Jackson Free Press

Coach David Rop, 28, may seem soft-spoken and gentle, but his fierce dedication to cross-country is anything but mild. A native of Eldoret, Kenya, Rop moved to Jackson in 1995 after accepting an athletic scholarship to Jackson State University. At JSU, Rop collected copious cross-country and track trophies and set new records as he completed his bachelors and masters degrees in mathematics. After graduating from JSU in 2001, Rop became assistant cross-country coach at JSU and taught mathematics.

This year Rop coaches the men's and women's cross country teams at Millsaps College. Rop and his team are building their endurance with a rigorous workout of evening practice five days a week and morning practice twice a week. Rop hopes to build the teams into such superb shape that they'll practice twice a day six days a week.

"Cross country and track and field will make you disciplined. … Everybody's training to be No. 1. If someone can make it through those workouts, anything in life will seem easier," Rop says.

Next year, Rop and the Millsaps team want to win the prestigious Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

Having won such honors as Indoor and Outdoor MVP at SWAC from 1996 through 1999 and being the only person from JSU to qualify for the NCAA division 1 Cross Country Nationals, Rop has made a name for himself in Jackson. Rop also vied for a spot on the Kenyan Olympic cross country team in 1996 but was position four, and the team only needed three.

One of the biggest challenges for Rop has been adjusting to life in a city after having lived most of his life in a village with approximately 500 people.

"We used to take care of the animals and till the land," Rop says. "Here in the city you only talk to the people in your own house; you don't even know your neighbors. Over there you get out and know everybody in the area."

Rop has learned to love Jackson in his nine years here and has also started a family with his American wife whom he met at JSU. Their 2-year-old son follows in Rop's footsteps with his love of running.

"He can run more than a mile without stopping, and when he finishes he says, 'Come on, Daddy, let's keep going,'" Rop says. "At 11 o'clock at night when he wakes up and cries he says, 'I need to go out to run,' and you have to go out and run with him."