Ali Ince (Fr., Normal Community)
-We saw the coming of age of a pre-hyped child prodigy in a limited indoor season. Ince, who splits time (for now) with basketball, produced one of the best doubles in state history. Ince traveled to adidas indoor nationals and snatched away two gold medals. What was so impressive is that Ince did not have enough to get the freshmen jitters. In a span of 45 minutes she took down the best freshman in the mile (4:50.54- #1 frosh in the country) and later in rather "tasty kick style" the 800m (2:09.42- state leader and #1 freshman in the country).
As we now know, Ince can handle any level of pressure and if she can continue to grow in the sport, she will be among the Mt. Rushmore of distance girls.