Back on track

Katherine Ratliff watched her team’s first meet of the indoor track and field season from the bleachers. 

But her heart was on the track. 

As Ratliff cheered her Vestavia Hills High School teammates in the 4x200-meter relay, she said her pulse jumped to 140 beats per minute. 

“Just watching it, I get way too excited,” Ratliff said. “I have to be out there.” 

Now, she is. 

Ratliff, a senior, returned to the oval in January. It was her first time competing since suffering a devastating knee injury at the 2018 state outdoor meet.  

“There are a lot of intangible things with Katherine that you can’t measure or produce,” said her coach, Brett Huber. “But they’re just really, really positive, great things about who she is.” 

They've enabled Ratliff to rebound from the trauma of last May’s Class 7A state meet, which she entered with confidence. Ratliff was projected to finish among the top eight in pole vault. In javelin, her best event, she had a chance to win. 

“I was so ready to compete,” she said, recalling the morning of May 4. “I just couldn’t feel more ready [for] these events.” 

Her day ended before it began. 

During her first javelin throw, as she went to plant her left foot, she stepped into an indention in the track. Her spear spiraled upward while she tumbled to the ground.

 When she lifted her head to view her knee, she expected to see a bone protruding from her skin. 

“It felt like I dislocated it,” she said. “It felt like it was not attached to my body.” 

Ratliff tore her anterior cruciate ligament, along with her meniscus, and suffered a bone bruise on that ill-fated heave. 

It was a good one, too. Had it counted, it could have earned her a spot on the podium. 

“Her hair went over the line, and so it disqualified the throw,” Huber said. “Meanwhile, the javelin is traveling, and it’s one of the best throws of the day.”

Two weeks after sustaining her injury, Ratliff underwent surgery to repair all that had been severed. Now, two screws have a permanent home in her knee. 

She was unable to run for more than three months after her operation. Consequently, she missed her first summer track and field season in years. 

“Having to sit there every day during the summer, not even being able to like, walk to the kitchen by myself without someone watching me, that was the most painful part,” she said.

Ratliff has rehabbed religiously over the past nine months. She logged countless reps of physical therapy exercises to regain strength and mobility.

In November, with a bulky brace enveloping much of her leg, she ran her first sprint.  

“It was like the best feeling ever,” she said. “It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to truly run.”

A few weeks later, Ratliff received word from her doctor that she could return to sprinting competitively. In the spring, she hopes to introduce field events back into her repertoire. 

“She’s multitalented and just has a lot of heart,” Huber said. “She’s a real special athlete.” 

The road to recovery mostly behind her, Ratliff said she is grateful for the injury that turned her world upside down. It has helped her become an empathetic leader and has strengthened her faith. 

These days, she thanks God for every step she takes. 

“This is weird to say, but it’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me, even though it’s like the worst,” said Ratliff, who wants to compete in track and field in college. “The lessons I’ve learned from it are just so valuable.”