AURORA – In 2000, Alan Versaw took a job at The Classical Academy to be the school’s head coach for both its boys and girls cross country programs. Versaw quickly turned the Titans into a running powerhouse.
“There quickly became a dynamic and understanding that this was going to be something special,” said Alan Versaw, who retired from the program after the 2021 season. “We were in it together, and the kids have really sustained that success over the years. The kids running now weren’t even close to being born yet when I started things up.”
Just a few years in, it was clear that TCA was on an exciting trajectory. Versaw remembers the moment he first thought this program could be something truly special.
“The third year, things really began to start to happen,” Versaw recalled. “I think the thing that catalyzed that, more than anything else, was that the boys team won the Tri-Peaks League Meet that year. It’s hard to look back 22 years ago now, and what the cross country landscape was like then, but winning the Tri-Peaks League meant beating a Buena Vista team that had been rated either first, second or third all season long. Once we did it, we all just stood there and looked at each other afterward. We soaked in what happened, and went, ‘Wow. Just where can this thing go?’”
From 2000 to 2021, the entirety of Coach Versaw’s reign, The Classical Academy won seven state championships in boys cross country, with three additional runner-up finishes, to go with 14 state championships and a runner-up finish in girls cross country.
But, following the 2021 campaign, Versaw decided to take a step away from coaching, handing the coaching job over to Matt Norton, who still runs the program today, in the process.
“Coach Versaw and our head track coach, Tim Daggett, built these programs between the two sports and have obviously had a lot of success,” Coach Norton said. “Alan and I have been friends and coaching colleagues for a long time, back since I was working at Thompson Valley, up in Loveland, around 2006 or 2007. . . So when I told him and Coach Daggett that my family was planning on moving down here, he kind of carved out a spot for me to help coach a couple of years, even though there wasn’t really a spot. He made sure to make some room for me, and I’m deeply thankful he did that because now I get to experience the great honor of taking this amazing thing that my friend Alan built, keeping it afloat, and trying to continuously make it better.”
So far, Coach Norton has been successful in that endeavor.
In two seasons at the program’s helm, Norton has captured two boys cross country state championships and one girls cross country state championship leaving his record as the Titans’ head coach nearly flawless.
Nevertheless, Coach Norton’s squads have some lofty challenges awaiting them.
The boys team is looking to replace a senior class that possessed each of the Titans’ top four runners from last season’s state championship meet.
“Having to replace them all in one year had some people nervous about how the dynamic would change or what the team would look like, and things definitely changed and look different now, but that doesn’t mean it’s any worse,” senior runner and team captain Noah Askew said. “It’s just as strong now as it was before. We’re all not just teammates, but super close friends. As a senior, it’s great to look back and look at all the special relationships I’ve formed over the past four years of running.”
“I think replacing all those talented runners is just going to come down to working hard and not comparing ourselves to the ones that came before us,” All-State junior runner Marcus May added. “Just knowing that we’re not going to be the same as them, and we need to find our own path and set our own goals.”
Meanwhile, the girls team has to grapple with the threat of complacency, after the 2023 freshman-laden squad still managed to nab the state championship in spite of their youth.
“It’s helpful that we started to lay the groundwork last year,” Coach Norton said, in regard to battling that over-confidence. “They got to watch last year’s senior boys not only be three-time state champions, but also be one of the very best teams in the state, and one of the very best teams in the nation, among all classifications. We just said, ‘Hey girls, there’s a bunch of you running really well as freshman and underclassmen, but look at what the future could look like.’ They liked the idea of getting to experience what those boys experienced, and it’s helped to keep them motivated.”
“Last year’s boys just showed us how big we could dream,” Joy Ahnfeldt, a sophomore member of the team, shared. “They all did really well, and won state, but they also had bigger dreams than that, and wouldn’t allow themselves to just be satisfied. They set high goals and continued to work really hard.”
We’ll find out whether or not The Classical Academy’s cross country programs are ready to conquer the hurdles blocking the way to another state title at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s 2024 Cross Country State Championships, on Saturday, Nov. 2, at Norris Penrose Event Center, in Colorado Springs.