It was a difficult decision to quit soccer her freshman year. It was a sport the 16-year-old had played most of her life, but putting it on hold gave her the opportunity to concentrate on cross country. Her soccer coach, Chris Cozort, recommended she switch sports because he recognized her talent for running. But Grelli first had to convince herself she was as good as her coach thought she was.

So the summer following her freshman year Grelli "trained hard" because many of her cross country teammates had been running for a long time.

"I had to try to compete," she says.

And compete she did. In her first year on the team she won the Central Coast Section championship with the fastest time in all divisions, and she placed third at the California meet in a field of more than 200 runners.

But after a successful sophomore year she wanted to improve even more and attended a running camp with her coach. At this Midwestern camp—called Paavo—she trained for two weeks with runners from throughout the United States. She ran three times per day—a total of 60 miles the first week and 70 miles the second week.

"It was pretty intense because we were taking a bus, camping and bathing in rivers," says Grelli.

All the training at camp took its toll on Grelli. Because of a leg injury that occurred after training too hard at camp, she got off to a slow start this fall. But even though she couldn't run, she continued to train by working out in the pool and weight room.

That perseverance paid off when she returned to competition and captured second place at the Central Coast Section meet and qualified for the statewide competition.

Representing the Panthers at the statewide competition, she finished first, ahead of more than 200 of the best high school cross country runners in the state in Division III. She ran 3.1 miles in 17 minutes, 59 seconds, becoming Presentation High School's first state champion.

Because the second-place runner came in only 10 seconds after her, Grelli was nervous throughout the race, she says. She had competed against many of the other runners and knew their style was to sprint at the end. This particular section of the race was an area of her training she worked hard to improve.

But her dedication didn't stop when the season ended in fall or when she earned the title of state champion. During the winter she is continuing to train, running about 50 miles per week on San Jose trails, lifting weights and working on her speed.

Grelli's goals are to maintain her state champion status in the season next fall and improve her times in the mile, 2-mile and 3.1-mile races.

Grelli doesn't know where she will attend college but plans to run for the rest of her life, either for fun or competitively. Her ultimate goals are to run in several marathons and compete in the Olympics.

Her teammates and schoolmates have been very supportive, she says. The San Jose City Council and San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales honored her accomplishments with a certificate, which was "an honor," Grelli says.

"Melissa has shown a steady improvement over the past two years," Cozort says. "She's extremely motivated and hardworking. She has an affinity for endurance sports."