Feb. 13—WILLMAR — Alex Hoppe has emerged as a key a contributor for a
team with a legitimate chance at winning a section title.
Carlee Brown is an established leader for a Willmar gymnastics team that is host to the Section 6A championships at noon Saturday.
Both have been named Central Lakes Conference Performers of the Week.
Hoppe is a 6-foot-2 junior who scored 30 points and accumulated 21 rebounds and five steals in two games last week, a 75-56 win over Hutchinson and a 67-53 victory over Sauk Rapids, both at the Big Red Gym.
Willmar plays Tuesday at Brainerd, Thursday at Sartell and then has a home game against St. Cloud Apollo at 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21 in Willmar.
The Cardinals are sitting in third place in the Section 8AAA standings going into Friday night's games. St. Cloud Apollo leads the way with No. 6 QRF power ranking, according to
. Apollo has a 6-4 section record and is 14-7 overall. Next is No. 7 Sartell with an 8-2 section and 12-8 overall record. No. 15 Willmar is third with a 7-4 section and 15-6 overall record. Fourth is No. 17 St. Cloud Tech (5-5 section, 11-11 overall) and No. 18 is Detroit Lakes (5-4 section, 11-8 overall).
Tech beat Willmar 95-87 on Thursday in St. Cloud.
Brown is a senior who scored career-bests of 9.1 and 9.15 on the floor exercise in two meets last week. The Cards are ranked 18th in the state in Class A and attempting to win their first section title since 2020.
* Former Willmar star Grace Marti is an assistant volleyball coach at Northern State University in Aberdeen. The Wolves are an NCAA Division II school in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Marti just wrapped up her second season at Northern State. She joined the Wolverines after wrapping up her playing career at Cornell College in Iowa.
The Wolverines finished the 2025 season with an 11-9 record in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and a 19-10 overall record. In her first season with the program, Northern State went 12-6 in the NSIC and 21-7 overall.
Marti spent three seasons at Cornell College, helping the Rams to back-to-back conference championships and three straight NCAA Division III national tournament appearances. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management and sports management.
* Nathan Tusa is another Willmar graduate who is involved in sports at a big-time level. Tusa, who now lives in Stillwater, works for Elite Edge. Elite Edge was involved the set promotion for the Super Bowl. Tusa is a videographer.
Tusa, a 2009 Willmar grad, is co-founder and head of production for Vision Lab Media, according to his
site. His work has appeared on FOX, the NFL Network, ESPN, HGTV, the History Channel, Lifetime and National Geographic TV channels.
He's currently in Arizona doing work for the upcoming Major League Baseball spring training season, according to his grandmother, Joan Ness of Willmar.
* Paul Bates, another Willmar alum, has been coaching boys and girls tennis at St. Cloud Tech (now the St. Cloud Crush) for the past 33 years. He's done well, with numerous teams and individuals winning Central Lakes Conference and section championships over the years.
On March 7, Bates is being inducted in the Minnesota Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The ceremony takes place at St. Louis Park's Lifetime Fitness.
Bates' girls teams have 498 wins and qualified for state 17 times, including three second-place, one third-place, four fourth-place and two fifth-place finishes. He coached the boys program for 24 seasons before becoming an assistant coach for the St. John's University and College of St. Benedict tennis teams.
Bates' boys teams won 313 matches and made nine state tournament appearances.
His teams won 14 CLC titles and he had 31 individuals reach the state tournament. He also coached at St. Cloud State, his alma mater.
Bates played two years of tennis at Ridgewater College, then two more years at St. Cloud State.