Orange Lutheran Runner Off to Fast Start : Track: Boisvert, trying to become first freshman to break 5-minute barrier in 1,600 since 1973, is being compared to Mary Slaney.

ORANGE — Watch the freshman girl’s stride gobble up the track in effortless fashion. Her legs and arms flow together in such perfect rhythm that it seems all the motion is moving forward--just as it should be.

See how bravely she bolts, up on her toes like a sprinter, to the front of the pack in every race? It’s her style of racing and no one is going to change it. For now there’s no good reason to tinker with success.

Orange Lutheran’s Barbara Boisvert, who turned 15 earlier this month, has made an impression like few freshman middle-distance runners in recent memory.

Four times Boisvert has run under 5 minutes 10 seconds for 1,600 meters and she’s dipped under the 4:40 barrier for 1,500 twice. She’s also bettered 2:17 for 800 meters twice. Moreover, she’s trying to become the first freshman to break the 5-minute barrier for 1,600 since 1973 when Mary Slaney ran 4:40.4 while at Orange.

It’s definitely head-turning stuff. Just listen to what others are saying.

“It’s amazing for a freshman,” said Edison’s Shelley Taylor, after holding off Boisvert in the 1,500 Saturday at the Orange County Championships. “She’s so mature. I guess she’s been running in age-group competition for a long time. When I was a freshman I was always a nervous wreck.”

Taylor, a senior who will run for Arkansas next season, trailed Boisvert for three laps before rallying for a 2.1-second victory in 4:33.6 Saturday.

“Barbara ran a great race, especially coming back from the 1,500,” said Ocean View’s Christie Engesser, a junior who finished second to Boisvert in the 800 Saturday. “She’s running awesome right now.”

Twice Engesser threw surges at Boisvert, trying to overtake her on the final lap of the 800, and twice Boisvert powered away to keep her lead intact. Boisvert finished in 2:14.4 to Engesser’s 2:15.0. Taylor was a well-beaten third in 2:20.8.

“This girl is really something,” said Dave Hurlburt, a veteran track announcer and former Loara track and cross-country coach.

Over the years, he’s seen them all run and he can remember only a handful of girls who can match Boisvert’s winning mix of talent, determination and fearlessness.

“She looks, I don’t know how you say it, she looks too perfect,” Orange Lutheran Coach Jonathan Zimmerman said. “Her stride is so effortless. She’s really blessed, that’s for sure.”

Dare we make comparisons to Slaney?

We can’t.

We mustn’t.

It’s simply not fair to Boisvert. After all, Slaney exploded from her Orange County beginnings to become a two-time Olympian, a world champion and a world record-holder. Three years after running that 4:40.4, Slaney, then known as Decker, would have been a contender in the 1,500 at the 1976 Montreal Games, but she was sidelined by leg injuries. She also made the U.S. team that boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games. It’s simply impossible company to keep.

OK, we’ll make one little comparison and leave it at that.

Like Slaney, Boisvert began running at an early age, joining the Mission Viejo-based Time Machine track club at 10. She was an 800-meter runner first and foremost, then moved up to the 1,500 when she was 12.

Boisvert, who is 5 feet 6 3/4 and weighs 110 pounds, is strictly a track-trained runner, preferring the track to cross-country. She has run only one road race in her life, a casual effort at a local 5-kilometer race, and seldom runs farther than nine miles in her workouts.

Before entering Orange Lutheran, a private school with about 500 students who compete in the Southern Section 1-A division, Boisvert had bests of 2:17 for 800 and 4:48 for 1,500.

So, while it’s not as if she’s made a dramatic improvement this season, she’s attracted the attention of many in high school track circles.

“Such a classy kid,” said Doug Speck, meet director of the Arcadia Invitational. “Such poise for a freshman.”

Two recent events illustrate that clearly.

Running against the state’s best April 11 at Arcadia, Boisvert shot into the lead at the start of the 1,600. “It meant a lot to me to be running against such great athletes,” Boisvert said of her debut in a top-notch invitational.

After three laps, most of those greats trailed Boisvert, but first Taylor, then Nikki Shaw of Fillmore swept past as Boisvert faded to fifth place. Her time was still an excellent 5:02.90, but “It was a big lesson,” she said. “You learn from experience. You learn from every race.”

A week later, Boisvert was in the thick of things during a competitive 800 at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Heading into the final 200, Boisvert was bumped, lost her stride and fell over the cement curb at the inside of the track.

Instead of blaming it on foul play, she found fault only with herself. There were no tears, only disappointment in her inability to stay upright and finish the race, a race she felt she could have won.

The next day, she shrugged off her fall in the 800 and rebounded to finish fourth in the 1,500 in 4:38.84. The lesson? Stuff happens. You have to watch yourself when the traffic is heavy.

So where does she go from here? Faster, most likely.

“My goal is 2:09 (for 800) by the end of the season, and the low 4:50s (for 1,600)),” she said.

Zimmerman won’t be surprised if it comes to pass.

“In fact, there’s really no limit,” he said. “Another month, with a little more speedwork, boy, I’d think 4:55, 4:52 would be a wonderful target.”

And to think, this is only the beginning of Boisvert’s high school career.