FAIRMONT — Weather or not? That’s the perennial question pertaining to the running of the Sentinel Relays in Fairmont.

Unlike the U.S. Postal Service’s creed, all of Mother Nature’s elements have prevented the completion of the longest-running prep track & field meet in outstate Minnesota throughout its rich six-decade history.

After being called off due to a rare snowfall and the peripheral effects of a tornado in 2012-13, last year’s Relays fully completed 16 of 18 events before lightning filled the skies above Bob Bonk Track after the Class A girls 4×100-meter relay race crossed the finish line.

Ironically, after a cold and rain-filled last week of April, the forecast for Friday’s 4:15 p.m. Relays is a rare 70 degrees and sunny.

Whether you diligently follow the sport or have never watched track & field, the 62nd edition of the Sentinels will be worth the miniscule price of admission — $5 — and then some after taking a glance at the returning rosters.

Friday’s AA and A boys and girls divisions will feature eight 2016 Minnesota Class A state medalists, eight individual qualifiers and two relay teams from last Friday’s Hamline Elite Meet in St. Paul and one long-distance phenom from last Saturday’s Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.

North Union junior standout Riley Bauer — who captured fifth place in the 1,600-meter run in 4 minutes, 22.7 seconds at Drake only five days ago — and his Warrior teammates are a late addition to the Relays’ AA field, filling the void created by United South Central/Alden-Conger’s departure.

Ironically, Bauer, who captured the Iowa Class 1A 1,600-meter state crown in 2016, will take aim at his second Relays’ mile-run gold medal after winning the Sentinels’ A division in 2015.

While Bauer looks to become a rare two-division gold medalist on Friday, Fairmont mentor Bob Bonk’s Cardinal girls lineup, Martin County West coaches Curtis Smith’s Maverick girls roster, and Len Lasley’s Hutchinson boys squad each seek four-peats in the AA, A and AA divisions, respectively.

The Fairmont girls program features nine of the AA division’s 27 returning medalists, including Relays high hurdles and high jump champion Lizzy Subbert, and shot put winner Allison Lardy. Subbert has proven a multi-tasking force in both hurdles races, the triple and the vertical jump this spring, while Lardy holds both the Cardinals’ indoor and outdoor shot records. Lardy is fresh off a seventh-place heave of 39-3 3/4 at the Hamline Elite Meet.

Lardy will have to compete with teammates Brenna Cutler and Claire Cutler in both the shot and discus, along with Blue Earth Area’s Lindsey Norman and Hutchinson’s Keerstin Viesselman. Viesselman, who captured second in the Relays’ AA discus a year ago, posted a ninth-place toss of 112-9 at Hamline last week.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Norman and Brenna Cutler produced a 2-3 finish to Lardy in the 2016 Relays’ AA shot competition, while Claire Cutler won the gold medal in the event in the A division as part of the junior varsity.

Fairmont senior standout Jenna Pavich, who captured the silver 2016 Relays medal in the 1,600, has been a force in the 200, 400 and 800 this spring, and could see action in the sprints as well as the 4×400 relay on Friday. Pavich will run for Augustana University next season.

Madelia/Truman/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther senior standout Hannah Johanson will look to defend her long and triple jump crowns in AA, while teammate Renae Wallace aims at improving her bronze-medal showing in the 300 hurdles a year ago.

Wallace and Blue Earth Area’s Melissa Hagedorn, a silver Relays medalist in the high hurdles, will try to test Subbert, while Hagedorn also will vie with Bucs teammate Nicole Lium in the pole vault. Lium struck gold in the event, in addition to tying Fairmont’s Bethany Linse for second in the high jump last spring.

Minneapolis Edison sprinting siblings Jia Lewis and Jada Lewis return to defend their combined sweep of the open 100, 200 and 400 at the 2016 Relays. Jia Lewis, who captured the silver medal in both the 100 and 200 during the Minnesota State High School League’s Class A state meet, and Jada Lewis, who placed third and fourth in the 200 and 100, respectively, at state, moved to relay action for this year’s Elite Meet.

Jada Lewis, the 2016 Relays’ 400 gold medalist, and Jia Lewis exchanged handoffs with Linda Senaphanh and Chauntel Fleming to produce third-place showings in the 4×100 (49.66) and 4×200 (1:44.6) at last Friday’s Hamline Elite Meet.

Hutchinson, last year’s girls runner-up to Fairmont, returns 1,600 winner Bella Maher and 3,200 gold medalist Abi Reiter to round out the Relays’ AA girls champions back at Bonk Track on Friday.

Hutchinson’s boys lineup will look to 2017 Hamline Elite high jump champion Maguire Peterson and Hamline triple jump gold medalist Isaiah Nelson to help the Tigers fend off Fairmont for a fourth consecutive campaign. The host Cardinals have placed second to the Tigers in 2015 and 2016, while netting third in 2014.

Peterson, who pocketed ninth in last year’s MSHSL Class A state high jump, cleared 6-7 to garner the top Elite Meet prize last Friday, while Nelson soared to a first-place distance of 45-10 to exit Hamline with triple-jump gold. Peterson also represents one of three 2016 Relays record-setting athletes, etching his name in the No. 1 AA spot at 6-6.

Sprinter Wyatt Quiring, one of six returning Relays AA boys champions, will join forces with Relays high hurdle gold medalist Devin Johnson, along with bronze medalists Hayden Berhow and Tyler Johnson, in spearheading Fairmont’s bid to overtake Hutchinson in the points standings.

Quiring captured the open 400 in Fairmont a year ago, and also represents a top threat in the 100 and 200, while Berhow will aim at the jumps trifecta after sweeping the long, high and triple during last Thursday’s triangular in Jackson. Berhow placed third in the Relays’ triple jump behind Hutchinson’s Nelson, while Tyler Johnson struck bronze in the high jump behind Peterson.

Hutchinson thrower Steele Kim will look to defend his discus Relays crown and improve on his third-place finish in the shot, teammate Mitchell Grand will look to move up from third in both the mile and 2-mile runs, while silver medalist Cale Bordson looks to challenge pole vault Relays champ Logan Stock from Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet.

Stock, who captured fifth in the pole vault at 13-4 at Hamline, will look to challenge Peterson after taking second in last year’s high jump.

In the Class A girls competition, Martin County West will attempt to join the Fairmont varsity girls and the Hutchinson boys in the team winner’s circle for a fourth year in a row on Friday.

Sprinter Cora Olson, along with long-distance phenoms Marissa Whitehead and Brooke Anderson, will look to stampede the Mavericks to yet another Relays’ A trophy. Olson represents one of eight returning Relays champions in the division, winning the long jump. Olson also struck bronze in the open 100 and 400.

Whitehead, who posted a 13th-place Hamline time of 11:30.21 in the 3,200, will join Anderson in their quest for gold. Anderson won the 1,600 Relays crown in 2016.

Olson will face the challenge of 2016 MSHSL state bronze medalist Maelea Harmon of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in the sprints. Harmon proved a Relays’ double-winner in the open 100 and 200, in addition to running a leg on the Bucs’ record-setting 4×100 relay that generated a time of 50.5.

Harmon will not be alone in WEM’s mission to corral the Mavericks after placing second in the A girls division last year.

WEM’s Samantha Petry, the 2015 MSHSL Class A state pole vault champion, established the Relays’ new height in her field specialty by clearing 10-9 en route to the gold medal. Petry finished 10th at Hamline by vaulting to 9-10.

Avianna Swanson, who sprayed the sand in the triple jump pit to strike Relays gold last year, will pack scoring punch for WEM, in addition to Harmon and Petry.

Like Petry, St. Clair junior extraordinaire Mitchell Weber exited Fairmont with a new Relays record in 2016, hurling the discus to an incredible distance of 169-9.

Ironically, Weber, who went on to win the MSHSL Class A state discus championship with a toss of 174-0, added Relays gold medals in the high jump and long jump to power the Cyclones to their first A boys division crown. Weber also garnered bronze in the high hurdles.

Weber, who pocketed fourth in the discus at last Friday’s Elite Meet, represents three of the Relays’ seven divisional winners.

Jack Thompson, who took second to Mountain Lake Area’s Reynaldo Capetillo in the open 400 and third in the high jump to Weber and MCW’s Andrew Ringnell, respectively, will add scoring punch for St. Clair.

Capetillo will look to help the Wolverines improve on their runner-up showing a year ago. Capetillo struck gold in the 100 and 400, while claiming second to Weber in the long jump.

Ringnell, Dawson Burkhardt and MCW will look to regain the form that steered the Mavericks to the 2015 Relays team crown.

Ringnell won the triple jump title and took second in the high jump, while Burkhardt placed second in the open 200 a year ago in Fairmont.