Pine Bluffs' Carson Rabou making his last season his best
May 8—PINE BLUFFS — The best track and field season of Carson Rabou's career got off to an inauspicious start.
The Pine Bluffs senior was warming up for pole vault at last year's Morrill (Nebraska) Early Bird Invitational when his knees smashed him in the face after he landed on the pit. Rabou rushed to the bathroom to clean up the blood that was gushing from his broken nose.
He eventually placed seventh after he got the bleeding stopped. That day was merely a small example of what Rabou's resilience could yield.
He went on to place fifth in the 110-meter hurdles, fourth in the 300 hurdles and sixth in pole vault at the Class 2A state meet. It was a banner finish for an athlete who didn't qualify for state as a freshman and missed all of his sophomore campaign because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I tell all of our kids that he is a perfect example of what can happen if you stick with it and continue to work hard," Pine Bluffs coach Dustin Lee said. "As a junior high kid, freshman and sophomore, he wasn't big enough, fast enough or strong enough to do well at this level. He kept working, kept working and didn't let anything stand in his way.
"Even last year, he was barely making some finals, but he stuck with it, and now he's at the top of the pack. He's an example to our underclassmen that their day can come if they stick with it after taking their lumps."
That he is.
Rabou cleared a personal-best height of 11 feet, 6 inches to take third in pole vault at this spring's Morrill Early Bird. That mark is the best in 2A this season. Rabou also ranks second in 2A in the 300 hurdles (43.47 seconds) and third in the 110 hurdles (16.49). He has won the 110 hurdles five times and been runner-up in the 300s four times.
On Saturday, Rabou won pole vault (11-0) and the 110 hurdles (16.96) and was second in the 300 hurdles (42.36) at the Southeastern Wyoming Athletic Conference Championships at Pine Bluffs' Carlstrum Field.
Rabou credits the COVID year with helping him emerge as one of 2A's top all-around track athletes.
"I didn't let that year go to waste. I did a lot of training on my own because I wanted to use that time to my advantage and get ahead of everyone," he said.
Rabou tried several popular workout plans, in addition to strength and cardiovascular training. This fall, Rabou and a friend tried another workout plan to improve the explosiveness in their lower bodies.
"There was a lot of holding squats for certain amounts of time, there was a lot of jumping and a lot of explosive lifts," he said. "There was a lot of repetition there."
While Rabou has the state's top pole vault mark this spring, hurdles are his favorite event.
"Pole vault was something I picked up my seventh grade year. I've been hurdling since fifth grade, and it's where my heart is at as far as track and field goes," Rabou said. "I'm kind of a technique guy in most things I do. I'm a drummer, and there's a lot of technique and coordination that goes into that.
"I was never quite fast enough to compete well in the open sprints, but I was good at getting over the hurdles quickly. Plus, hurdles always looked cool."
Rabou opted to run indoor track with the combined Burns-Pine Bluffs squad instead of playing basketball this winter. He didn't compete at the state meet, but the extra repetitions and coaching he got helped him do what he's done this spring.
"I trained pole vault with (Cheyenne) Central's coaches, and they were phenomenal," Rabou said. "They knew the technique I needed to fix and helped me with a lot of drills. I also got to compete against some great pole vaulters in practice. It was really awesome."
Lee also has seen indoor track pay off in hurdles.
"Indoor track is always huge for our kids who do technical events like hurdles, pole vault and all the field events," Lee said. "It may have helped him most in hurdles because he's fast, but he's not really quick.
"The 55 hurdles in indoors force you to work on your quickness. It's a race that's over before you know it. Last year, he was finally getting up to speed at the 50-meter mark. Now, he's getting to top speed by the second hurdle. That's a tribute to indoor track."
Pine Bluffs girls win SEWAC title
Alexis DePaulitte was first in the 800-meter run (2:49.69) and first in the 1600 (6:15.36) to help the Pine Bluffs girls win the SEWAC title Saturday in Pine Bluffs. They totaled 140 points.
Merina Tehobald timed in second in the 800 (2:56.90) and third in the 1600 (6:41.69). Alyssa Slade placed second in the 200 (28.17), third in the 100 hurdles (13.65) and second in high jump (4-10). Jessica Hoffman finished first in discus (120), third in high jump (4-8) and was fifth in shot put (31-1). Monse Serrano was second in discus (112-6) and third in shot put (37-5.5). Cathy Purdum finished first in triple jump (34-5.75 and fourth in long jump (15-9), and Abby Gray clocked in fifth in the 400 (1:15.10).
Reed Thompson was first in long jump (20-3), first in triple jump (41-6.50) and second in high jump (5-6) for the Pine Bluffs boys. Travis Lerwick tied for fourth in high jump (5-4), while Dalton Schaefer was second in long jump (20-2) and tied for third in pole vault (10-6).
Stu Lerwick finished second in discus (122-11) and second in triple jump (40-5). Mitchell Birkhofer was fifth in shot put (36-3), and Brayden Sumare took second in the 1600 (5:25.65). Alex Head was fourth in the 100 (12.40), and Tyler Christofferson timed in fifth in the 400 (57.07). The Pine Bluffs boys were second with 151 points.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.
