When Dubois volleyball coach Katrina Dingman steps into the gym, you’d never guess she’s fighting breast cancer. Her whistle, her energy, and her laugh fill the space just as they did before her diagnosis, maybe even louder now.
She came to the High Country in 2010. Katrina Dingman grew up in Northeast Nebraska, where she played volleyball for the Fighting Lions of Niobrara High School. She graduated in 1998.
“I have a unicorn relationship with my husband, Chris,” Katrina said. “When you move to a small town, you don’t expect to meet your husband.”
Chris Dingman operates the Taylor Creek Sinclair station with his brother.
Dubois will play a “Pink” game Saturday, dedicated to cancer awareness, at noon against Riverside
The Diagnosis
That’s just a snippet of the energy, humor, and personality Katrina has. It’s her personality, outlook, and at times, dogged determination that have kept her spirits high in a fight with that deadly bastard, cancer.
She didn’t have any symptoms.
“That’s the scary part. I had a mammogram in May 2024. They said you have dense breast tissue, which is typical for younger women who haven’t gone through menopause,” Katrina said. “I was doing everything you’re supposed to, self-exams, all these things.”
She had an annual checkup at the Gros Ventre Clinic in Jackson Hole with Nurse Practitioner Christina Kitchen.
“I went to her when I was pregnant with both my babies,” Katrina said. “I was doing my yearly checkup and said I really think I’m going through menopause.”
Those babies are Emil, 12, and Miles, 9.
Katrina has a family history of cancer, which Christina was aware of.
“I have a maternal aunt who had breast cancer when she was 48, my mom passed away from skin cancer five years ago,” Katrina said. “Christina said we could look at hormone replacement therapy, but what do you think about the gene test?”
A gene test screens for Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes, it is referred to as the BRCA gene, and there are two types, one and two.
“I did it, the test results for the gene came back negative,” Katrina said. “When you take the test, you fill out a very extensive questionnaire. I have two aunts with Lupus. There is a lot going on in my mom’s side of the family.”
Her mother was the oldest of 12 children. The family created a spreadsheet with cancer information. Based on the algorithm, you have a 1 in 4 risk for breast cancer.
“Christina took a look at that,” Katrina said. “I don’t think we should do hormone replacement therapy. We should start some more aggressive screening. She ordered a breast MRI in December 2024 to create a baseline.”
When the MRI results came back, there was an abnormality in her left breast.
“She recommended a second MRI and a biopsy. I got the initial MRI done in Idaho Falls,” Katrina said. “When you live in a remote place. You group it so the boys can hang out with grandma and grandpa in Shelly, Idaho.”
The biopsy came back in May of this year.
“It came back as DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ.) It’s all contained within your milk duct.”
Katrina and Chris immediately went online and began to research.
“My husband and I blew up Google,” Katrina said. “DCIA is stage zero. We knew that Huntsman had a satellite in Jackson. Christ said we’re not dinking around with this, we’re going to Jackson.”
They had a meeting with an oncologist in Jackson. They wanted to do their own imaging.
“I met with Dr. Melissa Cohen, oncologist, and Dr. Hanna Coffield, surgeon,” Katrina said. “They made the recommendation to get a double mastectomy. I don’t want to go through all this and a year later do it again. The surgeon had concerns about my spinal alignment if I kept the right breast.”
Katrina had other underlying health concerns.
“The next curve ball, my mastectomy,” Katrina said. “I was not a good candidate for implants or reconstruction because of my rheumatoid arthritis.”
All initial tests said it was contained.
“When Jackson finally got the images they were happy with, they looked at it and said it was a spiderweb, the size of a softball, not a tumor, but all through the webbing of my milk ducts.” Mastectomy was the only option
“I have no symptoms, and now I’m losing my breasts, what the hell,” Katrina said. “They didn’t do chemo because all the indicators said I didn’t have a tumor. Everything said it was contained.”
They did the mastectomy and followed up with radiation. It’s standard procedure to take lymph nodes near the area; they sampled six.
“When they got the results, they found a small tumor, less than a centimeter,” Katrina said. “They found neoplasm pre-cancer cells in two of the six lymph nodes. That immediately bumped me up to stage two.”
On July 28, she had a double mastectomy.
She considered reconstruction but decided against it.
“I knew I’d heal faster without it and be ready for volleyball season,” Katrina said. “Volleyball was a huge factor; I was irritated. We have to do chemo. We have to do it on Thursdays, because I have Friday and Saturday to coach.”
She travels to Jackson every three weeks for chemotherapy. She is scheduled for six rounds.
“Everybody is unique, you hear about breast cancer, but when you dive into it, it’s so different for everyone,” Katrina said.
Coaching Volleyball
That difference is a concern for Katrina and her girls, the 16 members of the 2025 Dubois High School volleyball team.
All the devotion, spirit, humor, and love Katrina exhibits for her family is there for her team as well.
“I was a teacher, I’m no longer a teacher. I taught from 2018 to 2022. Social studies at the middle school and high school. I started coaching middle school volleyball in 2019, took a break during COVID. I didn’t know how I could manage online teaching and coaching,” she said.
Katrina started coaching at the high school in 2021.
“When you coach in a 1A school, you look at the cards you’re dealt and you decide how to put together a team,” Katrina said. “I have all these different components and think about how I’m going to develop these players.”
Her assistant coach is Barbara Sparks.
“This is my first-year coaching with her, the previous four years I coached with Rheannon Hawk,” Katrina said. “I always like to have that assistant coach who will be friends with the girls.”
Katrina had never coached volleyball before 2019.
“I played volleyball at Cornell College, a Division III school in Iowa, my sophomore to senior year,” Katrina said. “I was playing intermural volleyball my freshman year, and one of the volleyball girls saw me play and asked the coach to come watch me. I didn’t get a scholarship, but it was sure a lot of fun to play college sports. That’s where I learned that being all the players’ best friend isn’t always successful.”
Her return to volleyball after leaving the game in 2002 when she graduated from Cornell College might seem strange after almost a 20-year hiatus.
“I left volleyball a long time until they needed a middle school coach, I looked at Chris and said, ‘This looks like fun,’” Katrina said. “He looked at me like I had a third head. He said this is coming out of left field, but if this is what you want to do, I’m 110% behind you.”
Katrina’s team is competitive, the best in the Class 1-A Northwest this season, and a favorite to qualify for the state tournament, but it’s more than wins and losses for coach Katrina Dingman; it’s the relationship with the girls that means the most.
“My favorite feeling is that first day when you walk into the gym and you have that smell with the new finish on the floor, that’s my favorite smell, the season is here,” Katrina said. “Getting to see the girls coming in. It’s having that respect with the girls, building those relationships.”
The juniors and seniors on this year’s team are the last players she had as students when she taught at Dubois Middle School.
“It’s been so much fun getting to know them and building relationships with them,” Katrina said. “It became as much about the game as it was about those connections with the kids.”
Those connections now come from volleyball.
She is the outreach coordinator for Central Wyoming College, before that she worked as the adult education and cyber center director for two years.
“I have my dream job, I plan and coordinate classes for the entire community, kids from 0 to 99,” Katrina said. “Just last year, we started a Dubois volleyball club. I coached club in the spring, the U14. I wanted to spend time with the younger girls before I saw them as freshmen.”
A week in the life
“Typically, I have my chemo on a Thursday; Chris drives me over. I always have these grand plans to make it back for practice, but it never happens,” Katrina said. “Barbara has really stepped in. I appreciate how quickly she has made a connection with the team. I hate it, but I miss practice on that Thursday.”
“When we played Burlington at home, I missed the practice on Thursday. The varsity came in an hour before school so we could go through some rotation stuff. The varsity team likes to have time with me on the court before a game,” Katrina said. “They love Barb, but they psych themselves out if they don’t see me before a game.”
After her first round of chemotherapy, she coached a tournament. The second round, they had a home game with Burlington on Saturday.
Steroids are part of the chemotherapy regimen. They’re used to keep a patient strong and energized when the drugs hit their system.
“Friday and Saturday, I’m riding the steroid high,” Katrina said. “On Monday, my chemo brain is really bad.”
Chris is the videographer for the team.
“Sunday I watch video and plan on what we’re going to do for the week,” Katrina said. “We always have a captain’s meeting on Tuesday before school.”
Dubois has three captains this season.
“What I’m seeing and what they’re seeing we line up 99% of the time,” Katrina said. “Their volleyball IQ is so great. By the following weekend, I’m out of the woods with chemo.”
Many may question why and how a woman undergoing the rigors of chemotherapy has the energy and stamina to coach a varsity high school sport.
“My oncologist and my husband looked at me and said, ‘Do you really want to do volleyball?’” Katrina said. “
Her answer was an emphatic yes.
“I look at that team and see 16 young women and see how many people I know who have suffered from breast cancer and know these girls will have a mom or an aunt or themselves and have to deal with this,” Katrina said. “The team was there with me when I shaved my head; they’ve been so supportive. The girls have been making sure I’m drinking water and eating.”
The Jackson clinic provided a device that Katrina wears that injects her.
“After the Burlington game, (I’m) talking to Ava Jorey, then all of a sudden I’m getting a sting in my stomach, I forgot the shot was going off,” Katrina said. “The girls take such good care of me.. They’re taking care of me in a way, they’re amazing.”
She has chemotherapy through December and begins radiation in January.
Dubois Frontier Publisher Christine Snow is a close friend. With a personality like Katrina’s she has many friends.
“Christine is a huge part of my cancer story, she sat me down and said I’m going to have a serious talk,” Katrina said.
Her humor was again evident with this sarcastic comment, “The chemotherapy with menopause going on is an excellent cocktail going through my body.”
The poisonous concoction of drugs she takes every three weeks may impair her physically at times, but her spirit remains invincible.
“Without volleyball, this would be such an isolating and horrifying experience,” she said. “It gives me a goal for every single day. These girls are my reason to keep showing up.”
For coach Katrina Dingman, the game is no longer just about wins; it’s about survival, purpose, and the power of showing up, one serve at a time.