O'Fallon senior Alex Riba started out his sports career playing soccer. As a seventh grader he decided that track sounded fun and he would give it a try. After competing in a couple of sprints he says he asked his coach to run the mile.
"I did the 400, 1600, 800, and 4x400 in middle school. I ran a 5:40 in the 1600 though and from there on out I was a miler."
Riba takes distance running serious, but the O'Fallon star also has a softer side. Before hitting the start line Riba enjoys a pre-race routine that consists of eating waffles, hanging out with teammates, and playing either Mario Kart or Pokémon. He says Pokémon is a popular game among the Illinois distance faithful.
"I know Tyler Yunk and Leland Later are big Pokémon fans too. It's just fun. There might be a sense of nostalgia going on there, but it never gets old. I remember my whole motivation to read was because of Pokémon."
He is also motivated to win a state title and catch em' all. Last year he ran 14:27.00 for three miles and finished as runner-up behind Later. This year he is the top seed coming back in a loaded 3A that saw nearly two dozen runners break the 15 minute barrier. Luckily of the top 19, two other athletes return in 2012. He says one key to his success was high quality low quantity workouts.
"My mileage is around 60 miles per week. I'm not a huge fan of 1,000 mile summers or anything too crazy. Last year was my lowest summer yet, even less than my freshman year. I think it helped a lot because last year I didn't have time to do a lot of mileage so what I did had to be quality."
One thing people might not know about Riba is that as much as he loves running his number one priority in life is his faith. This summer he is heading out west to Colorado to attend the Jim Ryun Camp and says he hopes to pick up some pointers about training and balancing faith and 
sport.
"My faith and relationship with God takes priority in my life and in some cases it has superseded my training. I've never gone to this camp before and I'm looking forward to learning about how to be a better Christian athlete. I've never talked to Jim Ryun before, but I do plan to learn as much as possible from him as I can."
When the summer wears down and the season heats up Riba will be ready to go. He says he is looking forward to the tough competition at the Forest Park Invite and Notre Dame Invite that will bring in teams such as Belvidere North, York, and other top teams from around Illinois. He has high hopes for both his team and himself this season.
"At state I'd like to go sub 14:10 weather permitting and win. Although everybody is going to be gunning for the win. Also, we'll be working hard towards our first state championship. We finished six points shy last year. We're also trying to qualify as a team for Nike Nationals and I am trying to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals as an individual."
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