Pontiac

Notre Dame Prep athlete wins prestigious award

By Mark Vest
C & G Sports Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo courtesy of Sara Barron Notre Dame Prep’s Sara Barron was recently named the Michigan winner of the Wendy’s High School Heisman. Photo courtesy of Sara Barron Notre Dame Prep’s Sara Barron was recently named the Michigan winner of the Wendy’s High School Heisman.

Perhaps more so than any other, the sport of running will let you know what an athlete is made of.

The workouts can be grueling. The training hours can be long.

The weather conditions can be extreme. And the limelight does not seem to shine as bright as it does for athletes who play other sports.

Given all the sacrifice that is required to be among the best, it is easy to be impressed with the accomplishments of Notre Dame Prep cross country runner Sara Barron.

Barron recently received the news that she is the state of Michigan winner of the Wendy’s High School Heisman. The award honors some of the top high school senior athletes in the country, and winners are determined based on athletic performance, academics and extra-curricular activities.

Given that there were thousands of other applications submitted, Barron did not have any grandiose expectations that she would be the female representative from the state.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it,” Barron said. “This year, I’ve been crammed with college applications and all the scholarships I’m applying for. The Wendy’s one was kind of just an award. I thought, ‘That sounds cool. I’ll just fill out an application for it (and) see what happens.’ I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it, but was pleasantly surprised.”

Barron has been under the tutelage of girls cross country coach Adam Frezza for her entire high school career, and any success that comes her way is not likely to take him by surprise.

“She’s been one of the hardest workers I’ve had over the past four years,” Frezza said. “We’ve put her through a lot. She’s done everything I’ve asked her to do. From a girl’s perspective, sometimes you’re going to see (that) they run better the first year and second year, but actually get worse their last two years. But it’s a tribute to her that she’s worked as hard as she has and has improved each year.”

When young athletes first take up an interest in sports, running is not typically the first one that comes to mind. It’s probably much easier to find kids playing on a soccer field, baseball diamond or a basketball court than it is to see them running sprints on a track somewhere.

But for Barron, her choice became clear while in the sixth grade. She recalls the time when she realized that running might just be the sport for her.

“In my first meet, I was running with all the boys,” she said. “All the girls were way behind me, so that’s how I realized if I’m as fast as the boys, maybe I’m pretty good.”

It was a couple of years later when Frezza realized she might be pretty good, too. At that time, Frezza was coaching Barron’s older sister (Liz Barron) when he noticed that the older sibling had a work out companion.

Apparently, Frezza saw enough to give him a pretty good idea that once her junior high school days were through, he was going to have an opportunity to coach his second talented athlete from the Barron family.

“I had seen her in eighth grade,” he said. “You kind of understood that for the kind of work ethic she had as it was, what you would be getting once she moved up to the high school level.”

Barron has done her part to prove that Frezza’s confidence in her was well-founded. In fact, she has gone a long way toward making her final season with Notre Dame Prep her most memorable one.

Aside from winning the Wendy’s High School Heisman award in this, her senior season, Barron was also the winner of the Division 2 regional competition and finished eighth at the Nov.5 state finals.

But as is the trademark with many high-caliber athletes, Barron isn’t content to rest on the laurels of what she has accomplished up to this point.

Track season still awaits in the spring, and that means the book on Barron’s high school athletic career has yet to be completed. She has every intention of making the most of the time she has left, and has her sights set on some lofty aspirations.

“I have some goals for the year in track, some time goals I want to break,” she said. “I broke (the) five mile last year (school record), but I want to keep bringing that (time) down, like maybe break 4:50. In the 800 (meter) the state record is 2:11, I think. I want to break the D-2 record for that, and I plan on working hard.”

Barron is more than willing to share in her accomplishments. She realizes her success would not have been possible without plenty of support along the way.

“I have great role models,” Barron said. “My big sister was always a runner, and she got me into running. My parents always encourage me. My coach is great. He really works with the team and puts a premium on the program. The cross country team has been close since I’ve been on it. Even though running is an individual sport, it’s also good to feel like you have a team and a support system.”

Barron may have needed that support system to lean on in her freshman season. Although she did get off to a good start, she wasn’t quite where she wanted to be as a runner.

With her own high expectations helping to fuel her, Barron relied heavily on her work ethic to help alleviate any self-doubt. She understood that a sacrifice was going to be required in order for her to take the next step in her evolution as a runner.

“You see some of the freshman girls coming in high school, and they’re like 90 pounds and can run five minute miles, and that’s not me,” Barron said. “But I still had a passion for it and I wanted to get up to the next level, so I worked really hard. Sophomore year was a good year for me. That’s when I kind of realized I can go somewhere with this.”

Sometimes, some of the best life lessons can come from sports. Barron believes that the discoveries she has made as a result of running are ones that she can carry with her on and off the track.

“What I’ve learned is you can’t just expect things to be handed to you,” she said. “You have to go in with a goal and work toward your goal, and if you’re focused enough and driven enough, you can accomplish what you want to accomplish.”

Running has opened a lot of doors for Barron. There are some good colleges she is going to be able to pick from as a result.

While she has yet to decide where she will continue her running career and receive a higher education, she is excited about the opportunities before her.

While the future could be very bright, Barron is also coming to grips with the fact that the successful running career she has enjoyed in high school is going to be coming to a close.

“It didn’t really dawn on me that it was my last season of running until the state meet,” she said. “After I was done running, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that was just my last high school cross country meet.’ It was very emotional. Me and my friend, Christina (Basali), were both crying. But I have one more track season, and I’m going to make the most of it and transition to a new chapter of my life.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mark Vest at mvest@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1112.