North Side girl runs into big role at Seton-LaSalle

When Raja Rutherford wakes up each morning, one of the first things she does is look at her wall.

It’s there where she has sheets of paper taped, each with lists of some of the top times and jumps from recent PIAA championships. When Rutherford tops one of the marks, she’ll take down that sheet and focus on another.

It might not be long before that wall has a lot more free space on it.

If Rutherford’s name sounds a bit familiar, it should. Her father, Rod, was a star quarterback at Perry Traditional Academy and Pitt, and later played in the NFL.

“There’s no denying I get my athletic ability from my father,” Raja said.

Raja (rhymes with Asia) is now making a name for herself. A North Side resident, Rutherford is a junior track standout at SetonLaSalle in Mt. Lebanon and appears to be destined for a breakout season.

Heading into the week, Rutherford had two of the WPIAL’s top reported marks in the long jump and 200-meter dash. Her long jump (17 feet, 2 inches) was first in Class AA and third in the WPIAL. Her 200 time (27.03 seconds) ranked fourth in Class AA and seventh overall in the WPIAL.

And, get this: both of those marks were achieved in her only meet of the season — the South Hills Classic — an event contested in sub-freezing weather.

Seton-LaSalle coach Mark Wright said Rutherford has the capability to make a push for WPIAL titles in the 100, 200 and long jump.

“I believe she has the potential to go first in all of them,” Wright said. “Whether or not she does it, I don’t know. But she’s on par with these other girls. She’s definitely in that group.”

Rutherford, who turned 16 last November, started off her high school career strong by qualifying for the WPIAL championships in all three of her top events as a freshman. Her long jump of 16-3 placed fifth at the finals and qualified her for the PIAA championships. But her sophomore season didn’t go as smoothly. Rutherford sustained a calf injury early in the season and was never quite the same. Instead of taking time off to heal, Rutherford said she tried to fight through the injury.

“I think I was asking too much from myself at the time,” Rutherford said. “I wasn’t fully recovered, but I was passionate about [getting back into form].”

Rutherford fell short of qualifying for WPIALs, but has since returned to full health and is better and stronger than ever, according to Wright. The added strength comes from an extensive weight training program Rutherford took part in from August to February. Wright would take Rutherford to LA Fitness regularly and have her focus on strengthening her lower body. Rutherford also worked out with DeWayne Brown, a local speed and agility coach.

“From freshman year to sophomore year, I was more running and working on form and endurance,” Rutherford said. “I had to get more muscular and get more powerful.”

Rutherford’s track success is unique in that Seton-LaSalle doesn’t have enough track athletes to compete as a varsity team. They have only eight members. The Rebels do have a co-op program with Chartiers Valley, which allows Seton-LaSalle runners to compete for the Colts. Still, just about all of Rutherford’s competitions will be at multi-school invitationals and qualifiers.

Rutherford, who just recently began throwing the javelin, is also playing softball for the first time this spring, and is being primarily used as a pinch runner. On a typical day, Rutherford has an hour bus ride to school, attends classes, has softball practice from 3 to 5, comes home, goes to the gym or track with her step-dad, Justin Drewery, from 6 to 9 p.m., and then goes home to eat, shower, do homework and spend some time with her mom, Ashanti Mitchell.

“She’s very dedicated,” Wright said.

There’s certainly no denying that.