Alexandra Melehan’s win in the girls race Saturday gave Woodstock a sweep
of the individual titles at the county meet. Woodstock also won the boys team title.
Alexandra Melehan won the girls race with a time of 19 minutes, 23 seconds — her best time of the season — and J.C. Cornett finished in 16:15 to repeat as the boys champion.
Melehan and Cornett had little trouble in taking control of their respective races, and they took the lead for good before the end of the first lap of the 3.1-mile race.
“It’s nice to see both of them win the individual titles,” Woodstock coach Kirk Scharich said. “They both ran hard and deserved it.”
Cornett, who won last year’s county title with a time of 16:37, battled flu-like symptoms during the week and was disappointed with his overall time.
“I’m glad I won, but I should have been a lot faster,” said Cornett, who ran 16:04 at Boling Park earlier in the year. “I felt really bad after the race — very dizzy. Still, winning is always nice.”
Not so disappointed in her performance was Melehan, who won her first county title as a sophomore.
“I feel really great right now,” a breathless Melehan said after her race. “I’m excited that I won my first county title. I just went out there and gave it my best, so I feel good overall.”
Scharich said his young runner “did a great job.”
“She’s worked hard and has gotten better and better as the year has gone on,” the coach added. “She’s only a sophomore, so we expect even more from her the rest of the year and next year. Hopefully, she can eventually get close to the 18-minute mark.”
In addition to Melehan, Morgan O’Toole, Rachel Steppe, Makensie Block and Keaton Wallace all finished inside the top 10 to give the Lady Wolverines 23 points and a comfortable finish over runner-up Etowah (47).
Though Cornett and teammates Owen Bailey finished 1-2 in the boys race, Etowah won the team title with 44 points, thanks to a strong team performance.
Leading the way for the Eagles were Ross Gudger (16:51, fifth), Blake Beavers (17:06, seventh), and Justin Brown (17:07, ninth).
Etowah assistant coach Joe Robinson was pleased with the boys team’s overall performance.
“We preformed close to what we expected,” he said. “We are a little banged up right now, but our boys did what they needed to do, and we got the win.”
Woodstock finished second with 66 points.
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