Brandon Young (left) finished 15 seconds ahead of Alan McGough (right) at the 2006 St. John Road Race on Saturday. Young is an assistant cross country coach at VSU, while McGough is one of the team’s top runners. Melissa Daugherty and Ashley Hiott, who are also members of VSU’s women’s cross country team, finished first and second among the women runners.

VALDOSTA — The pupil tried his best to beat the teacher Saturday morning at the annual St. John 5K Road Race, but the pupil just couldn’t catch up.

Brandon Young, a 22-year old assistant cross country coach at Valdosta State University, bested Alan McGough, 18, a member of VSU’s cross country team, by 15 seconds Saturday morning in Valdosta’s largest local running event.

The race began at St. John Catholic Church, and the course meandered through the adjoining neighborhoods, eventually bringing runners back to the church for a fast downhill finish.

The race route featured one hill, a fairly steady climb that covered much of the first mile, and a number of turns. The technical route provided an advantage for Young, and kept him at the front of the pack for nearly the entire race.

Within the first half-mile, a pack of four runners made up of Young, McGough, John Seppala and Chris Holland pulled ahead of the other 325 runners. Before the first mile expired, Young was out in front, and Seppala was in second, followed by McGough and Holland. But McGough was catching up.

Young showed no signs of slowing, and he steadily put distance on his competitors. Meanwhile, behind him, McGough was pulling alongside Seppala.

Within seconds of going through the first mile, McGough had moved into second place, but was unable to make up any ground on Young.

As Young rounded the final turns near the church, he had a 10-second lead over McGough. A finishing sprint on the long downhill into the finish added about five seconds to his lead, and Young finished comfortably ahead of McGough.

“I felt good. It was cool, and the course was good and well-marked. I knew I could run well on this course,” said Young.

His strategy was to accelerate through the turns. By doing that, he could keep increasing his lead over his competitors. It worked; Young added several seconds to his advantage each mile.

“It was an exciting race. I like this course,” said Young.

McGough, one of VSU’s top runners, said that at one point, he thought he could catch Young.

“I thought I had a chance around two-and-a-half miles, but I just couldn’t catch up,” he said.

Young won the race with a time of 16:25 (5:18 per mile). McGough’s 16:40 (5:23 per mile) earned second place. Seppala finished third in 16:55 (5:28).

In the women’s race, Melissa Daugherty, 21, came in first with a time of 19:27 (6:16 per mile, which earned her 16th overall). Ashley Hiott (20:26) and Ashley Rall (20:29) came in second and third, respectively.

Both Daugherty and Hiott are members of Valdosta State’s women’s cross country squad.