GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Amery is a small northwestern Wisconsin town home to nearly 3,000 people, and among them, Olympian Ali Monson.
"Early on we could see she had a lot in her, but whoever thinks the Olympics? Especially this time around," said Ali's mom Beth Monson.
The 23-year-old excelled on the track at Amery High School before running collegiately at Wisconsin where she had an outstanding career.
Now, it's onto an international stage with the best of the best in Japan, where she's running the 10,000-meters for Team USA.
"It's an amazing feeling; she puts in so much effort in the training. I coached her for awhile. It's all about practice and it shows what her training has accomplished," said Ali's dad Jay Monson.
"It became very apparent to me early on that this was someone destined for great things. I just had a gut feeling she was capable of this and it's amazing to see her hard work has paid off," said Ali's former Amery High School cross country coach Paul Enslin.
"It's an incredible thing for her and she was the will to do it," said Ali's younger sister Lydia Monson.
The entire Amery community is supporting Ali Monson -- and you could say she's taken it all along on this Olympic run.
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