Kyndall Ince has had her hands – well legs – in a wide variety of sporting events over her athletic career at Woodrow Wilson.
Ince has been an outstanding cross-country runner, as well as a sprinter, a crucial leg on the relay teams, a hurdler and a long jumper.
Now she will be known as a member of the Marshall University Women’s Track and Field team.
Tuesday afternoon inside the Woodrow Wilson auditorium, Ince signed a national Letter of Intent to run track for the Thundering Herd.
“This is exciting and nerve-racking. It is all of that right now. I am blessed to be going to Marshall and running for them,” Ince said. “It is nerve-racking in the fact that I have to start getting there and training. All of that, and this (high school season) hasn’t even finished. It is super exciting and I feel super blessed.”
A trip to Huntington got the ball running for the Beckley standout.
“I went on a visit just for academics, but I had been in contact with the (track) coach for a little bit,” Ince explained. “He said come here for a visit, watch a practice and we will talk about it. Here we are.”
When the offer came, Ince admitted having some reservations at first.
“I was very surprised,” Ince recalled. “I even had a conversation with my mom the day that me and my dad went up there. On the way back she told me that I needed to take this opportunity right now.”
“I told her I just felt like I wasn’t good enough for it,” Ince went on to say. “She assured me that (Marshall) wouldn’t have asked me if I wasn’t good enough. I just had to put a little bit of confidence in myself because I thought it was a lot for me. She told me I could do it.”
Ince made the state cross country meet all four years and helped the Woodrow Wilson girls track team garner a third place finish at the state meet a year ago.
George Barbera is the cross-country head coach and the girls track coach. Barbera talked about Ince’s versatility over her career on the trails and on the track.
“She is probably the first sprinter that we have had that was successful running cross country,” Barbera said. “That is where she started. She does the 100 (meter dash) and the 200 (meter dash). We put her in the 4×400 (relay) this year. I think if we had a pole vault pit, she would be our top pole vaulter.”
“She is the leadoff in the top-ranked 4×100 and 4×200 teams,” Barbera continued. “She has been first team all-state in the long jump. Now she is part of the shuttle-hurdle team that is ranked third in the state. She has only been doing that for about three weeks.”
With Ince running in the lead-off position, Woodrow has the fourth fastest time statewide in the 4×100 and the best overall time in the 4×200.
“She is a very talented and hard working athlete. We are tickled to death she wants to continue to run track and field. Having the opportunity to run at Marshall is just amazing,” Barbera said. “They have a great program there and a new coach. Marshall has fantastic facilities and they travel all throughout the southeast. She is stepping into a great experience and I am happy for her.”
Ince stated she would like to stay with the sprints in college, but she is not ruling out any event at the next level.
“Hopefully sprints and maybe I will get back into long jump. Me personally, I started focusing towards relays and my open (100 meter dash). I left the long jump scene, so we (as a team) could score points in more areas,” Ince said. “I would love to be on a relay eventually (at Marshall), but I know I am starting from the bottom again. It takes a lot of work to get back up there.”
For now, Ince’s focus is on the Class AAA regional meet Friday in Charleston and hopefully a successful run at the state meet in two weeks.
“This one is definitely exciting. Last year it was very exciting that we finished third,” Ince said. “That opened our eyes. We have a big group of freshman coming in that are going to help even more. It looks like we can get higher than third.”
