With his basketball future laid out before him, Mark Randtke took a leap of faith.

Instead of signing on at Lawrence High as a 10th grader and fighting for a roster spot with many of the same players he’d battled against on city playgrounds for several years, Randtke decided to pursue a path where basketball wasn’t the focus.

His decision to enroll at a then-brand-new Veritas Christian School has paid big dividends for all parties. In the program’s three years of existence, the 6-foot-5 power forward has led the Eagles to a Final Four berth in the Kansas Christian Athletic Assn., and thanks to his steady production this winter, has Veritas thinking big about what still may lie ahead in his senior season.

Randtke also has developed a well-rounded outlook on life that extends far beyond the basketball court.

How do you feel about the way things are going here in your senior year? You’re putting up some pretty big numbers.

It’s a lot of fun just to play for Veritas, with the team and everything. We all get along. I think the biggest thing, especially why I chose to go to Veritas, is because at LHS I think it would have been more of a job. We obviously take it seriously, but it’s not quite so stressed. We have three goals, which are, first, we want to honor God with our play, second, we want to get better as an individual and as a team, and third, we want to win. That’s just the last priority on our list. We have things that we put in front of that, and that was important to me – not just playing basketball.

You’ve had some success since the program got going. Do you feel like you’re accomplishing those goals in pretty successful fashion?

Yeah, I feel the whole team has in the three or four years that I’ve been here. We obviously could have won a couple more. We still haven’t got that state championship.

Do you ever catch yourself looking at Lawrence High and wondering what it would be like if you were playing there?

Yeah, I think about that sometimes, just reading about them in the paper and going to watch their games. But I know that if I would have gone there I would have looked back and been like, ‘What would it have been like to play with Veritas?’ or ‘What did I miss out on?’ That’s something you have to live with either way. But I’m happy with my decision. I think I made the right one.

Was it your decision, or was it a case where your parents had influence and said they’d prefer you to be at one or the other?

My parents didn’t force me at all. They knew that I’d be fine wherever I went, academic and athletic. They pretty much left it up to me, and that was long decision.

You’re probably playing against a little bit different caliber of athlete being at Veritas vs. being at Lawrence. Do you ever look at it and wonder if maybe your game would develop better if you were playing against kids at a big public school as opposed to a small private school?

I think I could have improved maybe more rapidly or more thoroughly at LHS. But the things I wanted to develop weren’t strictly athletic. I know the things I have developed with the program, just maturity-wise and integrity and stuff, it’s developed a lot better and more complete at Veritas.

People will sometimes look at a kid in your situation and say, ‘He’s putting up these big numbers at Veritas. If he was in the public school, he wouldn’t be doing as well.’ What do you think about your game? Do you think it would be able to hold up at that level?

(LHS) coach (Chris) Davis said it would. At the beginning of the year in the paper, he had a quote that said he thought I’d get a lot of playing time there. I play with those guys obviously down at the park whenever I see them. I was playing neck-and-neck with the seniors when I was in 10th grade. I know I’d get playing time. I think I’d start.

What does the future hold for you? It sounds like you’re a guy who values a lot more than just the actual on-court basketball experience. So where do you go from here?

Right now I plan to go to KU, but that was a tough decision because I’ve been looking at smaller colleges, maybe playing basketball. But I think if I wanted to play basketball in college, it might lead me to the wrong school academically, and I’m not going to make a career out of basketball. I think my priorities need to be more based on academics.

KU obviously has a bit of a history with bringing in walk-ons, especially with Lawrence-area kids. Are you thinking going that route at all and maybe trying to play ball, or will you pretty much just put that part of your life behind you?

I think I’d have to decide before I went up there because if I’m going to play at that level it would require a lot of work over the summer. I might consider it a couple of years down the road, maybe transferring to a smaller school and playing once I know exactly what I want to do. But I’m not real sure. It’s something I’ve always thought about doing, but it’s never been my goal to play college ball. It’s not like I’m going to quit playing. I’ll still be down there at the park playing. Just not as competitively.