Girls cross country 2026: Avon senior Ava Melott is top returnee for team that finished third at state meet

Ava Melott has been a consistent, high-level runner in her first three years with the Avon cross country team. She's been a top-three runner throughout her career and at the state tournament. She helped the Eagles to a team-record-tying third-place finish at the Division I state meet last year and is the team's top returnee. She can dance, too. "I did dance for 12 years at MKDS in Avon Lake," Melott said of Miss Kristin's Dance Studio. "I did tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical and hip-hop. I had a lot of fun. "My dance background definitely has helped my running, like to be able to hit the stretches right and know how things feel. It's helped to give me a longer stride and helped with my form. Dance definitely taught me discipline at a young age and how to balance everything." The cross-training ended a couple of years ago. "My sophomore year I had to decide between cross country and dance because I started to get super busy," Melott said. "I realized that I really wanted to succeed at cross country and track." She's done that. Melott was 64th at state as a freshman in 19:28.5, 95th as a sophomore in 19:34.84 and 53rd overall as a junior in 19:29.19. The Eagles finished sixth in 2023 and 12th in 2024 before the jump to third last year. She is the No. 1 returnee this season after the Eagles graduated four of their top seven, including four-time All-Ohioan Kaitlyn Reese. Sophomore Madison Colaizzi and junior Molly Suter are the other veterans back from the top seven from state. Juniors Lauren Kershaw and Lily Suter (Molly's sister) have also seen action in varsity meets. "Obviously Kaitlyn scored us a lot of points in the front but I feel like everybody can pack it up together. If we make a bigger pack, then we can make all those points up and score higher," Melott said.Avon also made local history last fall. It tied the Lorain County record for the most consecutive state meet appearances in girls cross country with four. Amherst twice accomplished the feat, from 1978-81 and 1990-93. "I'm so excited. The team is so awesome," said Melott. "The community keeps building each year. We keep bringing in friends and new members. My sister Stella, a freshman, is on the team this year. I'm excited to run with her." Melott is fully committed to helping the Avon girls continue to build their legacy. Avon won its fifth straight Southwestern Conference title (eighth overall) in 2025, and their first regional title since 1988. "Ava has done all of the things asked of her and beyond and has been a consistent positive influence on the team with her work ethic and dedication," Avon coach Justin Carroll said. "I am just grateful to have coached her and all of these girls over the years." "We definitely have focused more on team bonding," said Melott. She started running cross country and track in the seventh grade. Former teammates Julianna Stein, Jessica Pendleton and Olivia Pajak, eighth-graders at the time, encouraged her to give cross country a try. "My friends were doing it and I fell in love with the sport and the community," Melott said. "I just wanted to stick with it." Melott is a three-time All-Southwestern Conference and All-Lorain County first-teamer. She finished third at the SWC meet as a freshman, sophomore and junior. Suter was ninth at last year's SWC meet. Colaizzi was the No. 1 finisher for the SWC open race, which earned her a promotion to varsity for the postseason. Melott is coming off a highly successful track season, as Avon won the Division I state championship. She was a member of the 4x800 relay that finished third and set a school record (9:11.24). "The season is long so the focus is just to take things one week at a time and working on our recovery so that we can take everyone to the postseason," said Melott. "We want to focus on each other, packing it up and to trust our training. Self-belief is key. If you don't believe, it's not going to show. "Cross country is just strictly the distance people running the same event you are. I just love the community so much because I can be on the vine and I can talk to whoever I want. I have so many friends when I go to meets. It's not something you can see as much with the other sports." "I'm just excited for her to be one of our seniors to help lead the way," said Carroll. "She's been one of our varsity cross country and track runners for the last three years. I'm excited for her to kind of step up and to take others under her wing." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.