Ali Ince and Joey Yaros advance to Saturday’s IHSA 3A State Cross Country meet at Peoria’s Detweiller Park after historic Sectional performances on Oct. 28.

Joey Yaros advances to his first State meet after a recorded setting performance at IHSA 3A Granite City Sectional.

Yaros posted a time of 14:55.31, breaking Community’s 42-year-old record of 14:58, set by Keith Bruch in 1981, a detail the junior was “surprised” to learn.

“I wasn’t expecting to break it or anything,” Yaros said. “But it feels really good.”

Yaros’s blistering pace earned him 18th place in the Sectional, qualifying him to advance to state as an individual.

The Ironmen finished 10th as a team. With just the top six teams and the top 10 individual runners earning the trip to Peoria’s State contest, the season concluded for Yaros’ teammates last weekend.

Jack Thomas finished the last meet of his high school career with a 52nd place finish (15:20.35), junior Drew Patterson took 66th (15:35.87), with sophomores A.J. Ince in 81st (15:45.10) and Colin Heath in 83rd (15:46.52).

Yaros is excited for Saturday’s race, to run against “the best competition in the state,” he said.

Yaros earned his place at this year’s State competition as the 5th individual finisher.

After narrowly missing State in years past, Yaros credits this year’s achievement with a late-season resurgence after a slow start to the season.

“I didn’t start off strong,” Yaros said, “but I made a real improvement” these final few weeks.

Yaros is looking to state hoping for another personal record and to finish ahead of his seed, better than 35th in Class 3A.

Yaros races in the 3A State Meet Nov. 4 at 2:00 p.m.

Ali Ince will make her third consecutive appearance at the State meet after finishing 5th (17:25.38) in the Granite City Sectional.

Ince, who finished first in the Normal Sectional as a freshman, would have the rare feat of four straight State appearances, but the State meet was not held in 2020.

The senior is the lone Ironman to qualify for the State meet, as the girls finished 11th as a team.

Not among the top six finishing teams, the 2023 season came to an end for junior Lily Cavanaugh (52nd, 18:46.15), sophomore Beatrix Alvarez (82nd, 19:37.19), freshman Lauren Thomas (92nd place, 20:00.45) and sophomore Audra Wolf (120th, 20:47.85).

Ince punched her ticket as the first individual to finish on a non-qualifying team, finishing less than second behind Plainfield North’s Marlie Czarniewski and outpacing the Sectional Champ Yorkville’s first finisher.

Ince’s strategy, she said, was “to go out fast…. Just to go out hard, and just pray and hold on.”

Ince clocked a 5:40 split for her first mile.

While Ince is the sole runner from her team to race at Detweiller this season, it is an accomplishment she credits her teammates with helping her achieve.

“It really does make the racing easier when you have a team behind you,” Ince said. “Before the race in the box, you’re there with your teammates.”

Her last Sectional, the senior said, was an emotional experience.

While heading into the starting box, Ince said, she started to “get a little teary-eyed.”

“It’s crazy to think it’s already been four years,” Ince said. “This actually might be the last cross-country race I’ll ever run in my life.”

For Ince, a University of Oregon Track and Field commit, that Sectional race was bittersweet, as Sectionals were her “last team experience for a cross country race.”

Come Saturday, Ince won’t be racing with her teammates but against some of the best runners in the State.

Ince’s goal–to place top 25 to finish out her cross-country season.

“That’s been a goal of mine since freshman year,” Ince said. “Never happened. So I feel like that’d be kind of a perfect end to senior year.”

Ince races in the 3A State Meet Nov. 4 at 1:00 p.m.