It's not enough that Westminster has the largest school in the county and that Coach Bill Hill and his staff have worked hard over the years to build a county track power.

But then the Owls are lucky enough to get talented athletes to transfer in: Jeff LiBerge from Franceand Jamahl Hogan from North Carroll.

"Nobody ever transfers to Hampstead," former North Carroll coach Henri Adami, serving as meet announcer, said with a laugh in the press box during Friday's county championships.

Because of such depth,the Owls easily were able to overcome some disappointing performances and cruise to both the boys and girls titles at Western Maryland College.

The boys won their 10th consecutive county title while the girls defended their 1990 crown.

Westminster's boys held a 51-point margin over Francis Scott Key in the final team standings, while the Owls were 63 points better than runner-up Liberty on the girls side.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the failure of LiBerge, who had the best performance in state high school history a couple of weeks ago, to clear his opening height of 11-feet-6 in the pole vault. Still, he had a pair of first-place finishes (high hurdles and shotput) and was third in the discus.

LiBerge said a combination of the especially fast surface at WMC, the time frame of his four events and the lack of practice time because of a pre-meet radio interview all contributed to the problems in the pole vault.

"The pole vault was the easiest event for me to win," he said with a laugh afterward."I could not find my steps."

He had no trouble finding his steps in the 110-meter high hurdles, though, where he set a county meet record of 14.6 seconds to nip Francis Scott Key's Kirk Lindsay.

"We don't gravitate around one person," Hill said. "We do coach more than one person in every event."

Another important finisher for the Owls was Hogan, who swept both the long and triple jumps for Westminster, which scored in every event and had three top-five winners in five events.

The other double winner in the boys meet was South Carroll's Jim Clarius, who captured both the 400 and 800.

In the girls competition, Stephanie Morningstar won three events and Westminster also dominated the distance events. The Owls had such depth that they were able to shift Morningstar from the 3,200 to the 400 (to go along with the 800 and 1,600) and still swept the top three spots in the 3,200 race.

"Westminster's very strong in cross country," Hill said. "That's a tradition at Westminster."

Despite the outstanding performances of Morningstar and her teammate, perhaps the star of the afternoon was Liberty's Julie Cox, who shrugged off recurring sinus congestion to set three county meet records in the 100, 200 and 110 hurdles.

She wasn't seriously challenged in either of the sprints, but she had to hold off a serious threat from Westminster's Kenya Warfieldto win the hurdles. Warfield added a victory in the high jump and 300 hurdles to her second-place finish.

Here are the results:

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Friday at Western Maryland

Boys team scores: Westminster 121, Francis Scott Key 70, South Carroll 40, Liberty 27, North Carroll 24

100 meters: 1. Kris Brown (W) 11.1; 2. Ron Miller(N) 11.3; 3. Craig Foreman (S) 11.4; 4. Scott Kreit (F) 11.7; 5. JimHowe (L) 11.8

200: 1. Kris Brown (W) 22.7; 2. Jason Craig (W) 23.0; 3. Joe Kreit (F) 23.3; 4. Robinson (S) 23.8; 5. Fryear (S) 24.4

400: 1. Jim Clarius (S) 52.0; 2. Mark Craig (W) 52.2; 3. Gunther Kroe (W) 52.6; 4. Wade Shank (W) 52.7; 5. Pat Bosley (F) 53.2

800: 1.Jim Clarius (S) 2:04.7; 2. Brandon Duvall (W) 2:05.8; 3. Matt Avery (W) 2:06.2; 4. Joe Kreit (F) 2:07.0; 5. Mitch Jones (F) 2:07.5

1,600: 1. Matt Avery (W) 4:36.8; 2. Steve Kahler (W) 4:41.7; 3. Matt Davis (N) 4:42.9; 4. Joe Kreit (F) 4:47.8; 5. Jim Holford (W) 5:00.8

3,200: 1. Dion Stanton (W) 10:15.1; 2. Chris Zendgraft (W) 10:23.2; 3. Dave Hammel (S); 4. Mark Simmons (W) 10:42.5; 5. Jason Wilhide (F) 10:46.5

400 relay: 1. Westminster 44.1; 2. Francis Scott Key 45.6;3. South Carroll 47.0

800 relay: 1. Francis Scott Key 1:34.9; 2. Westminster 1:37.0; 3. North Carroll 1:37.9; 4. South Carroll 1:38.8;5. Liberty 1:40.0

1,600 relay: 1. Westminster 3:33.2; 2. Francis Scott Key 3:33.5; 3. North Carroll 3:39.1; 4. South Carroll 3:44.8; 5. Liberty 3:54.9

3,200 relay: 1. Westminster 8:24.2; 2. South Carroll 8:27.6; 3. Francis Scott Key 8:28.6; 4. North Carroll 9:05.3; 5. Liberty 9:25.2

110 hurdles: 1. Jeff LiBerge (W) 14.7 (meet record,old record of 14.8 set by Dennis Morrison of Westminster in 1986); 2. Kirk Lindsay (F) 14.9; 3. Jeff Brown (L) 15.4; 4. Jason Craig (W) 16.1; 5. Jay Merker (W) 16.3

300 hurdles: 1. Kirk Lindsay (F) 40.1;2. Jeff Brown (L) 42.9; 3. Jay Merker (W) 43.3; 4. Chris White (F) 44.1; 5. Jason Craig (W) 44.7

High jump: 1. Sam Perry (F) 6-5; 2. Jim Wright (F) 6-4; 3. Adam Franklin (N) 6-1; 4. Scott Lingle (L) 6-0;5. Chris Freyman (W) 5-10

Long jump: 1. Jamahl Hogan (W) 19-11 1/4; 2. Jon Cox (F) 19-3; 3. Sam Perry (F) 18-10 1/2; 4. Jim Howe (L) 18-10 1/2; 5. Kory Herb (N) 18-5 3/4

Triple jump: 1. Jamahl Hogan (W) 42-8; 2. Dave Bull (F) 40- 9 1/2; 3. Scott Lingle (L) 40-4 1/2; 4.Jason Craig (W) 40-3; 5. Derek Modracek (L ) 39-11

Shot put: 1. Jeff LiBerge (W) 45-6; 2. Tim Frey (L) 45-3 1/4; 3. Brent Black (W) 44-11; 4. Mike Strine (W) 39-2 1/2; 5. Brit Britton (N) 39-2 3/4

Discus: 1. James Johnson (F) 141-6; 2. Tim Frey (L) 138-5; 3. Jeff LiBerge (W) 125-10 1/2; 4. Henry Oswald (S) 121-51*. Mike Strine (W) 115 -2

Pole vault: 1. Sean Kessler (S) 12-0; 2. Garland Douglass (N) 11-6; 3. Jay Stein (L) 11-0; 4. Josh Crone (F) 10-6; 5. Rick Rorzkowski(W) 10-0

Girls teams scores: Westminster 121, Liberty 58, South Carroll 37, North Carroll 33, Francis Scott Key 19

100 meters: 1. Julie Cox (L) 12.1 (new record, breaks old record of 12.5 set by Cox in 1989); 2. Joanne Ruppert (W) 12.7; 3. April Ludwig (S) 13.1; 4. Dawn Hayen (L) 13.3; 5. Casey Rhoten (N) 13.3

200: 1. Julie Cox (L) 25.4 (new record, breaks old record of 26.0 set by Jenny Achziger of Francis Scott Key in 1986 and Angie Green of Francis Scott Key in 1990); 2. April Ludwig (S) 27.4; 3. Brooke Holland (W) 27.6; 4. Dani Deeds (F) 27.4; 5. Becky Tregoning (F) 28.4

400: 1. Stephanie Morningstar (W) 1:00.8; 2. Pauline McAlonan ( W) 1:04.1; 3. Brooke Holland (W) 1:04.1; 4. Michele Quidort (S) 1:04.9; 5. Tamara Mitchell (L) 1:06.6

800: 1. Stephanie Morningstar (W) 2:25.4; 2. Jenn Meyers (L) 2:32.5; 3. Andrea Gibbons (W) 2:39.7; 4. Angie Graybill (F) 2:40.2; 5. Debbie Ward (L) 2:40.5

1,600: 1. Stephanie Morningstar (W) 5:32.8;2. Kerri Murphy (S) 5:46.7; 3. Jen Myers (L) 5:48.7; 4. Adrienne McGuire (W) 5:58.1; 5. Curry Snelson (L) 5:59.6

3,200: 1. Bonnie Bullock (W) 12:50.2; 2. Emily Aaron (W) 12:56.6; 3. Liz VanDerslice (W) 12:58.9; 4. Karen Hammel (S) 13:00.3; 5. Rachel Adams (L) 13:44.8

400 relay: 1. Liberty 52.3; 2. North Carroll 53.2; 3. Westminster 54.2; 4. Francis Scott Key 55.5

800 relay: 1. Liberty 1:53.4; 2. NorthCarroll 1:54.0; 3. Westminster 1:59.0; 4. Francis Scott Key 1:59.1

1,600 relay: 1. Westminster 4:24.4; 2. Liberty 4:30.4; 3. South Carroll 4:31.9; 4. Francis Scott Key 5:02.7

3,200 relay: 1. Westminster 10:36.6; 2. Liberty 10:36.7; 3. South Carroll 11:08.4; 4. North Carroll 11:12.9; 5. Francis Scott Key 11:38.3

110 hurdles: Julie Cox(L) 14.9 (new record, breaks old record of 15.1 set by Laura Cherbousky of North Carroll in 1986); 2. Kenya Warfield (W) 15.2; 3. Ashlee Douglass (N) 16.8; 4. Kim Liddick (W) 17.1; 5. Lisa Brown (W) 17.3

300 hurdles: 1. Kenya Warfield (W) 48.1; 2. Ashlee Douglass (N) 48.5; 3. Denine Henderson (S) 49.6; 4. Melanie Russo (L) 50.7; 5. Amy McCreedy ( L) 50.7

Long jump: 1. Denine Henderson (S) 16- 1/2; 2. Francine Hewes (N) 15-2 1/4; 3. Holly Stewart (W) 15- 1/2; 4. Brooke Holland (W) 14-11 1/4; 5. Leslie Liddick (W) 14-4

Triple jump: 1. Holly Stewart (W) 34-4 1/2; 2. Francine Hewes (N) 33-5 1/2; 3. Denine Henderson (S) 33-3 1/2; 4. Lisa Brown (W) 32-2 1/2; 5. Sandy Hartman (L) 31-3 1/2

High jump: 1. Kenya Warfield (W) 5-2; 2. Pauline McAlonan (W) 5- 0; 3. tie Kim Liddick (W), Amy Dunn (F) and Jesse Shanks (N) 4-8

Discus: 1. Jessica Farinholt (W) 95-11; 2. Crystal Becker (F) 93 -11; 3. Heather Marks (S) 86-10; 4. Patty Bouver (L) 76-3 1/2; 5. Diane Flint (N) 76-2 1/2

Shot put: 1. Leslie Liddick (W) 32- 1/2; 2. Jessica Farinholt (W) 31-4 1/2; 3. Diane Flint (N) 28-5 3/4; 4. Crystal Becker (F) 28-5 3/4; 5. Katrina Crew (S) 27-2 1/4