With her graduation at Peak to Peak going on without her, Kourtney Rathke bid farewell to the high school days as best she could.
Not light on cliché herself — similar to those anecdotes heard at any number of graduations — a literal bar was being raised for Rathke in the Class 3A pole vault at Jefferson County Stadium in May. All the work, the past successes and failures were with her as she cleared it.
The 13-feet,10-inch mark Rathke and her biggest state competitor and friend, Anna Willis of The Classical Academy, eventually went up and over were personal bests as well as the class record.
Rathke, who believed she was underperforming at times during her senior season, was awarded gold, needing less attempts at 13-10 than Willis. She’d sailed over it on her first try.
“I was like if you’re going to miss your graduation, then you’re going to have fun at this meet,” the Daily Camera girls’ track athlete of the year said. “Just competing with Anna, we pushed each other. Both of us were going for the bars and it was like we forgot how high the bar was after a while.”
Rathke, who is headed to the University of Michigan for track and field, closed her high school career with three straight titles in pole vault. Her first came after a runner-up finish to Willis as a freshman.
She’s convinced nobody saw it.
“The meet got super delayed with that snowstorm,” she chuckled. “The stadium was empty, and it was super cold and dark. And they had this huge light, which was like the only source of heat. It was a unique experience.”
Rathke went on to win seven 3A titles for the Pumas and three during her senior season.
A day after winning her third pole vault, she three-peated in the long jump. A winning mark of 18-9 was more than a foot back of her furthest leap of the year — 20-1 — and yet was still seven inches better than the rest of the field.
Earlier at the meet, she won the 3A triple jump for the first time in her career (36-9.75), following finishes of second and third the two prior seasons at state.
“Clearly she’s a really good athlete,” said Jenni Ashcroft, her jumps coach at Michigan. “She’s also a very strong student and we think she’s a really high character kid. So those are three great qualities to have in your program.”
Ashcroft, a former standout and Hall of Fame pole vaulter at Nevada, has helped guided athletes to four NCAA championships in her two decades as coach. She’s as impressed with Rathke’s success in all of her other events.
“She’s got speed. She’s got explosiveness,” said Ashcroft about Rathke, who also finished second, third and fourth in the 3A 100-meter hurdles. “She has a gymnastics background, so she has some really good coordination. So, there’s a lot to work on, but she has the right mindset and skills to be a master of her craft.”
