DULUTH - Alex Merrall got the 2009 cross country season off to a strong start Saturday as the Etowah runner charted a second-place finish in the Stage Races at the River Green Complex.

Merrall covered the 2-mile course with a time of 9 minutes, 50 seconds to finish a close second to Brookwood's Tommy George in the Stage 5 race, which featured the top-ranked runners for each team.

It also was a good '09 debut for Emily McNutt, who led the Etowah girls with a fifth-place time of 12:10.

The official placings of the Etowah boys and girls, as well as those of Cherokee, Sequoyah and Woodstock, in the team standings were not available by press time as only the top four teams were calculated immediately after the meet.

The four Cherokee County rivals were among the 36 teams in a field that featured eight of the top 10 state finishers on both the boys and girls side from last year.

Merrall, the defending boys county champion and a state qualifier after a sixth-place finish at the Region 5AAAAA meet last year, started out in a lead pack with George and Dacula's Mike McClay, then took a slight lead at the half-mile mark.

Merrall stayed in front until George took the lead with about 200 meters left in the race and barely edged the Etowah senior out at the finish line.

For Merrall, it was a good season-opening race.

"I felt good," he said. "I started out well and had a good jump off of the starting line. It served a good purpose. It gave me a chance to race against some of the best runners in the state and see where I'm at right now."

McNutt also shined in the girls race with her fifth-place finish in the Stage 5 race, a competititve group of runners that included a number of last year's top state finishers.

"It was OK," McNutt said. "I wanted to run a bit faster, but it was a good start to the season."

Collins Hill's Nicky Akande, a sixth-place state finisher in 2008, won the Stage 5 girls race with a meet-record time of 11:03. Last year's state runner-up, Chattahoochee's Sydney Marshall finished a close second.

Etowah coach Jesse Howard was pleased with how his boys and girls teams performed, noting that several of his runners dramatically improved their times from last year's Stage Races.

"I'm very impressed with our early-season start," Howard said. "The kids did a good job. The guys had a good summer of training and it showed and the girls were strong, as usual."

Defending girls state champion Collins Hill won the girls team title with 12 points. Brookwood (18) was second, with Parkview (26) third and Harrison (36) fourth (36).

Brookwood claimed the boys team title with eight points, Collins Hill (11) was second, Mill Creek (35) third and Lassiter (41) fourth.