photo by: Kevin Anderson/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High's Kyleigh Severa hits the ground in the long jump Friday during regional track and field at ODAC.

Before the first football practice of the summer last year, Lawrence High football coach Dirk Wedd looked up into the stands and saw Kyleigh Severa running up and down the stadium stairs.

Wedd chuckles at the memory. Two days earlier, Severa was celebrating a Class 6A track and field state championship, the first state title for the girls track team since 1979. And yet, there she was running stairs at 7 a.m., already preparing for volleyball and the next track season.

“I just stopped and brought the team together,” Wedd recalled, “and told them, ‘That’s a state champion there. That’s our whole goal. We need to learn from that.'”

Severa’s goal is to bring back more medals this weekend. She qualified for the Class 6A state meet in three events: 200-meter dash, long jump and the 4×400 relay. The state meet begins at 8 a.m. Friday at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium.

For the past three years, Severa looked up to the team’s seniors. After last year’s state meet, she realized it was her turn to help lead the rest of the team, which started with the first day of the offseason and running stairs in the morning. She was the school’s only returner who scored points at state.

“Everyone always tells me, ‘Take a week off. Take a break. You need your body to rest,'” Severa said. “I’m just, like, I can’t sit in my house and watch other people get better. I have to go out and do something and get better myself.”

At last week’s regional, Severa finished runner-up in the 200 in a season-best 25.40 seconds. It was the sixth-fastest time recorded in the state this year, and she will be seeded second at state.

Severa, who has signed to compete at Wichita State next year, took third in the long jump with her best leap at 17 feet, 6.5 inches. She hopes to jump beyond 18 feet this week, especially after taking second at state in the event last season.

“Seems like the brighter the lights, the more she competes,” LHS coach Jack Hood said. “It’s amazing to see it. She’s a competitive kid.”

Along with her individual events, Severa has the opportunity to win her fourth straight state title in the 4X400 relay. It’s one of the most hyped events at LHS, and with her three fellow relay runners graduated, Severa passed along lessons to her younger teammates.

Teaming up with junior Myah Yoder, who was an alternate on last year’s 4X400 relay, and freshmen Hannah Stewart and Evann Seratte, they’ve combined for Sunflower League and regional titles, seeded No. 1 heading into state.

“I’m definitely nervous, but I’m so excited,” Severa said of the 4X400. “I’ve got a lot of trust in my other teammates. I know that we’re all going to run our hardest and get that four-peat for our school.”

Off of the track, it’s hard to find an athlete who cheers for more teammates at meets than Severa. At practices, she’s practically an extension of her coaches, beaming with pride about the success of underclassmen and her school.

For her, it’s simply part of the job of being a senior, trying to teach her younger teammates “what LHS is about.”

“She’s always been a team leader because she sets the tone and the tempo at practice,” Hood said. “It’s kind of infectious with the other kids. This year, she’s as good of a teammate as she is an athlete and a person.”

But most of all, Severa enjoys competing. Looking to end her prep career on the medal podium for multiple events, she’s excited to see what she can accomplish, but sad it has to end.

“It just hit me this weekend that this is my last week of practice at Lawrence High School,” Severa said. “I don’t want it to be over. Lawrence High has provided me with just amazing opportunities and experiences, and I’ve had the best coaches in the state to help me. I couldn’t be more thankful.”