Lily Melnitchouk ’28 receives the MVP award after finishing first at the fall 2025 TCIS girls varsity cross country championship
Before she joined Hampton Roads Academy’s varsity girls cross country team last fall, Lily Melnitchouk ’28 had never run competitively. Now, just over a year later, the sophomore has stunned her coaches, her peers, and the entire Navigator community with an undefeated season that culminated with a phenomenal showing at the regional level.
On Saturday, November 29, Melnitchouk achieved the second-fastest time (18:50.22) out of 137 athletes from across the southern states in the high school girls 5K race at the Brooks South XC Championships at McAlpine Park in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This strong performance was a thrilling climax for an astoundingly successful fall. Melnitchouk, Navigator Athletics’ first Polaris Award winner of the 2025-2026 school year, did not lose a single 5000m race during the regular season. Along the way, she set a new HRA 5K school record, with a time of 18:31.3, at Norfolk Academy on October 22. She then went on to finish first at the TCIS girls cross country championship, receive the MVP award, and notch yet another win at the VISAA Division II state championship meet on November 6, earning All-State honors.
“Lily had an outstanding season, consistently pushing herself in both practice and meets,” said varsity cross country assistant coach and Middle School math teacher Chyna Roberts. “We are incredibly proud of her accomplishments!”
A Labor of Love and a Recipe for Success
No other runner at HRA has ever achieved what Melnitchouk has in the past few months. What was it that set her apart—the formula for an undefeated, record-breaking season and both tournament and state championship wins?
Her sheer talent as an athlete cannot be discounted, but for varsity cross country head coach Austin Ball, the real secret was “her exceptional work ethic, consistent training, and mental toughness. Her ability to stay focused under pressure and execute race strategies flawlessly played a key role.”
Melnitchouk attributes her success to her dedication to year-round training
Melnitchouk echoed her coach, explaining that her victories would not have been possible without hard work and discipline, not only during the cross country season, but year-round. “Ever since starting last year,” she said, “I have never taken more than a week off of running.”
For the champion runner, though, the joy of the sport is inseparable from the work. “I really like how I can focus on improving my times and getting faster. It brings me a lot of personal satisfaction,” she said.
Perhaps the greatest proof of what Melnitchouk could achieve through her remarkable commitment came during a meet at Lakewood Park in late September. Having lost track of time, she was still putting on her cross country spikes when the starting gun went off for her race. In an adrenaline-fueled frenzy, she quickly pulled on her regular shoes, sprinted to the starting line about ten seconds behind the other runners, and, in a performance one team parent described as being “like watching Secretariat,” pulled ahead of the pack by the first mile marker. She held first place straight through to the finish line.
“I told myself that, since I’d made such a big mistake, I had to win to make up for it,” Melnitchouk said. “To say the least, I learned my lesson to be more prepared.”
According to Coach Ball, “Lily’s success exemplifies the core mantra of the cross country program at HRA: that individual development contributes to the overall success of the team. … Her accomplishments represent the potential of what this program can achieve moving forward with dedication to the off-season training plan.”
Promising Foundations
Melnitchouk and fellow varsity cross country runner Jackson Muse ’29 celebrate first-place finishes at the Isle of Wight Invitational on October 7
By all indications, Navigator Cross Country has a bright future ahead.
Melnitchouk’s unbroken string of wins and success at the regional level are emblematic of a particularly strong fall for HRA’s runners as a whole. Finishing fifteenth at the VISAA Division II championship, boys varsity runner Jackson Muse ’29 earned All-State honors alongside the girls varsity star. The middle school girls cross country team, meanwhile, won the 2025 PIAL championship. Like Melnitchouk, sixth grader Eleanor Brayman ’32, HRA’s top middle school female runner, went undefeated all season.
With such a solid foundation at the middle school level and four talented eighth-grade girls elevated to varsity late in the fall, Melnitchouk is poised to compete alongside a host of excellent runners in her junior and senior years. Coach Ball expressed his confidence that “Lily’s high level of talent will inspire and attract more female athletes to the program in the future.”
Director of Athletics Laura Stoner was equally enthusiastic about Melntitchouk’s impact on Navigator Cross Country and HRA Athletics as a whole. “Lily’s season was nothing short of remarkable,” she said. “She inspires every Navigator runner and lifts our entire program with her example. As just a sophomore, the future is thrilling not only for her, but also for the girls who will join her next season on varsity cross country. We can’t wait to see what the next chapter holds.”
While she is undeniably proud of her success, Melnitchouk will not simply rest on her laurels. As she explained, her focus is already on running for HRA’s new indoor track team this winter, competing in outdoor track and field in the spring, and continuing to raise the bar in future cross country seasons.
