10/31/98 at Cherry Hills Village, CO - 3.1 miles
Colorado State Meet
3A - Jon Severy
Aspen's Severy didn't win alone
By Michael Kane in The Denver Post
Nov. 1 - CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE - This morning, Jon Severy has a state title.
Three weeks ago, he had an older brother.
That's no tradeoff at all.
This morning, the junior from Aspen High School can wake up and for the 20th day in a
row, he can think about his brother, Chris, who lost his life in Boulder on Oct. 12 in a
biking accident at the age of 22.
He can think about running with his brother, the family's first cross-country state
champion. And he can think about running alone. And if the other 150-odd things in his
bedroom don't remind him of Chris, and how much the two athletes had in common, he can
hold onto the state gold medal.
"It creeps into my mind all the time,'' said Severy, a junior, after winning the
Class 3A boys' championship Saturday, "before races, during races. This one was no
different. I told myself my brother was with me out there, just run as hard as I could and
let it hurt.''
Severy dominated throughout, and, as he has done in every meet this season but one,
finished first. The junior covered the 5K (3.1mile) course at Kent Denver School in 16
minutes, nine seconds, and nearly caught his breath before runnerup Matt Billings of Erie
came across the finish line.
Severy's clocking wasn't anywhere near a personal record, his pace slowed by cold, wet
conditions that made footing unsure.
"This race wasn't one of my best, the conditions were pretty bad,'' Severy said.
"But it was one I had extra motivation to win. I wanted to win for my brother.''
Severy paused, long enough to locate the emotions that precede tears.
"It's not something I like to talk about much.''
Severy, third-born of six children in a family that shares a love of the outdoors,
doesn't like to talk about his brother's death.
He runs about it.
So before watching his sister Elizabeth, a freshman, compete in the 3A girls' race, the
state champion left for another in three weeks worth of cooldown runs. For this one, a jog
around the lake behind Kent Denver School, he was joined by Rickey Gates, a teammate who
had just followed Severy's pace to finish fourth.
"He's my best friend,'' said Gates, a part of the Aspen team and community that
have supported the Severy family since the tragedy. "I run with him. I talk to him
about Chris, about his memories: running, kayaking, biking, about Chris' mind. I'm sure
Jon had doubts at some point this year, but I never had doubts for him. Jon has the talent
to beat anybody in this state.''
Aspen coach Mark Barbour watched the late Chris Severy win the state title in 1993. He
was there when Jon's older sister, Robin, finished state runnerup a year later. And he was
in Pueblo last season when Jon placed fourth at state as a sophomore.
"This is a strong family,'' Barbour said. "They're not a family to wallow in
their emotions. And I knew Jon wasn't going to bag it, wouldn't decide to skip the rest of
the season, even though no one would have blamed him if he did. I know the Severys. It's
not their style.''
When the state meet ended, and the awards were handed out, Barbour's boys' team was
fourth, behind champion Roosevelt (Jesse Herrera, fifth place; Eric Gray, 27th; Scott
Yoder, 28th; Anthony Bejarano, 31st), runnerup Falcon and Middle Park, which was led by
third-place finisher Dylan Olchin.
Clear Creek won the girls' title for the fifth time in six years, and they did so at
the same location where the Golddiggers' season ended a year ago at regionals. Gunnison
was girls' team runnerup, ahead of Aspen, and Elizabeth Severy's 44th-place support,
Denver Christian and Centauri.
"We prepared more this year, and I think the girls took awhile getting used to my
style,'' said second-year Clear Creek coach Jeff Miller. "I tried to keep drilling it
into their heads, that they didn't want to be left out again, missing by a few points.''
Clear Creek was led by sixth-place finisher Becca Warmack, followed by Kristen Rizzardi
(14th) and two freshmen, Taylor Lareau (15th) and Hayley Cook (24th).
The individual champion in the 3A girls' race was Middle Park's Aimee Tenney, who
passed Brittany Thompson of Faith Christian at the winding course's final turn before
sprinting to victory down the 400 yard of the homestretch.
Tenney's winning time was an even 20:00. Thompson finished runnerup, 10 seconds back
and seven seconds ahead of third-place Melody Scheefer of Colorado Rocky Mountain School.
"That's my strength,'' said Tenney, whose first win this season came a week ago at
regionals, "I usually have a good finishing kick. I don't like going much longer than
3 miles, so I had just about enough to win today.''
Said the freshman Thompson, who had come out of a pack after the 2-mile mark to take
the lead briefly, "I thought I'd finish top five, but I wasn't quite sure how well
I'd do. After I lost the lead, I figured I'd better push it to make my goal. (Tenney) was
strong at the end, though. I wasn't making up much ground.''
