WHERE ARE THEY NOW? DANI STIPE
KUEMPER CATHOLIC: 2002-2006
June 18, 2009
Kuemper Catholic alum Dani Stipe was laying on her bed with crutches by her side, recovering from foot surgery, when she told me her story, and an interesting one it was.
She’s one of those blessed athletes; a natural at whatever she does. But she doesn’t restrict herself to those sports she’s so gifted at, she has a wandering mind.
“I don’t like to stay with one thing for very long, I like to move on to something else,” Stipe said. “I’d love to one day win a Golden Globe or an Oscar for editing.”
This biology and graphic communication major has had one heck of a run as a track star since her freshman year of high-school, when she placed fourth at state in the long-jump. And her softball statistics and accomplishments at Kuemper would suggest that her abilities on the diamond were off the charts.
For the time-being though, Stipe, who just completed her junior year at Northern Iowa, has two years of school left-thanks to that demanding biology degree.
She landed at Northern Iowa almost by accident. Coming out of her illustrious career at Kuemper she had her heart set on softball. She was on the Elite All-State team her junior and senior seasons in high school as a center-fielder and lead off batter (her batting average was .636 her junior season, that should put her talents into perspective). For some reason though the softball dreams never panned out for her.
Schools such as Iowa State, Alabama and South Dakota State showed interest, but they either lost that interest or couldn’t reel in Stipe.
“I always liked softball more, I wanted to play softball,” Stipe said. “But come recruiting time it just wasn’t working out.”
When that door shut, another one opened and Northern Iowa’s track coach Travis Geopfert was happily waiting.
“Travis, my coach at UNI, kept e-mailing me and I kept telling him that I wanted to play softball but if I get the time I’d come visit, but I never really expected to” Stipe said. “Nothing was working out with softball, so I went and visited and something about it made me excited. It felt right, like something I should do. So I bought my mom and dad some UNI shirts and brought them home. That kind of sealed the deal.”
Geopfert struck track-gold with Stipe. She made an impact immediately. As a freshman she won conference in the heptathlon, and qualified for nationals, which took place in Sacramento. She won conference again as a sophomore, in the outdoor and indoor event, and again went to nationals. She also qualified for the Olympic Trials that same year.
And that’s when the foot became an issue.
Last September Stipe broke the ball of her foot while running. She opted not to have surgery until after the season was over; she still performed well, especially when considering she was running with a broken foot. But it was her worst of her three seasons at Northern Iowa.
Two weeks ago she had surgery to fix that foot, and her future with track and field has become uncertain. This gives Stipe the opportunity to dream beyond just sports, and movies are now on her fickle mind.
“In all honesty, I watched Mama Mia and fell in love with Meryl Streep as an actress,” Stipe said. “That movie showed me the magic of movie making, and that’s why I want to do it.”
If her natural abilities as an athlete are any indication of her abilities in other facets of life, than her dream may very well become a reality.
“I would like to go to Orlando to film school, I tend to change my mind often, but as of now that’s what I want to do,” Stipe said. “I’m ready to move on though and do other things with my life besides sports.”
TJ Rushing, High School Playbook
P.S.
Stipe was fed-up with sports after middle school and didn’t even play a sport all of her freshman year up until track. She had never participated in track before but was convinced to go out. She placed fourth in the state that year in the long jump. “I wasn’t even going to do sports in high school. I went through my freshman year thinking I wasn’t going to do anything.”
Stipe often gets anxious when competing, that’s why she almost dropped sports completely. “I get really anxious with sports amd stuff, and I didn’t want to deal with that anymore. I did a lot of ASA softball and I was too young and it kind of ruined it for me. That carried over into other sports.”
She’s been told by her father that her 117 hits she had as a junior was a national record.
Stipe on her decision to be a biology and graphic communication double major. “I love animals and would love to dolphin training one day, or work in a zoo, so that’s the biology part. With the graphic part, I want to go to film school and be a film editor, that’s what I’m planning right now.”
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