FAIRMONT — There will be no Milaca Mega Meet. There will be no I-90 Invitational. There might not even be a sectional or state meet.

Instead of the usual mixture of small and large races throughout the season, this year there will be weekly triangulars.

Much has changed going into the 2020 boys cross country season, but the names leading the pack for the Fairmont Cardinals remain the same.

Senior captains Will Saari and Connor Artner will likely be the frontrunners for a Cardinal team full of youth.

Fairmont lost two seniors from its team that placed sixth in the Section 2A Meet last year. This year, Artner and Saari lead a group of 20 runners: four seniors, nine freshmen, one eighth-grader and six seventh-graders.

Ethan Grunewald and Parker Vetter, a pair of seniors, will be first-year runners on Fairmont’s roster.

Ninth-graders Gavin Artner and Will Niestrath are the lone returning letter winners among the younger runners.

“I don’t know where they (Vetter and Grunewald) will fit in as far as scoring and stuff, but we’re really happy to have those two guys because they’re really just quality people and then the freshmen group is a pretty big group,” Fairmont head coach Bob Bonk said about his new runners. “Gavin and Will (Niestrath) lettered last year as eighth-graders. I would say, there’s a pretty good chance two or three of the seven varsity spots will be seniors, and the rest will be the freshmen.

“I mean, we don’t have any juniors or sophomores and it’s kind of good and bad news. I think the bad news is, you know, it’s gonna be tough teamwise with that situation. The good news is these guys, if they can stay together, three or four of them will probably run varsity this year. They could have a really good future because we also have a good seventh grade group so a couple years from now, we might look a lot different. But right now, other than the top two guys, it’s going to be a work in progress.”

Those two leading the way are looking for another year of success.

Saari competed as an individual in each of the past two Class A state races, placing 116th in 17:39.8 as a sophomore, then improving to a 64th-place finish in 17:10.7 last year.

Artner helped power the Cardinals in last year’s section meet with a 24th-place finish in 17:41.2.

While Bonk’s captains certainly lead the way on the course, he said they (and girls’ team captains Tabitha Thatcher, Hannah Neusch and Laura Thompson) have also been a big help setting good examples for younger runners and helping maintain all the new rules this year has brought.

“We’ve always had an atmosphere where we high-fived each other a lot and you know, like when they run they get in their little huddles and stuff like that,” Bonk said. “It’s hard not doing that. It’s hard just keeping the 6 feet social distance across the board as much as we can and you know, I as a coach, like to high-five people and give fist bumps and all that, so it’s hard and you have to kind of catch yourself a lot.

“I think the captains are a real strength of the team. They’re very good role models and mentors for all these younger kids. And they’ve all done a lot of running this summer and showed discipline. So there’s no doubt in my mind these five people are, are really a strength of the team. … I couldn’t ask for any more of those five people. Yeah, some of the other upperclassmen, too, like Sara Sundblad and Emma Gudahl.”

Alongside the runners, Bonk returns a coaching staff that he often credits for success. Assistant coaches Stew Murfield and Holly Neusch are back, as well as volunteer Jen Kahler.

The Cardinal boys season gets started at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Fairmont then participates in weekly triangulars every Thursday. Two will be at Fairmont High School, two at Blue Earth Area and two at St. Peter.