I didn't care for Athena's when I auditioned them several years ago when BB was closing them out. I don't remember the model numbers, but I listened to a couple of different Athena speakers. So, based on that alone, I would probably prefer the Polks. But would it be any kind of upgrade? Who knows.... I sure don't. And neither does anyone else. The ONLY person who can make that determination is you, listening with your own ears, preferrably on your own gear in your listening room. That's the only place how they sound will make a difference.
Even if you get 20 different people saying that they prefer one over the other, when they listened to them, room interactions and set up conditions will have all been different (and were they even set up correctly?), the front end gear different and most importantly, their own personal hearing is different. So even IF everyone agrees that the Polks are better, you may think otherwise. So, you really do need to make that determination yourself.