Led by winner Mitch McLeod of Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill junior Sam Miner, Orange County runners led the way in the Boys Invitational 5K in the Wendy's Invitational at Charlotte's McAlpine Greenway Park.

Wendy's comprises North Carolina's oldest and largest cross-country invitational meets for high school runners. Last Saturday's event featured 96 schools and almost 3,300 runners from the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee.

McLeod (15:33) pulled away from Miner (15:42) over the last mile at McAlpine to lead Chapel Hill to its second consecutive title in the Boys Invitational 5K. Chapel Hill's Chris Reeder had a personal best of 15:51 to finish seventh.

Matt Fordham of East Chapel Hill (16:03) finished 14th and Ryan Brady (16:21) 25th to help the Wildcats earn seventh place as a team. Orange junior Dylan Perry (16:30) took 31st as the Panthers came in 18th in the boys' standings.

Chapel Hill's Oskar Marzalek (16:18) ran his personal best at McAlpine to finish 25th, followed in by Tiger teammates Tima Karginov (16:33), Brad Viles and Alex Werden (both 16:37) and Sam Dunson (16:44).

"The kids had a good day all around," CHHS coach Ron Olsen said, noting team runner-up Mt. Tabor was missing its No. 3 runner due to the Scholastic Aptitude Testing.

CHHS finished with 104 points. Mt. Tabor (126 points) had George Oliver (15:51) and Josh Copus (15:57) in the top 10 to secure second place over Ardrey Kell (155).

SATs also were a factor in the Girls Invitational, where CHHS was missing its No. 5 runner because of testing.

In the Girls Invitational, Chapel Hill (210) finished fourth behind champion Ardrey Kell (83), Asheville Roberson (169) and South Carolina's Wando (191). East Chapel Hill, led by ninth-grader Nina Pande (18:57) in 18th place, finished 17th as a team.

Tristin Van Ord had the best time (18:33) ever by a CHHS girl at McAlpine and came in ninth individually. Six teammates recorded personal bests, including junior Emily Williams(19:03) in 24th place, sophomore Camille Gossett (19:21), junior Alexa Young (19:31), ninth-grader Rosie Kerwin (20:41), sophomore Shannon Mumper (20:54) and Johanna Thuresson (21:24).

East Chapel Hill ninth-grader Sarah Owere (20:24) was the second Wildcat in, followed closely by junior teammate Maggie Meshnick (20:05).

Chapel Hill also did well in the boys' race for individuals in grades 9-10, which drew 530 runners. Drew Roeber (16:43) won the race, while Peter Williams (17:05) was third, Jeffrey Williams (17:07) fourth and Marc Ordronneau (17:14) ninth.

No team scores were kept, Olsen noted. "The boys would have won by over 100 points."

Most of the same runners will be back together this Saturday at the Chapel Hill High School course for "The O.C," which features Carrboro, Cedar Ridge, East Chapel Hill, Orange and host CHHS.

The fourth annual Orange County invitational will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the varsity girls' 5K race, followed by the boys' varsities at 11 a.m. and JV races at 11:30 a.m.

"It's challenging to race against kids from the nearby schools," Olsen said. "Naturally, they all enjoy it. It's always fun."