A new school year is upon us and with it, lots and lots of sports. Teams started practicing in August and most have gotten through their first few games. With everything kicking off, there is a special buzz around campus and much to be excited about. While all teams have the ability and confidence to make it far this season, the goal for teams this season is not solely focused on winning. Ms. Potter, the Athletics & Activities Director, explained to the Tribune that the goal for everyone who participates in athletics at Wayzata is to have high expectations for themselves, the community, and the teams, and to create better human beings in the process through sports.
Lake Conference New Broadcasting Agreement
New this year, all eight of the districts in the Lake Conference (Wayzata, Hopkins, Edina, Buffalo, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, St. Michael-Albertville, and Maple Grove) have created the Lake Conference Network where families can buy a monthly subscription or a game-by-game subscription and watch all ninth-grade through varsity sporting events as well as theatre productions. The Lake Conference is the first conference in the country to have this option. For more information, you can visit https://www.thelakeconference.com/.
Girls Soccer
The vibes are high for the Wayzata Girls Varsity Soccer Team heading into the season. Forward Lauren Craig made it clear that there is a special sense of excitement with the varsity team going into this season. Considering that they are coming off a state championship last year, their first since 2012, they have good reason to be.
The team hopes to get back to another state championship however, they have lost some key players from last year’s championship run including University of Minnesota forward Tenley Senden who won the 2025 Gatorade Soccer Player of the Year and Creighton forward Sarah Hyde among many others. It is important to remember that while the team saw many amazing players graduate in the past school year, there is plenty of young talent to be excited about. This year’s team has eleven rostered sophomores and that’s not even mentioning the slew of seasoned upperclassmen that are still on the team including Lauren herself.
Lauren stated that while the ultimate goal is to get back to where the team was last year, it starts with the work they put in at practices. “We’re definitely hoping we can win it again,” she said, “We’ll just have to put in the work at practice, just keep going, and not give up.”
Among the team’s many strengths is their chemistry, work ethic, and ability to bounce back from adversity. Many of the players on the soccer team have known each other since they were little kids and are close friends off the field.
As Lauren explained, a main point of emphasis remains working hard in practices, not just now as the season kicks off, but throughout the fall as the playoffs near. Lauren believes that the team’s grit and hustle will pay off in late-game situations, hopefully with some exciting wins.
A few teams, however, are looking to get in Wayzata’s way. Among the top of the competition are Lake Conference Division rivals Edina and Minnetonka. Both are skilled teams that pose a tough challenge for the Wayzata girls, likely testing their strength and resilience as a team. To avoid playing in tight, end-of-game situations Wayzata is looking to strike first at the start of games.
Lauren explained that the team is quite strong throughout the entire field but their attack will be key in catching teams off guard and help them get out to early leads. “Bringing the energy at the beginning of games,” Lauren said, “That’ll get you to a good start and it’ll gain your team confidence.”
Initial leads, of course, won’t protect them, and maintaining high energy and execution throughout all 90-plus minutes will be necessary for Wayzata to find the success they are looking for as this season starts — success that this year’s team has confidence in achieving.
Girls Volleyball
From 2019 to 2023, the Wayzata Girls Volleyball team completed the second-longest streak of state championships for girls volleyball in Minnesota with four straight titles. This year, the team is ready to take on any challenges the season presents. Being process-oriented is a big part of their mindset. “We’ve got to stay in the moment, and then any goal [will be] in front of them if they stay in the moment of getting better day in, day out.” Mr. Jackson said.
The team views the two-and-a-half-month stretch of the season that is in front of them as a race to build their team identity and strength so when section play starts, their hard work will yield some positive results. In volleyball, a key to winning games is capitalizing on the first contact of the rally, the serve, and the pass. “We spend every practice working on everybody being able to handle their first ball contact of [the] rally really, really well.” Mr. Jackson explained.
As practices continue throughout the season, the team will only get better. One of their strengths is their ability to fall back on their togetherness as a team. Even in a tough game on Aug. 25th, the team was confident in their ability to succeed through getting the best out of each other.
“I know you guys love each other already, I can tell.” Mr. Jackson said in their huddle. “That’s great now let’s talk about the things that are going to help us in the next moments.” The team, players to coaches, trust their work and will let the results that come fall into place.
Football
A Lambert-Brown-coached Wayzata football team is looking to make the state tournament this year. As stated by Athletics & Activities Director, Ms. Potter, it is important to remember that while it is always nice for any team to get off to a hot start, once the regular season is over, the teams will have done what they needed to do to be ready for section play and make an appearance in the state tournament. A mid-fall highlight at Wayzata High School is always the homecoming football game where packed stands sing “Sweet Caroline” and rows of upperclassmen at the bottom of the bleachers cover the entire crowd with chalk colored Wayzata’s blue and gold. This year won’t be any different as many students will go to the game and make many lifelong memories.
Boys Soccer
In a conference with lots of budding and established competition, the Wayzata Boys Soccer team will have to stay sharp through a busy season with games occurring up to three times a week. Coached by Mr. Duenas, last year’s team saw fifteen out of twenty-two rostered players graduate from the previous year’s championship run. There will, however, likely be some exciting new talent making their way up the ranks this year and in the next few years to come.
Girls Cross Country
Led by Ms. Beach, the Wayzata Girls Cross Country team has big ambitions for this year’s season. The team has a seemingly endless window to succeed, finishing last year in rare fashion — with a state championship and a trip to the national tournament, where they placed ninth. This year there is a fresh set of opportunities including a new junior varsity tournament as well as the Roy Griak Invitational.
According to head coach Ms. Beach, to try to maintain a high level of execution throughout the season the team has written out training plans for each day. “We are really big on [the idea that] every day has a purpose.” Ms. Beach said. They stay focused on three main pillars, the physical aspect of running such as race paces and generally base building for races, managing the mental game which includes the anxieties and pressures of races, and lastly the controllables. “We’re fueling well, we’re recovering well, doing our strength training, [and] staying injury free.” Ms. Beach stated.
In a season with high hopes for success, Ms. Beach also makes sure that the team looks to each other to foster a sense of belief and confidence as they try to achieve their aspirations. To guide this, she creates a theme for each season. This year’s theme is “RSB” — Rooted in Strong Belief.
The message is that while some of the largest trees in the world have root systems that aren’t necessarily deep, they are inextricably connected. “This whole piece of being rooted together [is about] helping each other up and dreaming, like breathing belief into our dreams.” Ms. Beach explained. “We can’t really expect something from ourselves if we don’t believe it first.”
Girls Swim and Dive
With a month of practices and meets under their belt, the Wayzata Girls Swim and Dive team coached by Elizabeth Hansen and Sara Ridley is well into their season. The swim and dive season is grueling, with practices six days out of the week and at least eight meets monthly. A string of three wins across 2013, 2014, and 2015 was the last taste of the state championship the team had.
Boys Cross Country
Since the season is just starting up, Mr. Popp, the coach of the Wayzata Boys Cross Country team is starting to get all his runners reacclimated to the quick race pace. While the players are fully ready for meets during the season, Mr. Popp stated that he is also trying to manage the frequency of high-intensity workouts so as not to make players more prone to injury early in the season and have them at their peak form in the later months of the season (October and November).
Despite being 2023 state champions, the team’s main goals are not solely focused on team success. In a goal-setting meeting the week before the school year started, the runners worked on ways they could form their team identity as a whole. Mr. Popp stated that his main goal for his runners was quite simple. “What’s your identity as a team going to be, how are you going to go about your business on a day-to-day basis, and get the most out of yourself but in doing so, getting the most out of your teammates,”
Girls Tennis
Throughout multiple weeks of practices, the Wayzata Girls Tennis team’s goal has been to develop variety in the players’ games. Head coach Ms. Farmer explained: “Our goal this year is to make our girls able to play either doubles or singles and play in a similar style. It just makes us more versatile.” Getting singles players specifically to get up to the net, will set up advantages that can lead to the team securing easy points.
The team’s first expectation is to do well in their section. This year, Edina has been swapped in for Maple Grove, a longtime rival. In a majority of previous years, either Maple Grove or Wayzata has gone to the state tournament, splitting it about 50/50. While the test of playing Maple Grove remains, Edina, a good team, has now joined the section and will likely challenge Wayzata for a spot in the state tournament.
The group as a whole is ready for the challenge and has received an abundance of praise from Ms. Farmer on their cohesiveness as well as their ability to balance executing tennis at a high level with their busy everyday lives.
Adapted Soccer
Wayzata and Minnetonka’s adapted soccer program continues to give students with disabilities the chance to compete in soccer. The season starts in early September and players will either play in the PI or CI division. Wayzata’s team, coached by Ms. Ward and Mr. Hegna will look to have another successful season making enriching connections along the way.
Cheer
With a typical number of ten to twenty players and a season spanning August through October, the cheer team, coached by Ms. Nelson, will create a high-energy atmosphere at football, boys soccer, and girls soccer games. During the school year, the winter team will then carry the torch to competitions including the Minnesota Cheerleading Coaches Association state competition.
