Willmar notebook: Lippert's first day of school a breeze

Alexandra Lippert is right back where she started eight years ago at Willmar Senior High School.
The difference: she has moved to the head of the class.
This followed four years at Concordia College where she started on the Cobbers basketball team while earning a major in math education and a minor in coaching.
She graduated in May; her first day of school was Tuesday. Room 705C.
“No,” she said, anticipating the reporter’s question, “I never had a class in this room.”
Was Willmar her first choice?
“People ask me isn’t it weird coming back to your old school? Well, I tell them, it’s the people here that made me want to go into education. It’s an honor to be able to come back.”
“Miss Lippert,” as was written in large letters at the front of the room, teaches three blocks, each scheduled for 89 minutes. There are two classes of Algebra 1B and one block of Pre-Algebra, all part of the core curriculum. Her 72 total students are mostly ninth and 10th graders.
As a student, she lettered two years each in volleyball and basketball and also received a letter for two years as the softball team’s student manager.
This fall she is coaching freshman volleyball and said she would like to find a place in the basketball program this winter. At Concordia, she spent two years on the volleyball bench as a libero tracker and a third year as the P.A. announcer, which she thoroughly enjoyed.
In her sterling career on the Cobbers’ basketball court, she became the first player in Cobbers’ women’s basketball history to score 1,000 points, nab 500 rebounds and block 200 shots. She averaged about 10.5 points per game throughout her career.
“I became a much better player in college,” she said.
“When I became a college athlete, I realized how much potential I had. My teammates made me better. The first year I was surrounded by four seniors. I got physically stronger and mentally tougher. I gained game awareness.”
For the first time, the slender 6-foot-4 athlete took weightlifting seriously.
We visited at the end of Alex’s first day on the second floor of the high school building. Isn’t it stressful for a first-year teacher putting together daily lessons and a plan for the semester?
She told me she got a big boost from her cooperating teacher at Fargo Davies.
“By the third day I was already teaching,” she said. “I taught full-time four out of the 10 weeks I was there.”
The math department here also made the first days of her professional career seem easy, she said. “They were a big help letting me know what I had to do.”
Stephanie Slagter heads the department, which has nine teachers.
She thought she’d be nervous the first day, but when the students started flowing in for that first class she felt comfortable and right at home. Just like game day!
“I remember my first day of high school,” she said. “Wow! I thought. These classes are so long. But I loved high school. Absolutely loved it.”
She looks forward to watching her brother, Luke, a senior, play basketball. Younger sister Katie is a 6-foot middle hitter for the Concordia volleyball team.
For now, she’s living at home. Luke told her that it’s nice having her back since it’s “been so boring with you gone.”
Her parents, Ron and Scooter, never missed a game in her MIAC career. Ron, who played four years of college ball, developed Parkinson’s at age 38 and is able to work only part-time. Despite his heath, he and Scooter seldom missed one of their children’s games.
Ron told Forum reporter Eric Peterson last winter: “(Alex) has had great teammates and played on some great squads. She’s part of something bigger that herself. Her best friends are basketball friends.”
Girls XC ranked No. 2
The Willmar girls cross country team is ranked No. 2 this week in the Class AA coaches poll. Wayzata, the 2014 state champion, is No. 1. Willmar broke into the National Top 100 at No. 55; Wayzata is placed 23.
Senior Samantha Hanson ranks sixth in the AA girls top 12. Alexandria twins Bethany and Megan Hasz are in the top two spots after finishing 1-2 at the 2013 state meet as sophomores. All return from the fifth-place team at state a year ago. The boys and girls compete today at Hopkins Invite at Gale Woods-Minnetrista, a middle school through varsity meet.
Best chance
If David is ever to knock off the CLC’s football Goliath, this is the time.
The Cardinals will play at Brainerd’s Adamson Field on its new artificial turf. It’s a good time to play Ron Stolski’s boys, who are described as young (translation: varsity inexperience but far from youthful with 30 seniors). The novices were a little shaky with 12 penalties in their opener with visiting Fergus Falls, but still won handily 30-6 with a 387-117 edge in yards gained.
In 2000, Willmar had a supremely talented team which would start 7-0 and tie for the CLC crown. There were seven All-CLC first-team selections on that team: Judd Beccue, Matt Breen, Jared McLister, defensive MVP Doug Runke, Jeremy Sather, Karl Spilseth and offensive MVP Ben Villnow, plus nine honorable mentions. Still, it took all their heart and willpower to win a dogfight (“Who Let the Dogs Out” was the lead in this paper the Saturday morning after) by a 14-7 score. Both teams finished 6-1 in CLC games.
After a relatively easy opener, the Cardinals get few breaks the rest of the way. Sartell, the next home opponent, has a running back, Darek Stachowski, who ran for 2,155 yards as a junior and a QB, Brandon Snoberger, who threw for 1,342 yards and 17 TDS. St. Cloud Apollo, the defending South Division champs coached by former Cardinal Justin Skaalerud, is headed up by gunslinger Ben Alvord, who threw for 1,036 yards and 16 TDs. Rocori has many key players back from a 3-7 team.
District news
This fall is it for the Central Lakes football conference, just when it self-corrected nicely with a North and South format. Willmar has been placed in the 22-team North Central District along with all its CLC mates, except Fergus Falls.
Willmar will remain in a sub-district with its CLC confederates, so the 2015 schedule will not look much different from this fall’s. What could change in 2015 is the postseason look, since redistricting is due up next March for 2015-16 and 2016-17. Right now, Willmar is in the District 6-AAAAA mix, which includes many of the teams in the other half of the North Central District (e.g. Buffalo, Monticello, Rogers, St. Michael-Albertville).
New London-Spicer and Litchfield are in the East Central District with many of their Wright County rivals (e.g. Hutchinson, Glencoe-Silver Lake, Annandale, Dassel-Cokato), plus former rivals from the old West Central North Albany and St. Cloud Cathedral. New London-Spicer, at 393, has the smallest enrollment of the 16 teams.
The 24 team Mid-State sets up for three sub-districts and takes in most of Tribune Area teams from the smallest Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (166) to two of the biggest Morris (351) and Montevideo (352).
The 2015 schedules could be finalized in November.
Smith to fall ball
Willmar’s Jordan Smith will play in the Phoenix basin six-team Arizona Fall League from early October to mid-November. The league is considered a big step in a professional ballplayer’s career. At the 2013 All-Star Game, 36 AFL alums were on the league rosters.
Each of the 30 major league teams selects six prospects from their Double-A and Triple-A farm clubs. Smith will play for the Peoria Javelinas, which has five other outfielders on its roster. His teammates include former Willmar Stinger shortstop Hunter Dozier, a Kansas City first-round draft choice from 2013.
Smith finished the regular season at Double-A Akron in the Cleveland Indians’ farm system on Monday leading the RubberDucks in games played (126), at-bats (459) and hits (114) while batting .248. The Ducks (73-69) began a best-of-five series against Richmond in the Eastern League West Division Series on Wednesday.
On the fly
n Former Stingers’ assistant coach P.J. McIntee has been hired as assistant baseball coach and recruiting coordinator at Morehead State University (Kentucky), a Division-I program in the Ohio Valley Conference. He had been an assistant coach at Southeastern (Iowa) Community College, which reached this spring’s NJCAA World Series. The Randolph native is the son of Willmar High School graduate Jill (Horning) McIntee. This was his second year with the Stingers.
n More on local businessman Chad Kompelien sponsorship of high-end race cars. The Skuttle Tight No. 32 sponsorship with Travis Kvapil driving at the Michigan 400 was a one-race deal, Chad tells me via email. He has sponsored David Ragan’s No. 77 Super Late Model that Ragan uses for charity-type races and to bring NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers to local tracks. He has supported David Ragan’s Late Model for the past three years at multiple regional tracks and charity races, including the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown at Richmond (Virginia) International Speedway. The Denny Hamlin Foundation is committed to raising awareness and funds for the specific needs of children with cystic fibrosis.
n Todd Bouman is the new head football coach at Willmar’s 6-AAAAA rival Buffalo, which fell to St. Michael-Albertville 42-0 on Friday. Bouman is a 1991 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton graduate who played college ball at St. Cloud State and had a long career in the NFL as a backup quarterback.
n Visited with Marci (Eischens) Sussenguth (WHS ’98) who was watching her husband Joe Sussenguth and the Warriors’ volleyball team play at the Ridgewater Classic Aug. 23. Marci is director of the Whitney Recreation Center and Memorial Park on the north side of St. Cloud. It’s quite a venue with 11 softball, two baseball and 14 soccer fields (five tailored for youth games) on the grounds and five volleyball and three basketball courts in the Whitney, which also has a walking track and a small fitness center. She’s been with the St. Cloud rec dept. for 10 years. The couple have two pre-school children. Marci played sports at Ridgewater and later Southwest Minnesota State when Joe was coaching nearby at Minneota.
n Cardinals senior Courtney Magnuson was one of 24 players recognized by North Stars Girls Hoops in its summer AAU basketball recap. She was ranked in the second tier (“5 who exceeded expectations,” behind the “Five Best, Period.” The capsule noted she is a “Pass first point guard…who can score, primarily long distance…and run a basketball team through its paces.” Courtney played about 40 games for the Minnesota Comets 11th-grade Select.
n Willmar grad and former Johnnies ballplayer Erik Ellingboe was one of three coaches on the St. Cloud Chutes American Legion team that finished second in Division-I and advanced to the regionals at Fargo where they placed runner-up to Omaha after winning six-straight games in the elimination bracket. By the way Erik’s father Steve Ellingboe and his baseball buddy Roger Faber attended their 40th consecutive Twins’ opener on April 7.