Melchor, Adcock Named Paloma Valley Athletes of Week

Dominique Melchor (left) and Anthony Adcock were named Paloma Valley High Athletes of the Week.

The fall high school sports season is now in postseason competition, and two Paloma Valley High School athletes who will play key roles for their teams were honored this week as the Menifee 24/7 Athletes of the Week.

Dominique Melchor will compete for the Wildcats' boys cross country team Saturday at the CIF prelims at Mt. San Antonio College. He helped his team finish second in the Sunbelt League and is poised for another strong performance on a challenging course in the prelims.

"There are three huge hills," Melchor said about the Mt. SAC course. "You run one entire mile and after that, it goes uphill and people start dying if they haven't trained for that."

Melchor's best time was a 17:16 at the league finals at Diamond Lake.

"Dominique has competed with strength throughout this cross country season," said his coach, Joe Ellett. "He has made great improvement in performance through consistency of effort in training. Dominique is always up for the challenge, whether it is one more hill or a 600-meter repeat."

Melchor, a senior, also carries a GPA above 4.0. He has found a way to successfully combine athletics and academics, despite a rigorous training routine.

"We have to put in tons of mileage -- six to eight miles some days," he said. "Sometimes we have to work really hard on speed and repeats. We have to implement that in the races."

Football player Anthony Adcock is only a sophomore but has already made an impact at linebacker since transferring in from Vista Murrieta. He had to sit out the first five seasons because of the transfer, but since then he has jumped right into the starting lineup.

Two weeks ago in a victory over Temescal Canyon, Adcock led the team with 18 tackles.

"Anthony has really grown up as a player and person this season," said coach Bert Esposito. "Only a sophomore, he is showing a lot of maturity and will be a presence to be reckoned with as he grows.He has an outgoing personality that is contagious and will most definitely be a leader in our program for years to come."

Adcock said the Temescal Canyon game was by far his best of the season.

"I just turned on the switch," he said. "I felt really fired up. It's all about hard work for me, though. I have a lot of room to improve."
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