Rabenberg Hall Of Famer

Over three decades ago there was a high flyer from Britton that high jumped seven feet and was a runner-up finisher in the national NAIA track meet for Moorhead State University.

Last month Brian Rabenberg, a 1987 Britton High School graduate, was recognized for his track accomplishments during a collegiate career that spanned from 1987-1992 by being named to the Dragon Sports Hall Of Fame.

Rabenberg was among nine individuals and two teams that were honored at a ceremony in Moorhead, MN, on Oct. 7.

“This Hall of Fame class reflects the impact these individuals and teams had on Dragon athletics,” said Minnesota State University Moorhead Athletic Director Chad Markuson.

Rabenberg first developed an interest in high jumping watching his brother, Peter.

“When Peter graduated from high school I was a sixth grader,” recalled Brian. “I would watch him jump and when the competition was over they would leave the stuff out for a while. I got to mess around with it a little bit, and it grew from there.”

Peter jumped a very respectable 6-5 during his prep career, but Brian was destined for loftier heights. As a senior, he won the state championship with a leap of 6-10 and actually held the state record for one week.

“I jumped 6-10 at the region meet and the next week one of the record-holders now – Scott Benson of Rapid City – broke it by a quarter inch and later went 7-2.”

His state title came after third place finishes his sophomore and junior seasons, and he also won a state crown as a junior in triple jump and was second as a senior. His 6-10 high jump and 46-2 ¼ triple jump are still Britton-Hecla records, and he teamed up with Paul Pitkin, Jason Marx, and Travis Davidson to also set the school medley relay mark at 3:41.

“As a sophomore I was jumping 5-8 to 5-10 on a good day but when it got to the end of the year, as I remember it, I just sped up my approach and started going to the bar faster. In just a couple of weeks I improved five inches and jumped 6-3 at state. I really don’t know what it was, but something just clicked.”

Rabenberg just seemed to have a natural jumping ability.

“You have to be able to jump off of one leg, and there is a trick to that. I did prefer to jump when it was hot and I just tried to clear my head and focus on the bar. I did almost zero weight training in high school. Coach Orville Pfitzer would tell us to go twice around the universal gym, so we would walk around it twice and call it good. And there were some people weight training in college, but I was not one of them. We would do dunk workouts in college when we would go dunk a basketball for a half hour, and I think that did make a difference.”

His high school success earned him a track scholarship at Moorhead and he quickly became noticed on the college scene. At the end of his freshman season he leaped seven feet, setting a conference meet record that still stands 34 years later, and ranks as the third best outdoors jump of all time at the school.

“The fact that I still have the conference record I think is pretty cool, but Moorhead has a couple of kids this year that could break it,” noted Rabenberg.

As a college sophomore, Rabenberg decided to go out for basketball, and he didn’t really do any high jumping until that season was over. Then he picked up where he left off by winning the conference indoor title (6-10 ¼), setting a record that was broken just a few years ago, lasting 28 years. But he suffered a foot injury heading into the outdoor season that year that would haunt him for several seasons.

“I had a bruised heel and a sprained arch, and I did a lot of floundering around at 6-6. I was still having some success but not what I was used to.”

Rabenberg was also cut from the basketball team following his sophomore season, and looking back, it thinks that was a blessing in disguise.

“The basketball coach told me he didn’t have a spot for me and that helped me re-focus on track. When I had my injuries I really never thought about quitting. Track was something that kept me focused scholastically, and if not for the track team I’m not sure if I would have stayed there.”

Rabenberg went to Europe with the NAIA International Track Team following his junior year and started to feel good on that trip with a 6-9 effort. And his perseverance paid dividends his senior season. Rabenberg was the NAIA national outdoor runner-up in the high jump in 1991 and earned All-American honors. And he was just a miss away from winning a national crown. Three jumpers finished at 6-11 ¾ and the winner edged Rabenberg on the number of misses.

Rabenberg graduated with a degree in business administration and business management and worked or farmed in the Britton area until going to work at First Savings Bank in 2000 where he has served as the branch manager since 2007. But high jumping in the Rabenberg family didn’t end with that college degree.

Son, Jared, who graduated from Dakota Wesleyan University in 2020, still holds both the indoor and outdoor high jump records. He leaped 6-9 ½ indoors, and nipped his Dad’s best with a 7-0 ¼ jump outdoors.

“I was always kind of proud that both of our kids did college athletics (Mallory, volleyball at Presentation College). And Jared was even slower to develop that I was. He never really got any kind of college attention in high school, so it was kind of fun to see him get to college and blow up like he did.”

By the way, Brian did venture back into the high jump arena a couple of years ago in the South Dakota Senior Games. He won again – but this time the winning height was 4-10 in a field of two, and “it took a long time to recover.”