ABOVE: The Fairmont Cardinals girls track team sprint through the hurdles at Bob Bonk Track earlier this season. Pictured Far Left Lianna Weber Left Middle Nora Fitzgerald Right Middle Bella Schroeder Right Cadence Leiding. Sentinel file photo.

FAIRMONT – The Fairmont Sentinel Relays are back in action for the 69th time, and the Fairmont Cardinals are hunting for repeat success after bringing home the gold last season in boys and girls Class AA.

“There are a lot of really good teams and individuals at this meet,” said Fairmont head coach Jesse Walters. “Looking at the results up to this point in the season, I think we will have a lot of competitive events on Friday.”

The variability in the roster when it comes to track and field leads to some interesting lineups, but Walters is confident in the Cardinals’ squad this season.

“Entries change from one competition to the next based on a number of variables,” said Walters. “I will have my entries complete a couple of days before the meet. I plan to have competitive lineups in every relay on Friday.”

There was no specific focus on this particular meet when it came to practice as the Relays approached, but the performance and results will be due to all of the work put in throughout the season.

“Our practices are tailored to put our athletes in a position to be at their best later in the season,” said Walters. “No, practice this week will not be specifically focused on this meet, but they will be ready to compete as a result of the work they’ve put in throughout the season.”

The Cardinals have been a force to be reckoned with this season. The boys’ record is 15-1, and the girls’ record is 14-2 coming into the meet.

“Both boys and girls teams have competed really well so far this year,” said Walters. “I feel we have a very competitive roster and hope to see both teams win the meet and carry that momentum into the True Team Section meet the following week.”

The Cardinals will be put to the test on Friday when they host 15 teams in this highly competitive event: Blue Earth Area, Fulda, Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther, Heron Lake-Okabena, Hutchinson, Jackson Country Central, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, Martin County West, Minneapolis South, Mountain Lake, North Union, River Valley, St. Clair, St. James Area, and Windom.

Now, a senior Fairmont’s Macy Hanson makes her final appearance in the relays. Hanson currently holds the school record in the girls 1,600-meter (5:00.93), and the 3,200-meter (10:45.9) is aiming for gold in the outing after a second-place finish last year, being beaten out by Hutchinson’s Isabelle Schimtz, who ran a time of 10:30.4 to Hanson’s 10:59.99. Schmitz has since graduated, clearing the way for Hanson to take a run at the title. Hanson is a force to be reckoned with on top of a solid performance in the relays, and she is also coming off a state appearance where she placed third in the 3,200-meter (10:53.04).

Adding more scoring depth, Fairmont is also returning veteran record holders to the field in Jeremiah Lebbi, Caleb Chambers, Nolan Schultze, and Elijah Johnson. They currently hold the fifth slot in the school record book for the 4×100 after setting a time of 44.2.

Fairmont’s girls still look strong with the return of Harper Artz, Hanson, and Abbie Simpson who took second in the girls 4×400 (4:19.96), falling to the team of Hailey Hollar, Aubrey Steffl, Marrisa Pabst, and Brynne Ibberson (4:11.35) of River Valley. Pabst and Ibberson return to the relays this year as key components of River Valley’s relay squad.

The BEA Buccaneers are returning some firepower of their own. Tristan Hanson, now a senior, has been a significant component in the relay teams for BEA as they have been finding the second-place slot multiple times this season.

Tytan Tumbleson of Fairmont is looking for redemption this time around after taking second in the boys high jump last time around after clearing 5 feet, 10 inches but was defeated by Minneapolis South’s Alexander Williamson by judges decision.

Abbie Simpson of Fairmont makes her return to the Relays coming off of a first-place finish in the girls triple jump clearing 32 feet, 8.5 inches narrowly beating Lily Ciske of St. James (32-8). Jadyn Montgomery also returns to the event hunting to improve on a 31 foot jump that landed her in fourth place last year.

JCC’s Braeden Tufvesson returns for a shot at redemption after falling to Gage Borntrager of Fairmont who managed to clear 12 feet, 3 inches to take the gold over Tufvesson who cleared 10 feet, 9 inches.

Oliver Tordsen returns to the spotlight, looking to repeat and improve on his first-place performance in the boys discus with a throw of 146 feet, 6 inches. Tordsen is the current Fairmont record holder after launching a throw of 170 feet, 10 inches at the Hamline Elite meet, securing him a first place finish and picking up where his brother Sawyer Tordsen left off.

With the graduation of Fairmont’s Landon Gilbertson, who placed first with a time of 17.05 in the 110-meter hurdles last season, silver medalist and teammate Jaron Schutz is aiming at the top spot building on his performance of 17.55 in 2024.

The girls’ 100-meter hurdles will be an extremely competitive event. Rylie Cother, who has finished in the top slot three times this season and beat out two Cardinals last year in Cadence Leiding, who took second (17.41) and Bella Schroeder (17.61), with her time of 16.73, will return, setting up quite the rematch for the three seniors in their final appearance at the relays.

Nelson Remmington is also a top tier returning talent for the Cardinals. The multi-year state champion is chasing down repeat success and his own records in his final season.

With many of last year’s top finishers from the 2024 relays graduating it clears the way for the younger talent who made a run at the podium last year not easier but suddenly hyper competitive. Despite every school returning top tier talent there are no guarantees once the starting pistol fires on Friday.