St. Cloud athlete Alise Post is 2-sport star

ST. CLOUD - Alise Post looked down a BMX starting ramp for the first time when she was 6 years old, and she chickened out.

"I got to the top of the ramp, and I couldn't do it," Post said. "It seemed so high and I got scared."

That was her one "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Her older brothers, who had encouraged her to start BMX bike racing, were not about to let her back out a second time. Post went through with it and, as they say, a star was born -- an unusual two-sport star.

Despite not being a year-round gymnast, Post, a junior at St. Cloud Tech, has won two state Class 2A vault championships in a row and placed third and fourth, respectively, in the last two all-around competitions.

Her gymnastics season began Thursday, where she won two events, the vault and the floor exercise, in a dual meet victory over Fergus Falls.

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Post is going to have make a choice about which sport to pursue.

Sponsors such as Will Rells, who owns Formula Bicycles and provides her with racing bikes, would like her to devote her time exclusively to BMX racing.

"She's the complete package," Rells said. "If she works hard enough, she could parlay that into something huge. She's got that 'it' factor, whatever 'it' is."

Said Colleen Stark-Hawes, Post's high school gymnastics coach: "Anything she does, she does well. She has the right combination of passion and talent and work ethic. Whatever she touches seems to turn to gold."

Golden girl

Eyes seem to gravitate toward Post, a 5-2 bundle of explosive power, when it's her turn to take the mat at high school gymnastics meets.

She has natural ability, a large measure of charisma and a quick, infectious smile. Fans and other gymnasts pause to watch when Post takes her turn in the rotation. She soars where others merely jump.

"Gymnastics is freeing," she said. "I'm not thinking about anything else in my life."

Post's magnetism is just as evident in BMX bike racing, bicycling's version of motocross. With her gymnastics training giving her an initial burst that often gives her an insurmountable lead, Post has a basement full of championship trophies.

She's a racing veteran at the age of 16. With 10 years of competitive experience, she is the most accomplished female BMX racer in the United States, having turned professional at 15. Ten days ago, she clinched her second consecutive Women's Pro Title at the ABA Grand Nationals -- the Super Bowl of BMX racing -- in Tulsa.

BMX has taken Post around the world. She is loaded with NASCAR-style sponsorships and is being groomed for stardom in the sport. She won't be eligible for the sport's 2008 Olympic debut -- the age minimum is 19 -- but most expect Alise "The Beast" to be an Olympic star in 2012.

"Racing is in my blood," Post said. "Racing has taken me a long way. I think it can take me even farther."

Just one of the girls

In the gymnastics room at St. Cloud Tech High School, Post is far from a celebrity. She dons her leotard and goes through her routines and stations like everyone else, joking and laughing easily with teammates as she awaits her turn on an apparatus.

"Sometimes, I'm amazed that she's as real as she is with everything she's done," Stark-Hawes said. "You see her on the team, and you realize she's still such a young girl. She still likes hanging out with her friends and giggling about cute boys. She is very real and very down to earth."

Post knows that her future lies in BMX racing. But that doesn't make the impending choice -- when, if ever, to give up gymnastics -- any easier.

"Giving up gymnastics will be so hard," said Post, whose post-high school plans include relocating to San Diego, where Formula is based.

"Going to gymnastics meets and being with your team and your friends is such a great thing."

While it's likely that she'll be a one-sport athlete soon, Post admitted that she does hold out some hope for the perfect solution to her dilemma.

"Maybe when I go to college in San Diego, the gymnastics team would let me do just one or two events or something," she said. "I could maybe do that."

A long shot, for sure. But for Alise Post, things always seem to come out right.