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Summit High School’s Emily Koetteritz prepares for the future after historic senior year

Emily Koetteritz places first in the girl's 100-meter hurdles at the Husky Invitational on Tuesday, April 26. Koetteritz had landmark day as she ended up placing in all four of the events she competed in including breaking the school record in the triple jump.
Cody Jones/Summit Daily News

Summit High School three-sport athlete Emily Koetteritz is having a senior year to remember.

Koetteritz led the Tigers volleyball team, was monumental for the Tigers girls basketball team and is now preparing for the prospect of competing at the Colorado State Track and Field Championships from May 19-21. She could not be more excited.

Koetteritz has been a lover of all sports for her entire life. Throughout her elementary school years, she explored a plethora of sports before ultimately deciding on volleyball, basketball and track and field going into high school.



Like most multi-sport athletes, Koetteritz finds it hard to like one sport over another. Rather, she enjoys each one for different reasons.

Summit senior Emily Koetteritz counters a serve with a bump during the second set of the Tigers' home match against the Eagle Valley Devils on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021 at Summit High School in Breckenridge.
John Hanson/For the Summit Daily News

On the volleyball court this past season, Koetteritz was a stat machine for the Tigers. She led the team in digs with 0.6 digs per set and 21 total digs at the end of the season.



Finding a way to be in the middle of the action at all times, Koetteritz also led the team in serve receptions with 50 receptions, which was 21 more than the team’s second-highest receptions leader.

Koetteritz was also a mainstay for the girls basketball team that fought its way to its best record in 15 years. She helped the team advance to the second round of the state playoffs.

Head girls basketball coach Kayle Walker Burns talked throughout the Tigers’ historic season about how Koetteritz’s stat line might not always reflect the impact she had on the court.

Burns routinely relied on Koetteritz as a starter and a defensive player who could be counted on to shutdown the opposition’s best offensive player.

“Its always been hard for me for offense, so I was never really that best offensive player or anything,” Koetteritz said. “I have always found a joy in defense because there is one thing you can focus on, and that is stopping them.”

Summit High School’s Emily Koetteritz drives to the basket during the third quarter of the varsity girls basketball game against Basalt on Thursday, Feb. 10, at Summit High School in Breckenridge.
Jason Connolly/For Summit Daily News

The girls basketball season was special to Koetteritz since she feels like the 2021-22 team will be remembered as the team that broke Summit’s playoff woes.

“That was really special to have the opportunity to be a part of that,” Koetteritz said. “It was really a product of our team working together. I was super happy to be a part of it.”

A few weeks after the Tigers were eliminated by Canon City from the 4A bracket of the Colorado high school girls basketball playoffs, Koetteritz made the transition to getting in shape for track and field in what would end up as being another historic season for the senior.

Koetteritz entered the season with the triple jump school record on her mind, and she broke the 14-year-old record at the Husky Invitational last month with a jump of 34 feet, 1/4 inch.

That same week, three days later to be exact, Koetteritz surpassed her own school record with a jump of 34 feet, 4 1/2 inches.

Koetteritz, who also competes in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, has steadily improved since she was a freshman, but she says her school-record-setting season is all thanks to her new jumps coach, Kris Fox.

“Fox is really dedicated and really focused on breaking it down for me so I understood the proper technique of the event,” Koetteritz said. “We put in a lot of work, working on the different phases of the jump. He’s super dedicated and wants it just as much as we do.”

Koetteritz is currently ranked 14th in the triple jump in the 4A classification with one week left in the season before the state track meet on May 19-21.

Koetteritz’s current mark should be enough to get her into the state meet for the first time in her career, but she will also have a chance to improve her placement at the St. Vrain Hoka Invitational at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 13.

“I am super excited,” Koetteritz said of the prospect of going to state. “To be honest, I never really thought it would ever happen, so I am really excited that there is a good chance for it to happen.”

Emily Koetteritz runs her leg of the girl's 4×100-meter relay at the Husky Invitational on Tuesday, April 26. Koetteritz placed in four events, which included winning the 100-meter hurdles and the triple jump, an event in which she set a new school record.
Cody Jones/Summit Daily News

Koetteritz feels very blessed by the experiences she has had over the last four years and feels indebted to all her coaches and her parents.

“My dad was a track athlete and my mom was my middle school track coach, so they both brought me into the sport of track and into sports in general,” Koetteritz said. “They are both super supportive and encouraging.”

Upon graduating from Summit High School later this spring, Koetteritz plans on attending Western Colorado University in Gunnison, where she will be a part of the honors program and major in exercise physiology with the hopes of continuing to physical therapy school down the road.

Additonally, Koetteritz has been in touch with the track and field coach at Western Colorado and is hopeful that she can walk on to the team next spring as a triple jumper and hurdler.

 


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