamic three-sport standout for the Storm throughout his career, Friesen saved his best for last as he churned out a senior year to remember on the gridiron, the mats, and the track.
His campaign got off to a rousing start in the fall, where there were few sights more fearsome for defenders than Friesen barreling toward them with a full head of steam.
He ran roughshod on opposing defenses during the fall, racking up 1,529 yards on 171 carries, good for an average of 8.9 yards a pop and edging out EMF’s Mikey Bartu as the rushing leader on the year-end area charts.
Friesen eclipsed 100 rushing yards in nine of High Plains’ 10 games and found the end zone 24 times on the ground to pair with 132 yards and three touchdowns in the receiving game.
Despite his strong offensive campaign, Friesen has arguably had an even greater impact on defense from his spot at linebacker.
The senior flirted with 100 total tackles during both his sophomore and junior seasons with 95 and 97, respectively. He found another gear this fall, racking up 113 total stops to finish second among area leaders.
Friesen also picked off five passes during the season to pair with two forced fumbles and a trio of fumble recoveries as he helped High Plains go 6-2 during the regular season and host a first-round playoff game, a 22-20 win over Lawrence-Nelson.
“We’ve played as a team since we were little kids, and we played as a team until the end, and that’s what got us through – it was the little things,” he said after that victory. “This is what we’ve been building toward for nine years of playing football, and it’s an amazing feeling to go advance another week, to play in November. High Plains hasn’t done it by themselves since 2015, and it’s a great feeling to make a little bit of history.”
Friesen’s efforts on the gridiron paid dividends, as he was named the News-Times football player of the year and was tabbed as an all-area co-captain.
“Gage is a playmaker on both sides of the ball. Great leader on and off the field. Great mentor to younger kids. He is one of those rare running backs who knows how to finish,” High Plains head coach Greg Wood said at the end of the year. “He ran hard and downhill, was tough to bring down in the open field. Defensively, he just had a nose for the ball as our leading tackler for the second year in a row. Last year he played safety, and this year we moved him to inside linebacker.”
While Friesen’s football season was strong, his wrestling campaign during the winter might have been even better.
The senior recorded his 150th career win on Feb. 6, but he found another level come the postseason. Friesen started the year at 144 pounds, but he made the jump up to 150 for the stretch run because he wanted another shot at Howells-Dodge’s Dylan Brichacek, whom Friesen lost to in the state semifinals as a junior.
“Gage, he’s about as cool as they come,” head wrestling coach Martin Phillips said. “He’s over here playing stupid games on his phone; most of these kids down here are running sprints, going in there and warming up hard, but Gage is just rolling around on his back without a care in the world. I think that’s a huge advantage for him, always has been. There’s no stress and everything is going to be what it is.”
That demeanor paid off in a big way as Friesen qualified for state for the fourth straight year, then marched his way into Saturday night’s championship bout, where he indeed got his second crack at Brichacek.
Friesen held a 4-2 lead in the final minute, where he scored the dagger with a 3-point takedown with 54 seconds left on the clock.
The move sealed away a 7-4 decision as Friesen became High Plains’ seventh individual state champion, and the Storm’s first since Phillips took over the reins seven years ago.
“I’m going to be honest — I never would have done it if it wasn’t for coach Phillips,” Friesen said shortly after winning the title. “I mean, I would have been doing basketball and been on the bench right now, but I’m glad I did wrestling, even though it’s been hard. Obviously, I’ve been working for this for a long time, and early in my career, I never thought it would be possible,” he said. “To have it finally happen, it’s great. It means the world to me.”
He was the News-Times boys wrestler of the year and the all-area captain as he finished his career with three straight state medals and a 52-6 record during his senior year.
It wasn’t too shabby a career for a kid who didn’t even step on the mats until middle school.
“This whole senior class, none of them actually wrestled until about middle school — they all played basketball. It all started with Hudson (Urkoski) because he was 75 pounds, so it’s ‘Listen buddy, it’s not in the cards’ and then fortunately for Gage I saw him shoot a basketball and I said ‘It ain’t for you either,’ and then we were able to coerce Caleb (Sharman) and get Kaden (Rieken) in there too,” Phillips said at the end of the year. “Gage, at the first camp we went to, he went 0-15 in the novice division, and we were like, maybe this isn’t for you either, but he’s just a sponge. The kid just learns, he loves to compete no matter what the sport and he works so hard every day.”
During the spring, Friesen competed individually on the track in the pole vault and sprints. However, he also proved useful on the relays by the time the postseason rolled around.
He was part of the 4×100 crew that broke the school record at districts with a time of 44.21 seconds to win gold and punch their ticket to state. The High Plains 4×800 quartet also qualified for state, giving Friesen a pair of events in Omaha.
The following week, Friesen ended his career with a state medal at Burke Stadium as he anchored the 4×100 crew’s sixth-place finish. Their time of 44.34 seconds was just off their school-record pace.
While he finished his senior campaign as an electric competitor for the Storm, Friesen’s athletic journey isn’t over quite yet, as he signed a letter of intent to play football for Doane in the fall.
“It was a tough decision to decide to do football over wrestling, but ultimately I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” he said. “Football has always been my favorite sport from an early age. The coaches I have talked to wanted to see me more on offense and starting out as a running back, but that could always change.”
