ABOVE: Front row, from left: Brayden Williamson, Josh Soelter, Carmyne Hecht, Kellen Fritz, Merritt Pomerenke, Tavian Harvey, Joe Long, Jordan Thompson, Jalin Jackson. Back row, from left: Reid Johnson, Joseph Crissinger, Joseph Hackett, Harmon Schrunk, Oliver Tordsen, Logan Junkermeier, Brett Williams, Hadan Toomer, Nolan Schultze

FAIRMONT – The Fairmont Cardinals boys basketball team returns to play Dec. 3 with a veteran roster heading into the 2024-2025 season.

The Cardinals are actively preparing to get back to work under the mantra of ‘amor fati’ or love of fate, ready to take on everything this season has to throw at them.

Returning 66 percent of its scoring and 73 percent of its rebounding, the team is looking to find its identity quickly and hit the ground running. With a lot of height in the lineup, they plan to set the tone and play their style of basketball. Coming off of a 13-14 season, the team returns a lot of varsity to the roster this season.

With returning senior Oliver Tordsen (6-foot-8 center), senior Hadan Toomer (6-foot guard), junior Joseph Hackett (6-foot guard), junior Logan Junkermeier (6-foot-9 forward), senior Harmon Schrunk (6-foot-3 forward), senior Trevor Maakestad (6-foot-6 forward), and senior Nolan Schultze (6-foot-1 guard), the Cardinals have an experienced varsity lineup heading into this season.

With that height, the Cardinals also have a lot of versatility with this season’s squad.

“We’re probably one of the longest teams in the state,” said Fairmont head boys basketball coach Jared Thompson. “We have 6-8, 6-9, 6-6, and 6-3 that we could put on the floor at any given time. [We’re] pretty versatile with our length this year, too. So, we’re unique, there’s just not a lot of teams that play like us and that makes us harder to play.”

Tordsen leads the Fairmont varsity returners this season after averaging 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game last season. Toomer averaged 7.5 ppg and 2.1 rpg, while Junkermeier had 6.7 ppg and 4.7 rpg and Schrunk had 4.5 ppg and 3.2 rpg.

The Cardinals have set up a unique play style that will prove difficult for their opponents to handle heading into the season, but the coaching staff acknowledges that it’s a new season that presents new challenges.

“We also have to realize we’re starting over this year as far as taking those steps,” Thompson said. “Even though these guys feel really good about how much, and what they’ve done, and where they were last year, we still have to kind of take those necessary steps to be a good basketball team. Getting all the basics down again, all the fundamentals, and learning all the basics within your offense and defense, but the nice thing is we come into this season kind of knowing exactly what we are. Last year, it took us a while to find our identity.

“I don’t think it will take us as long this year to find out who we are. We know who we are. We’re a big team and we know what we’re doing on offense. We know what we’re going to do on defense. So we can start from Day 1, really getting better at that.”

The Cardinals are ready for whatever the season has in store for them and are planning to take the good with the bad. They have adopted three pillars for the year and plan to apply them to the season as it commences.

“Our three pillars that we stand on are resilience, connectedness and gratitude,” said Thompson. “We really stand on those things, but, kind of a little phrase that we started on day one this year was ‘amor fati’ which is Latin for love of fate, and what we’re preaching to the guys is no matter what happens to us, good or bad, we’re taking it as that’s what’s supposed to happen. We’re going to turn that into what it’s supposed to be, which is a positive.

“Even if it seems like a negative right away, we’re going to be resilient and we’re going to overcome that, which is going to be a positive. It’s something, if it’s something good, we’re going to enjoy that part of our journey. No matter what is thrown at us, or what happens to us, or what we do, we’re going to love it all because it’s part of our story. That’s kind of our message for the year, ‘amor fati.'”

The Cardinals take on Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial at 7 p.m. for their home opener on Tuesday, December 3.