OFF & RUNNING — Members of the Fairmont Cardinals boys cross country team opening the season by playing host to the Early Bird Invitational on Friday, Aug. 27, on the Fairmont High School campus include, front row (l-r): Head coach Bob Bonk, assistant coach Jen Kahler, Anthony Stegge, Isaac Stone, Brier Lenort, Andrew Haugen, Gavin Artner, assistant coach Holly Neusch and assistant coach Stew Murfield. Back row: Cooper Gudahl, Selvin Forsythe, Landon Weber, Ben Moeller, Landon Pederson, Will Niestrath and Sebastian Castro. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Back to normal, hopefully. After a season in which every meet was a triangular, there was no Minnesota State High School League state meet and Martin County’s COVID-19 numbers kept the team out of the Section 2A Meet, the Fairmont boys cross country team is happy to be back to normal.

Or at least the two runners with varsity experience in a usual season.

Sophomores Will Niestrath and Gavin Artner came into last season as the only underclassmen with varsity experience for the Cardinals, now they are two of three captains on a team without any juniors or seniors.

Sophomore Selvin Forsythe will take the role as the Cardinal boys’ third captain.

“They were our three top runners today (during Thursday’s team time trials),” Cardinal head coach Bob Bonk said of his three captains. “I think they will be throughout the season. (Sophomore) Ben Moeller is right in there, and we could have another sophomore, too. The two eighth-graders who really stood out were Cooper Gudahl and Brier Lenort. … I’ve got to give these young guys a lot of credit, they’ve done a good job this summer. Usually the captains are seniors or even a junior here and there, but it’s unusual to have sophomore boys as captains and I think they’ve taken it very seriously and are doing their best.”

This year will be a season of growth for the Cardinal boys, who enter the year with seven sophomores, one freshman, three eighth-graders and a seventh-grader filling out the roster.

“I was hoping to get a couple (juniors and seniors), but it just didn’t happen,” Bonk said. “I think sometimes people beget people. … If you get two, sometimes you get five, if you get one, that can become zero. If nobody else in your grade is out here, it can be hard. … It’s a tough sport, it’s mentally and physically tough. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”

The youthful group will get the season started Friday when it hosts the Early Bird Invite, the first of the returning yearly meets, against Blue Earth Area, Heron Lake-Okabena, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial, Luverne, Marshall, Mt. Lake Area, St. James Area, St. Peter and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.

The Early Bird isn’t the only big meet back on the schedule as Fairmont will also take part in the Milaca Mega Meet and Turkey Trot this season, if they go on as scheduled, Bonk said.

“That’s the million dollar question right now,” Bonk said. “We’re gonna have basically the same schedule we had two years ago, which includes Milaca and the standard section and conference stuff, but it can all change in a day. … We’re trying to keep everybody safe. The good news is, we’re outside and we’re trying to follow good safety procedures there.”

Bonk said he is hopeful the team will be able to complete its schedule this year after needing to end the season early last year, missing both the Big South Conference and Section 2A meets.

With such a young roster on the boys’ side, Bonk will look to returning assistant coaches Stew Murfield and Holly Neusch as well as returning volunteer Jen Kahler for help leading the group.

Bonk said he is also happy to have a new volunteer Elizabeth Kreback, a former Gustavus Adolphus College teammate of former Fairmont standout Illiana Ramon, who has taken a teaching position in the Fairmont district and will help out whenever she can.

“When you’re an old man head coach, it’s good to have some younger people around,” Bonk said with a laugh. “She ran for Gustavus for four years, both in cross country and track, it’ll be fun to have her.”

With such a young roster, Bonk said the team might not be at the top of every meet, but he believes it will be a competitive group and will grow throughout the upcoming season.

“We just hope to get better throughout the season,” Bonk said. “And to at least be competitive in most of the meets. There might be a couple of situations where we’re in a little over our head, but I think we can be somewhere in the middle of the pack most of the time.”