Charlie Koeppen grew up the son of the legendary Hall of Fame Coach Charles Koeppen to be a distance runner. He was one of his dad’s (Carmel High School) top five cross country members in all four years of high school participation. His IHSAA state finals team finishes were 55th, 22nd, 18th and 3rd. IHSAA regional team finishes were 5th, 5th and 2nd. IHSAA sectional finishes were 3rd, 3rd and 1st.
Charlie’s IHSAA state track finals produced a 3200 meter six second championship as a junior and the IHSAA closest runner-up 3200 meter finish as a senior in 9:05.721 to the winning time of 9:05.720.
His collegiate career started at Northern Arizona in 2002 as a member of their NCAA Championship qualifying team and then from 2003-2006 at Indiana University with three additional NCAA cross country championships appearances. His hope was to continue as a marathoner. However, injuries altered his plans and he became a Greek’s Pizza owner for a period of time.
Koeppen now 43, serves in the United States Army and is stationed in the Middle East as a staff sergeant in the 38th Infantry Division out of Indianapolis. His deployment came nearly 15 years in the long-range surveillance unit in Seymour, where he was in the sniper section. He is now running a small team that manages a radar surveillance team monitoring anything in air traffic, giving alerts where needed.