2024 BCR Female Athlete of the Year: Kate Salisbury has decorated season, career

Kate Salisbury had a decorated senior season and career for Bureau Valley High School.

She registered her 1,000th career assist for the Storm volleyball team last fall.

She scored her 1,000th career point for the Storm basketball team this winter.

And she gained two state medals from the track and field season this spring.

Along the way, she was named as the BCR Volleyball Player of the Year and First Team All-BCR and Three Rivers East All-Conference in volleyball and basketball.

Add up the numbers along with all of her accomplishments, and Salisbury is the 2023-24 BCR Female Athlete of the Year.

“Kate is a very talented girl. It was a blast getting to coach her,” BV volleyball coach Saige Barnett said. “Kate understands the game and has the athleticism to execute. She had a lot of success individually as our setter, making some talented hitters have more success with her ability to place the ball where they needed it to be. Furthermore, she was a huge threat at the net for us with the ability to dump, block and earn her own kills.

“She set the bar high for our upcoming setters in the district, and I am thankful that they had someone with her ability to watch and learn from.”

Salisbury thrived playing sports year-round.

“It’s very important just to have different aspects, different teams,” she said. “All three of the sports I do are very different. I think it’s important that I can do all of them and be successful in all three.”

But it’s no secret volleyball is her favorite.

“I just think the bond you have with the girls celebrating after every point, I feel like me and my volleyball team are the closest,” she said.

She said being able to beat Princeton and getting her 1,000th career assist will be the moments she will remember most. The unanimous Three Rivers East all-conference setter and three-year starter led the Storm (14-17, 6-4) with 450 assists (6.0), 35 blocks (0.46), 98 kills (1.3) and 23 aces (0.30).

“She received unanimous first-team all-conference. It was very deserving for the statistics she produced in the pocket and at the net, but more so what she was able to contribute to our team defensively as well,” Barnett said.

“I wish we could have gone farther in postseason. I still feel like we played as hard as we could that last game,” Salisbury said. “All the seniors had, like, their best game, so we went out how we wanted personally, but as a team we probably could have gone farther.”

Salisbury loved having Barnett, a Bureau Valley legend she looked up to and the 2018-19 BCR Female Athlete of the Year, come on as the Storm’s volleyball coach.

“It was really cool. When I was little, I’d always come to the games and watch her. She was so good. We always wanted to be like her,” Salisbury said. “Saige was very helpful with me. I learned a lot of new stuff from her. She was just someone to talk to outside of coaching. She was like a friend. Anyone felt comfortable talking to her. She was always there for us.”

Salisbury played point guard for a Storm basketball team that finished 14-16, 5-5 in the Three River East. The unanimous all-conference guard led the Storm in scoring (13.6 ppg) with 1.9 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals a game.

“Same as volleyball, I think we could have gone farther, because we got knocked out in the first round (by Rockridge). Our team had many individual success and team success,” she said.

Her season highlight came when she scored her 1,000th career point on senior night, a moment she got to share with her brother, Carter.

“My brother hit 1,000 points on his senior night, and so we kind of looked how many points I needed, and it worked out I hit in on senior night. So we thought was really cool,” said Salisbury, who is the No. 5 all-time BV girls score with 1,037 career points.

State success

Salisbury went out with a bang to end her senior season and Storm career, making her first trip to state in track and bringing home two medals.

She joined classmate Connie Gibson and juniors Taylor Neuhalfen and McKinley Canady for a seventh-place medal in the 4x100 and ninth-place medal in the 4x200.

“It was awesome. Such a great experience. (State’s) cool,” she said. “At the start of season, when we ran our first relay with the same four girls, we had a really good time. (We thought) state’s something we can do. It’s something I wanted to do. It’s something Connie always wanted to do. And then as we kept going through the season, we kept PRing, and we got even closer to state (qualifying) time. At the start of outdoors, it was like, it’s definitely possible, and we can go, even medal there.

“Us four just worked for each other, and we wanted it for each other. I think we gave it our all every every practice, every meet for each other.”

The BV relays proved to be the perfect Storm.

“Connie would give us a really fast start. Taylor would hold our spot or gain. I liked running the curves in the 4x1 and would try to pass, and then Kinley gave us a real strong finish,” Salisbury said.

Along the way in all the sports and seasons, Salisbury was most appreciative of all the support she received from Storm assistant coach Ashley Gutshall.

“Miss Gutshall was very helpful in volleyball, told me where to put it. In basketball she’d give me little pep talks and calm me down. Same in track, very helpful and motivating.”

Change of plans

Last fall, Salisbury had come to the conclusion she was going to move on from sports and pursue a nursing career in college. Then she had a change of heart.

She will now go on to St. Ambrose University to continue to play volleyball.

“After state, I realized I was done (with sports), and I didn’t want to be done,” she said. “And I didn’t think nursing was for me, and I switched my major to psychology, and I just thought I’d have more time to go out for volleyball.”

“I’m really excited, especially since it’s volleyball and I know some of the girls.”

“We at BV are excited to see the success that she will have there as well,” Barnett said.