Leaving her mark

Twenty-seven years and .78 seconds separate Bureau Valley's Alisa Baron and Mount Carroll High School alum Barb Fogel in the Illinois High School Association's record book. But both always will have that one run. That one trip around the blue track at Eastern Illinois University. That one gold medal that no amount of time can erase from their memories. For Baron, it's still fresh. The recent graduate concluded a historic running career May 18 when she broke Fogel's record in the 400 while winning her first state championship. "I still find myself thinking 'Did that really happen?' or 'Did I really break the record?' " Baron said just over a month after the IHSA girls state track meet. "It really made me realize how good I could be. "It was a relief because my college coach had told me if they gave me a scholarship that I was going to have to prove that I'd work harder and get better. I think that is what I needed to do to get myself going for college." The Southern Illinois University-bound Baron capped her prep career by winning track medals eight, nine and 10. Those three medals were the statement Baron needed to make, that she wasn't just a distance runner but a complete athlete. It also solidified her as the 2007-08 Sauk Valley Newspapers female athlete of the year. Medal number eight was the result of a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Baron had never competed in any field event before this season, but quickly became one of the area's best females. She even broke the Three Rivers Conference record in April. Medal number nine came via a fourth-place finish in the 400 sprint relay. Baron ran a sparkling last leg and was only steps away from the first-place runner. "If you watch that leg of the 4-by-100, you would have never guessed that she had been a distance runner her entire career," Bureau Valley coach Dale Donner said. "From where I was sitting, it looked like she was gaining on the leader even to the end. A little farther and she would have caught her." "I really started to like sprinting," Baron said. "I love cross country, but I never really liked the distance running that much in track. Actually, I've never liked the 400, because it takes so much out of you. Sprints are nice because you go and they're done really fast." The 400 shot her right from very good to legendary. She left the field behind by nearly a second. "The thing about it is that [Rockford Christian's Mary] Ellis was running a good race and not far off the record much herself," Donner said. "Alisa just left her well behind. It was an amazing run. We thought she could get the record, we weren't sure she'd be able to break 56 seconds." Baron finished in 55.66 seconds, beating Fogel's record of 56.44 (CMT), a difference of .78 seconds. Fogel set the record in 1981 in only the second year of the 400, just after the IHSA switched from the English measuring system to the metric system. Fogel's record was the oldest track event record in both Class A and Class AA at the girls state meet. Only the field events of Class A high jump and shot had older records. Fogel, who lives in Orlando with her husband Damien Kia and two high-school aged children Keanu and Kaimana, was a sophomore in 1981. The next two years she was runner-up in the 400. She finished her career with eight state track medals and that one state championship. "The thing about high school sports and track in particular is that it's all about conditions and the field around you," Fogel said. "That year the field was really fast. They even had to go to a photo to determine who won that race. "The next two years it just wasn't as fast. There was me and another girl going pretty fast, but not the whole field to push us. It was never really about breaking the record for me anyway. I was just disappointed that I didn't win it again." Fogel visits Mt. Carroll every year. This year it was during the town's annual Mayfest that, coincidentally, occurred the weekend after Baron broke the record. "I hadn't really heard until we got to one of the tents at Mayfest and there were people in there and that's the first thing they brought up," Fogel said. "I think with each year people around there kept an eye on it. When it lasts that long the community is interested." Fogel kept a casual eye on it each year. After graduating, Fogel entered the Air Force Academy to play basketball and run track. After a year on the bench for the basketball team, she focused on track and qualified for nationals in the mile relay. "I got to thinking, now I am going to have to find some other feat to be remembered for," Fogel joked. "This was always sort of my thing." This was the last year that Fogel's record would have been up for grabs. With the IHSA expanding track to three classes, it is likely that the Class A and AA records will be retired as they were in other sports, like cross country, when they were expanded. Fogel and Baron share similar thoughts on the fate of the record. "It was always nice to know that everyone was kind of going for the record," Fogel said. "But for her, now her name is going to be in the book forever. That's a special thing, too." "I don't know, on one hand I'd like to have everyone trying to get it," Baron said. "It's almost a second better than the last one and that's a lot of time to cut. I know it seemed like a lot when I was running it. Although, it's kind of nice that my record will always be there." Whatever happens, Baron won't spend too much time looking back. She'll run cross country and track at SIU, where her versatility could come in handy. There has been some minor talk of turning her into a heptathlete. "Some of girls on the team saw I was doing the triple jump and sprinting and said right away that I should try the heptathlon in college," Baron said. "I don't know, though. I don't think that I could really throw the javelin or whatever very well." Baron, who works at Target in Peru, has had to resort to training late at night since receiving a packet from SIU on what they expect of her next season. "I am running more to get ready than I have ever had to before," she said. "I also have to start weight training, which I've never done. "The thing is that the only time I have to train is like at 10 at night," added Baron, who lives with her aunt and uncle in Princeton. "So I am running down the empty streets of Princeton in the dark. The only people out are like these crazy skaters, who want to try and race me. They also have trucks spraying bugs at night, which has a funny smell." It may not be a glamorous start to a college career. But if high school is any indicator, it's not about how Alisa Baron starts, it's about how she finishes.