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July 17, 2002
Record-breaking swimmer credits success to God
Female athlete swims to improve organ playing and medals at competition
By Roxanne King
Julia Von Evig took up swimming a year and a half ago because she wanted to improve her organ playing. Now she's a record-breaking swimmer and she credits her success to God.
Von Evig medalled in eight races at the United States Masters Short Course Nationals competition held in Honolulu in mid-May. She competed in the 40-45 age individual races on the University of Denver Masters Swim Team and in the 35-45 age relays on the Rocky Mountain Masters Swim Team. She helped set new national records in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays.
Von Evig had only been swimming a year when she competed.
"When people ask, 'How can you do that?' I tell them, 'Through the power of God,'" Von Evig said smiling.
Former head coach of the DU team Ken Classen describes the inexperienced swimmer's success as "very unusual."
"Most people who place that high usually, when they were youn-ger, swam on an age group swim team, or swam at the college level," he said. "She didn't really come from a swimming background but it turns out she had explosive speed."
What Von Evig really wanted to do was strengthen herself to become a better organist, a hobby she took up about three years ago.
"When I would play the organ I noticed I would get tired," she said. "I wanted to get stronger in my arms and legs — and try to lose weight."
She began swimming laps at the DU pool and did get stronger. To her delight, she also lost 45 pounds. Although her technique was poor, Classen and other coaches noticed her surprising speed and encouraged her to compete.
But her success wasn't without trials. The pool was a long drive from her home in Bailey, she couldn't complete even half her initial workouts and she developed an allergy to chlorine.
"I almost quit three times," she said, later adding: "When I swam I would get so tired. When my whole body was in pain I would hear organ music and it would keep me going. I would hear this rhythm and it would keep me going."
Von Evig hopes to earn a scholarship so she can study music performance and write liturgical music, but she may not be eligible due to athletic scholarship time limits.
A vivid dream of heaven in which she heard glorious music inspired her to learn to play the organ.
"I abruptly woke up from that dream," she said. "I felt very strange in my hands and my feet. I felt like I could play."
She told a priest friend, who invited her to try to play the church organ. To her amazement, she did.
"I put my hands on the organ and just started playing. When I was done, people started clapping," she said. Laughing, she added, "It sounded like a hymn."
The priest, Father Michael Walsh, then pastor of St. Thomas More in Centennial, allowed her to practice on the parish organ.
"Three months later I played for Father Walsh at his healing Mass," she said. "I couldn't read music, but I would just play the hymns I heard."
Since then Von Evig has taken lessons. She is learning to read music and for the past two years has worked as an apprentice organ builder.
"As far as my limited knowledge of what organ music should be, she definitely has progressed over the last couple of years," said Father Walsh, who is now pastor of St. Vincent de Paul in Denver. "She has a great desire to do that and she has a great calling."
Von Evig is also a talented artist: Two paintings she did of Christ hang in parish offices at St. Vincent de Paul. She also does Native American beading. A beaded dress she made featuring symbols depicting her faith journey has won several local competitions.
Her life has changed for the better since becoming a Christian eight years ago, Von Evig said, adding that horrible abuse she experienced as a child had led to her becoming an atheist. Her conversion followed a miraculous healing of what she believes was cancer. Like her ability to play the organ, the healing, too, happened during a dream, she said.
In the dream Jesus flicked a black fly off her shoulder, Von Evig said. When she awoke, a dark crusty spot on her shoulder — which medical personnel urged her to have tested for malignant melanoma — was gone.
"There was no red spot, no nothing," she said, later adding, "This was April 7, 1994. That's when I was cured of cancer. That's when I became a Christian."
She became a Catholic five years later.
"When Jesus cured me of cancer, I didn't become a wonderful Christian overnight," Von Evig said. "I believed in Jesus overnight, but it's been a process to become a Christian. It's been in steps."
When Christ appeared to her in the dream and cured her of cancer, he changed her heart, she said.
"When Jesus peered into me with all that love and understanding, it was like a tremendous weight was lifted off of me," she said. "All this anger and hatred — all the hurt that was built up inside me was washed away."
She has become a secular Franciscan, serves as a eucharistic minister, has presented youth retreats and gives moving testimonials, Father Walsh said.
Being a Christian is like swimming in the ocean, Von Evig said. To avoid being lost at sea you have to keep your eye on the shore.
"You have to look back at your point of reference," the swimmer said. "To me, Jesus and the Church is that point of reference that keeps me on track."
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