True sportsmanship: Teen carries injured opponent across finish line

We really need to see more of this!

It's easy to be cynical about sports these days with a seemingly pervasive win-at-all-costs mentality. But high school student Melanie Bailey’s brilliant act of sportsmanship from the weekend is what sport is really all about.

During a high school Cross Country championship race in Glyndon, Minnesota Melanie came across a crying Danielle LeNoue, an opponent in the race from a different high school.

Danielle has just suffered a terrible knee injury, tearing her patella tendon and meniscus and lay on the ground in agony.

Instead of continuing on and passing Danielle, as several other competitors did before her, Melanie gave up her race to check on her prone opponent - even after Danielle told her to ignore her and “go on”.

Melanie, however, decided not to leave Danielle behind and lifted the injured girl onto her back to carry her to the finish line a quarter of a mile away.

If that wasn’t enough, Melanie then carried Danielle a further 300 feet to the medical area so that she could be treated for her injuries.

Describing how the injury occurred LeNoune said, "It happened instantly. I was just running along and felt like a pop in my knee and down I went."

“She didn’t have to do that. How many people ran past me? And she stopped.”

Commenting on the incident Bailey for her part felt she had to do the right thing: “She was just sobbing, I couldn’t leave her.”

“I felt so bad for her, I had to do something,” Melanie told the Devil's Lake Journal.

“It's just a race. That's the thing. A person is forever. A race just lasts 25 minutes.”

After her act of outstanding kindness the two girls have stayed in touch through Facebook and are becoming firm friends.

Maybe winning isn’t everything. Well done Melanie on being a class act and get well soon Danielle.