Dear Cross Country Veterans, Rookies, Recruits:

IT IS CROSS COUNTRY TIME!!!! And..as always, “I am excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It seems like we just got done with school; the summer flies by!! It is crazy but we are only days away from our first practice and a big meet against state ranked teams from Moorhead and Bemedji. I want to remind you that Willmar has won at least 3 and as many as 5 (out of 6) CLC Conference Division Titles for each of the past 9 years. No other CLC school has come close to that. Not Sartell, Alex, Brainerd, others…and no other program in Willmar HS can claim those statistics either. Not to mention the boys getting to state for 7 of the last 10 years and our girls making top 5 last fall!!!! We have one of the better overall teams around. I hope each of you is as excited as I am. Can we get to 100 runners this fall-NEED HELP RECRUITING?????

We start practice Monday, August 11th. A complete first week schedule is attached. It can also be accessed on the high school webpage under HS Athletics.

There is not much else for me to emphasize except that every single one of you is important to the potential of our team. Each of you has gifts to bring to our program. Some of you will be our top runners or leaders, others will be super hard workers who never give up, and some will be great positive people. Unless you are injured/missing practice you will compete every week!!!! Once again, we have had the best summer of running ever for Willmar (almost 50 kids per night for fun runs—lots of new faces) plus a great running camp in the Big Horns where we had a very challenging, productive, and fun week. We have the nucleus for great teams. It is going to be fun and challenging to try to fit all the pieces together at every level!!! I know we are going to have some surprises. That starts on the 11th!!!!! WE NEED YOU THERE FROM DAY 1!!!!

A. Don’t forget the parent meeting at the HS on Monday, August 4 for all parents/athletes to attend. I will be there if you have any questions.

B. Remember, you need an up-to-date physical: 6th graders, new kids in sports for the first time, and for sure sophomores; --if you started as a 6th grader, you need it in freshman year….others need to check. CANNOT PRACTICE WITHOUT THOSE FORMS..NO EXCEPTIONS! BRING TO FIRST PRACTICE!!!

C. All other athletic forms can be accessed off the school website or picked up at the parent mtg.

D. This is what you need to bring to our first practice: (ALONG WITH FORMS!)

1. Running logs with summer miles totaled and name on it.

2. Water bottle

3. A Watch for timing runs…beginners, buy a cheap wrist watch at Walmart/Target with a stopwatch function. Vets; it is time you think about GPS watches; expensive but worth it and you will use them. We are timing more and more of our runs; you need to know how fast you are running….

E. Home phone #: 222-5717 Cell: 320-220-3849 email: or

There is no excuse for lack of communication!!!

Finally, I know there are some people out there who have not done as much summer running as they wanted or have missed a lot of fun runs. That does not mean we don’t want you on our team. Everyone starts at different levels, but still can contribute. Every year, we have kids like that. Don’t make a 2nd poor choice (not going out) because you made a poor first one (not getting as ready as you wanted). However, if you are a 3 or 4 year vet and your heart is not in this, we are not going to beg you to be part of our program or to be here with anything less than a positive attitude. It is a very tough and challenging sport; not everyone is able to handle that. We are going to have a great, fun, successful year; and we need positive people to make that happen.

See you guys/girls Monday, August 11th at 7:00 a.m.,right behind the HS, ready to go. Get a good night’s rest, eat a light breakfast, and bring a smile/positive attitude to our first day of making 2014 a super XC season at Willmar.

Coach Popp