Kristin Koppes: Beating The Odds
March 31, 2000 | Outdoor Track
March 31, 2000
BY KATE CROUCHER
Kristen Koppes is an all-conference runner for the cross-country/track and field team at Texas Tech. What makes this fact more amazing is that Koppes also suffers from asthma, an affliction that would make any sporting activity difficult, let alone one that requires a person to run more than three miles at a pace that would make even the healthiest person sick.
Koppes, 22, a civil engineering major from Redding, Calif., found out she had asthma during the Christmas break of 1998.
"I had no real signs in high school," Koppes said. "I was just very congested my senior year."
The doctors determined the cause of her asthma to be partly from pneumonia that she suffered her junior year in high school and from the dust and dirt particles in the Lubbock air.
"They said my lungs had just deteriorated from the pneumonia," Koppes said. "They called it exercised induced asthma."
The doctors put Koppes on three different types of inhalers.
"I take Proventil right before I run," Koppes said. "It opens my passage ways so I can breath. I also take Servent and Flovent in the mornings and at night just as a preventative."
Koppes started feeling like something was wrong her freshman year at Texas Tech.
"I just thought I was getting sick," she said. "I was getting head colds and congestion in my lungs. They would give me antibiotics, but it would come right back."
Even though she was sick her freshman year, Koppes was able to have a decent year of cross-country. She competed in six meets for the team and clocked a time of 17:44 at the Arkansas Invitational meet.
However, as the asthma continued to worsen without treatment Koppes began to feel worse her sophomore year.
"They kept on sending me to Thompson Hall where the doctors kept on telling me that I had allergies," she said. "I knew it had to be something more than allergies - I could not breathe."
After a cross-country meet in Provo, Utah, Koppes knew something else was wrong with her.
"I don't remember the last part of the trip," she said. "My teammates had to pick me up and dress me. I became delirious because I was getting no oxygen."
When the team returned to Tech, Koppes went to see the doctors at Covenant Hospital. After running many tests, the doctors diagnosed Koppes with severe bronchitis. The tests also showed that she was wheezing.
"The doctors gave me a fast acting inhaler," she said. "Within a couple of hours I could breath."
When Koppes went home for her Christmas break, she was told by her family physician that she had asthma.
She was both relieved and upset with the diagnosis.
"I was relieved because I thought I had a tumor," she said. "I also thought it was not fair. I am very big on taking care of myself, I eat well and always get my sleep."
It was also a psychological struggle for Koppes to get over the asthma.
"It took me about four or five months to get over it," she said. "I was depressed, and not having a good year. I just gave up - I regret that now."
Koppes looked to both her teammates and her new coach, David Smith, to rebuild her confidence.
"The team was really good about it," she said. "They helped me get my confidence back. We are like sisters this year."
Smith, the head cross country and distance coach for Texas Tech, has been a god-send for Koppes. By implementing a new training regimen he has improved her running while motivating Koppes to achieve more than she thought was possible.
"Kristen is pretty motivated on her own," Smith said. "She has more work ethic and determination than natural talent. That is why she will make it farther than most people."
Smith has also improved Koppes's running ability by changing her workout routine.
"We do more higher mileage training at a higher intensity rate," he said. "It is very challenging."
Koppes is impressed with the improvement she has made this year.
"His type of training just works for me," she said. "He is a great guy, a big brother and a wonderful coach"
Koppes's junior year of cross-country is over and it was full of high points but also a few down points. She recorded her top career time at a meet early in the season and was one of the top runners on a team that finished fifth in the Big 12. She earned the honor of being named All-Big 12 as a cross country runner and was also an academic All-Conference first team selection. However, she narrowly missed out on the honor of being named to the All-American team.
"I missed making all-American by .001 seconds," she said. "That was incredibly hard. I saw the list of who made it, and I saw names of girls that I had beaten in most of the races."
It took Koppes a while to get over that disappointment, but outdoor track has started and she has become refocused.
"I am ready for the outdoor season and I am determined to make All-American," Koppes said.