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.
Is cross country a team sport for the Trojans? Why or why not?
In my opinion before athletics, and training, and everything, making genuine connections with good people sticks with you longer than anything. I have had numerous great coaches. Bill Miles, Eric Jahn, Brandon Heebink, Kyle Rasmussen, Lambert and Popp all made a huge impact on my life today and my career. There are a lot of different and bad paths I could've gone down. The environment you're in and the people you call your friends either make or break your life forever.
I've witnessed people go down the wrong path before my eyes numerous times, so I'm blessed God put me in a situation for success. Having a team such as mine is a huge part of my success, but also on the same token my success is the team's success.
If I had to compare myself to one NBA player it would have to be LeBron James in terms of championship pedigree and leadership. LeBron has always been a team-first player and a very unselfish guy. I've learned to watch what I say and do because I realize the consequences of my words and actions whether positive or negative reflect the team in that same light. That's something the culture and coaches here instilled in every athlete very early on.
As a team this year we were more like the 1996-97 Bulls than last year's Golden State Warriors even though the latter had the better record. It was a whole team victory for us, it was not just a bunch of superstars going out to conquer.
How did things go at NXN?
John Lambert, an Alumni member from Wayzata helped us win the Heartland Regional Meet and then took us to the NXN national meet in Portland, Oregon.
We were favored to make it on the podium (top three) finishing teams at the national NXN Meet. Unfortunately four of our guys fell over someone from another team at around the 60 meter mark. Someone told me that after the meet as I was unaware of it while I ran.
As for me I was in 70th place at the mile mark in 4:59 which was only 6 seconds back of the leaders. By the 2 mile mark which I passed at 9:59 I was 20th. I still was able to pass enough guys in the last 1.1 miles to finish in 10th place, which was 25 seconds behind the first place guy. The top 21 make the All-American team, so I was All-American.
Who are your most competitive opponents? What is your relationship like with them?
I've competed against many talented individuals. I've never been a sore loser, and I take my Ls in peace. And while I'm not saying I hate losing, but I really hate losing. I hate doing bad and I hate losing most of all.
Something I learned to understand is that if you take an L you always have to bounce back. Luckily I was able to lead my guys through Section and State Championships, so in the bigger picture the individual accolades didn't matter nearly as much to me. I would much rather win a state championship as a team rather than an individual.
In the 2016-17 school year guys like Patrick Roos of Edina and Seth Eliason of Hopkins made me a much better athlete because I had to adjust and make tweaks to my performances if I wanted to win. Competing at NXN with them and representing the state of Minnesota was an honor and a cool experience, and I'm good friends with them. But if you never compete against high standards of competition you'll never hit your peak.
Just like how the Cavs and Warriors battled against each other in the Finals and brought out the best of each other, racing is just like that. You got to counter moves, play defense, make offensive pushes, throw the hammer down and close it out in a clutch fashion just like Kyrie Irving in Game 7.
Even though I hated taking these losses I knew I never wanted it to happen again and my hard work early on paid off in the future. I learned resiliency and how a race is never decided until the very finish, and I hope those lessons and how I never gave up or let some losses ever affect my mindset had a positive influence on my teammates, especially the younger guys.
What are your plans for after high school?
After great deliberation with my family we decided on the University of Minnesota. It's close to home so that helps us financially and I get to see my family more. There will be career opportunities for me after high school. In addition three of the last four AA Boys Cross Country Champions will be going there.
Do you have anything else you would like to share?
I hope to be remembered as a Minnesota track and XC legend, but not in an individual context. I wish to be remembered as an unselfish individual who put his team first, and did the little things correctly. I hope I am remembered as a good teammate and human being, as well as a comedic person.
