Around, Around, Around She Goes, Where She Stops . . . : La Quinta’s Kristin Harkins Is a Multipurpose Athlete Who Seems Destined for Stardom

National-class distance runner Kristin Harkins was facing one of those difficult teen-age dilemmas.

It was a Friday night last spring and Harkins had just qualified for the 1,600-meters final at the CIF state meet, her biggest event of the year. But the 1,600 was scheduled for Saturday night, and the La Quinta High School freshman had a date to the school prom.

Most runners with her experience and stature would compete without question. Most 14-year-old girls would go to the prom. Harkins, 14 at the time, went to the dance.

Coast Athletics running Coach Bob Hickey, who has been Harkins’ club coach since she was 9, laughed as he related the story and said, “Just like Kristin.�

If Harkins, who stands 5-feet 9-inches, needs time to enjoy her youth, Hickey will wait. “Sure, I’d have liked to see her (try to) win the state championship, but it was her decision. I was thrilled she went as far as she did as a freshman.�

Harkins, who has won more than 150 medals that hang in the family’s two-story home in Westminster, is taking her running more seriously these days. It helps having Hickey and other club coaches view her as a potential star.

“She’s definitely Olympic material if she wants it,� Hickey said. “No question about it. The problem is, Kristin doesn’t really know how good she is. Sure, she’s heard it over and over, but she doesn’t really believe it yet.

“Right now she’s too worried about school, boys and doughnuts.� (Harkins has a passion for glazed twists.)

Another problem is her athletic versatility. Harkins’ has competed on La Quinta’s cross-country, track and field, soccer and volleyball teams. One coach wanted her to also play basketball.

Then again, sometimes she wants to lead a more typical teen-age life style.

“Sometimes she wants to do the things all the other kids are doing,� said Larry Price, La Quinta’s track and field and cross-country coach. “You know, get up in the summer and go to the beach instead of going running.

“Sometimes it’s hard for Kristin to be above the high school thing because she likes so many different things, not just running. If a boy she likes doesn’t understand her putting a lot of time into athletics, for example, that’s real hard on her. She has a hard time putting herself first--something she’ll need to do if she’s wants to make it.

“Another problem . . . is she can never concentrate on just one sport. Sometimes I feel we’re all spreading that girl out too thin because she’s such a natural athlete.�

Typically, Harkins, has a nonstop schedule, one that often begins with one sport and ends with another. And she juggles her social activities into the scheme as well.

On a rainy afternoon during Christmas vacation, when most of Harkins’ friends were going to see the latest hit film or catching up on the soaps, she was sloshing in the mud for the second straight day, playing soccer. After two 80-minute games, the La Quinta players went to a local pizza restaurant to celebrate their victories.

But Harkins, the team’s leading scorer, left the party early to take her daily run--five to seven miles on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and two to four miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

She got home, showered and ate, and then went dancing with friends.

The next morning, she was playing in the final round of the soccer tournament.

Though Harkins is not the best player on La Quinta’s team, her ability to run tirelessly is an advantage because soccer players put in between six and eight miles a game. “She runs the last five minutes as fast as she runs the first five minutes. She never stops,� Coach Bill Wilson said.

And, though Harkins has played soccer for about eight years, she says her main focus is running. “I’ve always thought that’s what I was best at,� she said.

Track and field has been a successful sport for Harkins, who once even scored points for La Quinta in the high jump. “She’s an amazing girl,� Price said. “She’d never competed in the event before but wanted to give it a try . . . And when she did, she came in third.

� . . . The only thing I worry about is her burning out. She’s so good, and I’d hate to see it happen. But she’s been running so long, so it really has to be a concern.�

Hickey, however, has another worry. “If anything, I worry about her getting that compelling drive to win,� he said. “Kristin wants to do well, but doesn’t always feel she has to win.�

Harkins once allowed a teammate to win a race during a high school meet.

The other runner “was always the best before I came to the school,� Harkins said. “Then I came and always won. She was a senior and it was her last race. So, I just stopped at the finish line and let her finish first.�

Harkins started running when her older brothers entered a city-sponsored track meet to prepare for the upcoming Pop Warner football season.

“Since the boys were practicing for the meet, I told my husband to take Kristin with them, you know, to get them all out of my hair for a while,� said Harkins’ mother, Judi.

As the children ran around the track, Harkins’ father, Mike, noticed his daughter. Her practice times in the 220 yard-dash and quarter mile were faster than the meet record for her age group.

Harkins, 7 at the time, went on to win the city meet and later the state meet for her age group. That was enough to convince the Harkins to enter their daughter in a track club. She began working with Hickey within two years.

And she didn’t disappoint her family. Harkins instantly became a nationally ranked runner in her age group. She was ranked first in the mile when she was 8; first in the half mile, mile and 2 mile when she was 10 and first in the mile and 2 mile when she was 11.

She was one of the state’s best freshmen milers last season, and has hopes of becoming one of the best girls overall this spring.

In the girls’ ranked mile at the recent Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena, Harkins placed a disappointing fifth with a time of 5:21.4, nearly 23 seconds slower than her best outdoor time of 4:58.94.

She was seven seconds behind the first place finisher, Tammy McCarty of Buena High in Ventura (5:14.2) in her first ever indoor race.

“Kristin’s only 15 now, and competing against high school girls that are 17 and 18,� Hickey said. “I want to see her get some more experience and polish some of her rough edges, and then we’ll let her go and see what she can really do--something I believe nobody’s ever seen, including Kristin.�