When asked to name her favorite track event, Heather Garcia, the All-Area Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year, hemmed and hawed.

“It’s hard to pick,” Garcia said.

Although she eventually declared the 3,200-meter run – or two-mile – as her favorite, the vacillation is understandable, considering the Baldwin High junior’s success in myriad distance races.

Garcia finished sixth in the 400, second in the 800 and repeated as the champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 at the 2007 Class 4A state meet in Wichita last month. During that meet she set personal bests in the 800 (2:17) and 3,200 (10:49).

“She’s just really competitive and tough,” said Mike Spielman, the Baldwin boys head coach, who also guides the girls distance runners. “She doesn’t like to get beaten in anything at all. She’s not afraid to work.”

Despite having no immediate family members with a track background, Garcia began distance running in the seventh grade.

“I never really thought I’d run,” she said. “Nobody runs. It’s just me.”

Spielman, whose wife, Angie, coaches the Baldwin Junior High track athletes, noticed her competitive streak during her initial year in track.

“She was good clear back in junior high,” he said. “You knew she had it.”

Garcia displayed “it” while placing first in the two events at the state meet and running under five minutes in the 1,600 for the first time during a meet at Wellsville.

“I trained really hard to do that,” Garcia said.

Equally difficult is her ability to master so many grueling races at one time. It represents a challenge to both body and mind. Garcia maintained a singular focus, using the meets prior to state as training runs.

“It’s just what I like to do. So I push myself hard,” she said. “Regionals doesn’t matter. The end result is state. You have to keep working up to that.”

Garcia has reached state during each year of high school. But her abilities extend beyond distance running. The versatile star lettered in cross country, basketball and track this season.

“She’s got a lot of raw talent,” Spielman said. “She’s got endurance, but she’s also got speed. She’s a good basketball player. She can jump and do things really athletic.”

Garcia wants to take those skills to the next level by participating in track and cross country in college, but has not decided on a school. Several college coaches, though, attended meets during the year, and Spielman said she has Division-I talent.

How good can she become?

“No limit,” he said. “Whatever she decides.”