Mallory Kortuem commands the soccer pitch. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
She sort of snuck up on me.
As her high school career has played out, Mallory Kortuem has been the quiet assassin, piling up records and awards while seeming content to reflect the spotlight onto her teammates.
The Coupeville High School senior, who should be enjoying one final trip around the track oval this spring, has never been one to scream and beat her chest in public about her accomplishments.
But dang, Mallory.
If you step back and look at the entire run of her prep days, it’s more than just merely impressive.
The youngest of Alex and Heather Kortuem’s children is legitimately one of the best athletes to ever pull on a Wolf uniform, ever. End of story.
That Mallory has always seemed like a super-quality person away from the pitch and oval as well, just makes it easier for those of up in the stands to hail her as one of the greats.
Momentarily at rest, Mallory hangs out with Sherry Roberts (left) and mom Heather Kortuem.
So, without further ado, we welcome her today to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
It’s not quite the same as getting to stand on the podium in Cheney in late May, hailed as a state champ, a path she seemed destined for before the coronavirus pandemic split the world into a billion pieces.
But, I hope it means something to her, at least a little.
As she goes forward into the world, ready to reach new goals and captivate her ever-growing legion of fans, Mallory can know that here on the blog she’ll live on in local lore, forever a prairie phenom.
Pop open the Legends tab up at the top of the page, and you’ll find her, a blur of speed and toughness, momentarily at rest.
Mallory has been at the forefront of two Wolf programs during her days at CHS, and it never seems like there was a moment where she was a raw rookie.
She always seemed like a grizzled vet, her cerebral skills matching her physical gifts, whether she was a new-to-the-scene freshman or an about-to-depart senior.
Put her on the soccer pitch and she could control a game from any position.
She had a deft touch with the ball and a wicked leg, and showed off an uncanny ability to spin around defenders and leave goalies grasping at air when she got to play up front.
If Wolf coaches had used Mallory in a traditional scoring position her entire career, I have little doubt she would be up at the top of the all-time CHS scoring list with players like Mia and Kalia Littlejohn and Genna Wright.
Instead, she spent a lot of her playing days on the backside of the field, using her speed to corral breakaways and her toughness to knock potential scorers off the ball.
As a defender, Mallory took no crap from nobody.
Kortuem fights off a rival.
I’m sure there were opposing players who looked at her slender build and thought they could bully her.
They quickly changed their minds.
Mallory not only wasn’t afraid of getting in close and scrapping with rivals, she seemed to derive a considerable joy out of beatin’ the snot out of them, then leaving them eating the grass as she sprinted away with the soccer ball.
Dirty? Never. Willing to back down? Let’s capitalize that NEVER.
Upholding the tradition set down by scrappy Wolf ballhawks like Micky “Two Fists” LeVine, there was no bend, no break in Mallory’s game.
Her team might win. It might lose. But she was going to make sure you remembered her long after the final score faded into memory.
But, as good as she was on the pitch, Mallory has made an even-bigger splash in the world of track and field.
Entering what was supposed to be her senior season, she had already splashed her name all across the school’s record board in the CHS gym.
Mallory currently holds four school records, tying her with fellow Hall o’ Famer Maya Toomey-Stout for top honors.
Speed demons Kortuem and Maya Toomey-Stout. (Dawnelle Conlisk photo)
And those records have come in a variety of events, from the 400 and pole vault to running legs on super-quick 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relay units.
In the pole vault, her top mark of eight feet, 10 inches is almost two-and-a-half feet above what any other Wolf girl has ever reached.
Meanwhile, in the 400, an event in which Mallory finished 2nd at state as a junior, she passed Makana Stone, proving I was completely, 1000% wrong when I thought that record would live for decades.
With four state meet medals entering her senior campaign, Miss Kortuem had a chance, pre-pandemic, to finish as one of the most-decorated CHS female track stars of all time.
But even if spring sports don’t start back up, and she doesn’t get the chance to chase Lindsey Roberts (eight medals), Stone (7), and Natasha Bamberger (6), it will take absolutely none of the luster off of her brilliant run.
You can only control what you can control, and when that control was left in Mallory’s hands, she never failed to impress.
One of the best, ever. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
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