Khalid Hussein of Wayzata Class of 2018
Personal Records
800m (split) 1:56
1600m 4:12.57
3200m 9:10.97
5k (xc) 14:56.53
2015 State XC - 21st place
2015 NXN - 76th Place, 14th Place team
2016 State T&F - 3200m 4th Place, Team Champions
2016 State XC - 2nd place, Team Champions
2016 NXN - 29th Place, 10th Place Team
2017 State T&F - 1600m 2nd place
2017 State XC - Individual Champion, Team Champion,
2017 NXN - 10th Place individual (All-American), 11th Place Team
6x All-State and All-Conference
Tell us a little about your younger days?
I was born in Minneapolis and moved around a lot throughout the city when I was young, and traveled to Somalia and stayed there for a little bit around 2007-2008. I eventually moved to Plymouth when I was in 4th grade. My mom never knew about sports or athletics as she was a refugee from a war-torn country, and I learned about athletics solely from my surroundings.
Luckily I was in an environment where there were many kids my age and older playing soccer, basketball and football 24/7. I was very good at basketball, and still am, but not good enough to excel at a D1 level because I never learned the basics early on. There were a lot of trash players I had to silence in my long history though, and while I'm young my mindset is one of an old head. I have been through the trenches.
How did you get involved in Cross Country?
I got into running through my pal Liban Jama who runs at now runs at
Coach Mark Popp was the first coach I ever interacted with through that program. Although I don't remember the conversation between Jama, Popp and myself, I do remember it was funny. He has had a monumental effect on me and my career just based on how he genuinely cared about me as an individual and always wanted the best for me. But he also has long term vision and every decision he makes is for the team.