1981 Coaches' Invitational

Girls Results | Results: Open Race

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BOYS 1 Spartanburg (SC) 49 2 Chapel Hill 70 3 Richmond County 89 4 Greensboro Grimsley 98 5 Winston-Salem Reynolds 190 6 Irmo (SC) 210 7 East Mecklenburg 237 8 Kingsport Dobyns Bennett (TN) 241 9 Charlotte Myers Park 247 10 Asheville A.C. Reynolds 272 11 Rock Hill (SC) 315 12 Rock Hill Northwestern (SC) 341 13 Charlotte Independence 352 14 West Charlotte 416 15 South Mecklenburg 417 16 Gastonia Ashbrook 425 17 Hickory 425 18 North Forsyth 455 19 Southeast Guilford 472 20 Western Guilford 512 21 Charlotte Garinger 530 1 Ken Costello Irmo (SC) 15:38.7 2 Bill Will Gastonia Ashbrook 15:43.5 3 Allen Ford Greensboro Grimsley 15:48.2 4 John Erickson Southeast Guilford 15:58.1 5 Steve Conway Spartanburg (SC) 16:07.6 6 Tim Fry Greensboro Grimsley 16:16.1 7 Jonathan Drake Chapel Hill 16:16.3 8 Pete Whitlock Spartanburg (SC) 16:18.1 9 Danny Murray Winston-Salem Reynolds 16:19.4 10 Dean Tobias Spartanburg (SC) 16:33.3 11 Paul Heffernan Chapel Hill 16:34.3 12 Mike Covington Richmond County 16:36.8 13 Billy Cook Spartanburg (SC) 16:37.7 14 Dennis McNamara Chapel Hill 16:38.0 15 Karl Spielvogel Chapel Hill 16:43.8 16 Chris Gibson Richmond County 16:47.4 17 James Covington Richmond County 16:47.6 18 Kirk Hardymon East Mecklenburg 16:50.1 19 Greg Douglas Richmond County 16:52.6 20 Mike O'Neill Dobyns Bennett (TN) 16:52.9 21 Joe Willis Greensboro Grimsley 16:56.6 22 Jim Schmid Greensboro Grimsley 16:56.9 23 David Young Chapel Hill 17:00.5 24 Paul Pfefferkorn Winston-Sal. Reynolds 17:02.0 25 Curt Spillars Richmond County 17:04.0 (only top 25 reported) GIRLS 1 Irmo (SC) 33 2 Chapel Hill 66 3 Charlotte Independence 101 4 Richmond County ? 5 East Mecklenburg 161 6 Winston-Salem Reynolds 165 7 South Mecklenburg 184 8 Spartanburg (SC) 204 8 Asheville AC Reynolds 258 9 West Charlotte 284 1 Kathy Ormsby Richmond County 18:48.0 2 Michele Crow Irmo (SC) 18:52.0 3 Clayton Gribbs Irmo (SC) 18:52.0 4 Katie Merten Chapel Hill 20:13.9 5 Mary Lynne Glover Irmo (SC) 20:22.1 6 Beverly Davey Charlotte Myers Park 20:28.5 7 Jeanine Saffelle Chapel Hill 20:47.1 8 Lisa Morales South Mecklenburg 20:55.8 9 Heather Cairns Chapel Hill 21:06.7 10 Barbara Honeycutt East Mecklenburg 21:17.2 11 Lee Miller Irmo (SC) 21:19.3 12 Marcia Forrest Charlotte Independence 21:22.8 13 Caroline Livingston Richmond County 21:34.8 14 Heidi Beilfuss Winston-Salem Reynolds 21:35.9 15 Tracy Clay Charlotte Independence 21:43.5 16 Michelle Daigler Charlotte Independence 21:52.6 17 Kathy Lawson Charlotte Independence 21:53.5 18 Kristin Hartz Winston-Salem Reynolds 21:55.4 19 Paula Ceremiga Spartanburg (SC) 22:02.8 20 Samantha Livingston Richmond County 22:06.0 21 Penni Stritter Chapel Hill 22:08.6 22 Laura McGee Irmo (SC) 22:14.9 23 Lisa Yoder Spartanburg (SC) 22:35.3 24 Wendy Hart East Mecklenburg 22:41.7 25 Margaret Pooler Chapel Hill 22:44.0 (only top 25 reported) Open Race BOYS 1 Scot Smith Dobyns-Bennett (TN) 17:39 2 Rick Robinson Chapel Hill 17:43.8 3 Earl Ashford Spartanburg (SC) 17:48.6 GIRLS 1 Lisa Eden Davie County 19:45 2 Robin Andrew Western Guilford 20:28 3 Elsie Palmer Sylva-Webster 20:28.4 (only Open results reported) This meet did not become known as the Wendy's Invitational until 1983.) Girls cross country was not recognized by the NCHSAA as an official sport until the previous year (1980). COACHES (From meet program): BOYS: Gastonia Ashbrook -- Gary Evans Chapel Hill -- Gary Andrew Kingsport Dobyns Bennett (TN) -- Tom Coughenow East Mecklenburg -- Larry McAfee Asheville C.A. Erwin -- Dean Williams Charlotte Garinger -- John Robinson Greensboro Grimsley -- Richard Smith Charlotte Harding -- T.L. Gibbons Hickory -- Jim Coble Charlotte Independence -- Jimmie Steele Irmo (SC) -- Mike Mauldin Charlotte Myers Park -- Richard Prince North Forsyth -- Scott Brent Charlotte Olympic -- R.B. Alley Asheville A.C. Reynolds -- Doug Sebring Winston-Salem R.J. Reynolds -- Norm Trzaskoma Richmond County -- Charlie Bishop Rock Hill (SC) -- Keith Williams South Mecklenburg -- C.D. Drum Southeast Guilford -- David Blue Sylva-Webster -- Jim Palmer Spartanburg (SC) -- Jim Kilbreth West Charlottte -- Bill Stevens West Mecklenburg -- Ron Patterson Rock Hill Northwestern -- Bob Jenkins Western Guilford -- Tim Vail GIRLS: Gastonia Ashbrook -- Gary Evans Chapel Hill -- Gary Andrew East Mecklenburg -- Larry McAfee Charlotte Garinger -- John Robinson Charlotte Harding -- Thermon Gibbons Davie County -- David Eden Hickory -- Jim Coble Charlotte Independence -- Jimmie Steele Irmo (SC) -- Mike Mauldin Charlotte Myers Park -- Richard Prince Winston-Salem R.J. Reynolds -- Norman Trzaskoma Richmond County -- Charlie Bishop South Mecklenburg -- C.D. Drum Spartanburg -- Jim Kilbreth Sylva-Webster -- Jim Palmer West Mecklenburg -- Ron Patterson Source: The Charlotte Observer, Sunday - Sept. 27, 1981 Irmo Junior Continues Run Of Cross Country Victories By David Scott, Observer Staff Writer Fear motivates. Ask Ken Costello. Costello is the guy who "owns" the Coaches Invitational cross country meet at McAlpine Greenway Park. A junior at Irmo (S.C.) High, Costello easily won Saturday morning's meet, his second straignt Invitational victory. So what's he got to be afraid of? "I was running like a scared chicken out there," said Costello, whose winning time was 15:38.7. "I really felt a lot of pressure." Actually, the pressure Costello felt was more imagined than real. He lost sight of his pursuers early, then spent the rest of the race wondering how far -- or close -- behind they were. "It was a slow start," Costello said. "And the other guys in the front got behind me quick. I didn't see where they were for a while." Costello, the defending S.C. cross country individual champion, had a comfortable margin over runner-up Bill Will of Gastonia Ashbrook (15:43.5) and third-place Alan Ford of Greensboro Grimsley (15:48.2). The highest Mecklenburg County finisher was East Mecklenburg's Kirk Hardymon, who was 18th (16:50.1). Richmond County's Kathy Ormsby won the girls' meet in 18:48. Ormsby's time broke the girls' course record of 19:14.9 set by McDowell County's Charlotte McCall. Runner-up Michelle Crow of Irmo also bettered the record with a time of 18:52.0. Myers Park's Beverly Davey was eighth [6th?] (20:28.5). Spartanburg, always an S.C. cross country power, was the boys' team champion. Irmo was the girls' team champion. Chapel Hill, defending boys' and girls' N.C. state titlist, finished second in both team races. East Mecklenburg was seventh and Myers Park nighth in the boys standings. In the girls' race, Independence finished a strong third and East was fifth and South Mecklenburg seventh. Obviously, Costello does well when he runs at McAlpine, as evidenced by his two Invitational triumphs. Still, he stays nervous. "I can't think I'm going to win, just because I run here," Costello said. "I get scared before any race. But in some races, you find guts you usually don't have. That's what happened to me here." The 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) McAlpine course is interrupted by a hill, which bothers many runners. But it helped Myers Park's Davey, whose twin sister, Barbara, didn't run because of a hip injury. "I appreciate the hill," Davey said. "When I run on the straight- aways, I get bored, and I don't concentrate as much on my running." Nearly 450 runners competed in the meet, which included 25 boys' teams and 19 girls' teams. "Running against these girls," said Davey, one of the Southwestern 4A's top runners, "lets me know what kind of competition there will be at the state meet. It helps me, when I run in some of the smaller meets, knowing there's some stiffer competition out there." The state meet, set for Oct. 30, also will be at McAlpine. 1980 Coaches' Inv. (previous year) | 1982 Coaches' Inv. 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