Interesting read, although it doesn't really offers many details about where she is:
http://nwitimes.com/articles/2006/10/24/sports/top_sports/578f67296423583486257211000ede81.txt
Out of the spotlight
The story of former distance running phenom Michelle de la Vina remains clouded in mystery
BY PAUL TREMBACKI
219.933.3373
The state cross country meet's awards stand is an elevated surface that puts winners above the crowd, looking down.
Michelle de la Vina was on the stand not long ago, perched above everyone in her Wheeler uniform receiving a first-place medal.
Now, however, she is but a memory.
The distance runner was once a phenom, her number of accomplishments eclipsed only by her mileage.
"When you'd go to meets, everybody knew who Michelle was," former Wheeler coach Don O'Conner said. "When you have someone like that, the attraction to see it in person is greatly highlighted."
She ran in national events, dominated high school events for four state championships and won Times Female Athlete of the Year honors in the spring of 1999.
A natural talent with an unquestioned work ethic, she seemed destined for a future Olympic team.
However, she withdrew from prep competition for her senior year and earned a scholarship at Arkansas on the strength of AAU accolades, but eventually she more or less disappeared.
Her current status is a mystery. De la Vina's mother, Dr. Maria Sacris, refused to be interviewed for this story.
When de la Vina was in her prime, access occasionally was restricted.
After returning from Arkansas she was working at the office of her mother. She does not work there anymore.
Two months ago Sacris rebuffed a request for information and said, "she's not affiliated with us anymore."
What is she doing now? Did she get burnt out? Does she have advice to offer based on the life lessons she's learned? No one knows, but it appears she doesn't run competitively anymore or associate with the local running community.
"After she got out of high school, she went down to Arkansas, and that's the last I've heard of her," said Jay White, former Portage girls cross country coach and current assistant. "I haven't seen her at a road race or anything."
O'Conner said he saw de la Vina three years ago when a family member was a patient of Sacris.
At the time de la Vina was married to Frankie Sanchez, a former running star at Georgetown, and taking college courses locally.
"I can remember saying to her, 'Are you happy?'" O'Conner said. "She said, 'Yeah,' and I said, 'That's great.'"
A star runner in middle school, de la Vina started her high school career as a big name on a bumpy road, as she enrolled at Valparaiso and won a race for the Vikings before transferring to Andrean, where she never competed, for the remainder of her freshman year.
In the spring of 1999, as a sophomore at Wheeler, she won state in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. She won state in cross country the following fall. In the spring of her junior year she defended her title in the 3,200 and took second in the 1,600.
When she sat out her senior season at Wheeler, it was unfathomable to many.
Kankakee Valley cross country coach Walt Prochno knew talent. K.V.'s Celeste Susnis won three state cross country titles from 1987 to 1989 before a successful career at Tennessee.
"Life's strange," Prochno said. "The last I heard, she was going to be the next Celeste Susnis."
Lake Central's Tiffany Redlarczyk was the state runner-up in cross country for each of the three years following de la Vina's championship. Though she never talked much with either elder predecessor, Redlarczyk followed state stars such as de la Vina and Amy Yoder to Arkansas, where she's a junior now.
Arkansas coach Lance Harter did not elaborate on her departure, saying that she simply left and returned home.
Redlarczyk never teamed with de la Vina because de la Vina told Harter she was returning home before Redlarczyk enrolled.
"She sat down and said she didn't want to run anymore," Redlarczyk said. "She didn't have a love for it anymore."