GIRLS COACH OF THE YEAR * Tom Hill, Francis Scott Key -- Every track and field season, everybody in Carroll County lines up in hopes of knocking off perennial boys and girls champion Westminster. It rarely happens, but this spring, Hill guided a young and talented Key girls team to a 123-88 victory over second-place Westminster, ending a five-year run for the Owls. The sensational Ryers are back next season, Ali Jones and Stacey Greene have two seasons left, and the entire state champion 3,200 relay team returns next year. Don't expect the Key girls to go away any time soon. Hill has the talent, and he is getting the most out of it.
GIRLS PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR * Carrie and Laurie Ryer, Francis Scott Key, Jrs. -- These identical twins led the 1A Eagles past 4A Westminster (123-88) in the Carroll County championships. Carrie and Laurie each won four gold medals in the county meet, and then went to the state 1A championships and captured silver medals -- Carrie in the triple jump (36 feet, 3 inches) and Laurie in the long jump (16-9). The Ryers also ran on the Eagles' 400-meter relay team that took second in the 1A states. Those three silvers helped Key capture second place in the states. North Carroll girls track coach Greg Knill paid tribute to the Ryers: "Those girls are in a class of their own when it comes to jumping. I mean, they're jumping about a foot more than everybody else in the county." The Ryers also dominated the county in the 100 (Carrie) and 200 (Laurie) meters. When asked which was faster, coach Tom Hill said: "They've never raced each other. We don't do that. And overall, it's impossible to say either one is better than the other because they both won the same amount of medals in the county, regionals and states."
FIRST TEAM AT A GLANCE * Stacey Greene, Francis Scott Key, Soph. -- Greene captured fourth in the 100 hurdles (16.1) in the state 1A championships and ran the third leg on the Eagles' 400 relay team that finished second in the state meet. Those performances followed outstanding efforts in the Carroll County championships and the Monocacy Valley Athletic League championship meet. When Key knocked off Westminster to win the county title, Greene won the 100 hurdles, finished second in the 300 hurdles and ran the third leg on the winning 400 and 800 relay teams. On those two relay teams, Greene was known for her ability to get the baton to
anchor Carrie Ryer in good position to win the events.
* Shannon Hugg, Francis Scott Key, Sr. -- The hardest worker on the team, according to Hill, has made herself into the premier distance runner in Carroll County. "A pillar on our team" is the way Hill describes Hugg, who holds the school record in the 3,200 (12:23) and held the school
record in the 1,600 (5:40.7) until Jen Moorman broke it this season. Even though she was sick and collapsed while running the 1,600 in the county championships, Hugg recovered to finish second at 5:46.4.
* Ali Jones, Francis Scott Key, Soph. -- Jones came home from the 1A states wearing gold for anchoring Key's 3,200 relay team, and she finished third in the 1A state 400 (58.7). Hill said: "Ali had a fantastic state meet. She was behind by three yards when she took the baton in the 3,200 relay and came back to win with a split in the 2:20s." It helped the Eagles finish second as a team in the states and followed superb efforts by Jones in the regionals (anchored 1,600 relay team that took third, and finished second by .2 seconds in the 800) and the county championships (won the 400 and 800). "Ali is a pleasure to coach and will do anything to help us win," said Hill.
* Amy McCready, Liberty, Sr. -- Her four-year track career began on a high note as a freshman when she ran the third leg on the Lions' state champion 800 relay team. McCready has steadily improved her 100 and 300 hurdles times enough that she finished third in the 2A state championships this season in the 300 hurdles (47.74). That was a little short of her career best time in the 300s (47.3). In the county championships, McCready continued her season-long hurdles duel with Key's Stacey Greene. McCready won the 300s in 49.8, with Greene second at 50.4. But Greene took the 100s in 16.7, with McCready second at 17.7. She heads to Shippensburg (Pa.) University and will continue hurdling.
Vicki Osinga, Liberty, Soph. -- The youngest individual state champion in the county, Osinga took first in the 2A championship meet with a leap of 5-0 in the high jump. She twice has jumped 5-2 for the school girls record. "She does it with jumping technique and encouragement from her parents," said Liberty coach Dan Jones. "She came to us with a good background in jumping at Sykesville Middle School and just keeps getting better."
* Patsy Shaffer, North Carroll, Jr. -- Panthers coach Greg Knill called this outstanding shot putter "Patsy I'm going to score you points Shaffer." And she did score a lot of points in big meets, winning the Carroll County shot put (30-11 1/2 ) championship and taking second in the 1A regionals with her top throw of the season (32-9). "This was Patsy's coming-out year," said Knill. "It was great to see her improve so much."
* Lisa Turner, Jen Moorman, Christine Harner and Jones, Francis Scott Key -- This 1A state champion 3,200 relay team brought a lot of prestige to the school and was a big help in securing second place in the team standings for the Eagles. The most exciting part for Hill is that they'll all be back next season. Turner, Moorman and Harner are juniors, and Jones, the anchor, is a sophomore. Turner was the set-up person on the team, running the first leg; Moorman maintained the momentum on the second leg; and Harner ran a super third leg to set the stage for the intense Jones to run away from opponents for first-place honors.
BOYS COACH OF THE YEAR * Jim Shank, Westminster -- It is not easy to follow in the footsteps of a man (Bill Hill) who had won 15 straight Carroll County track and field titles, but Shank did it without much fanfare and made it 16 in a row for the Owls. Westminster (154 points) more than doubled the total of second-place Francis Scott Key (75) in the county championships. The Owls also won the Westminster Invitational and the Central Maryland Conference championships. In the state 4A championships, Westminster tied Suitland for eighth place with 19 points but was only seven points behind fifth-place Bowie. Shank had a huge edge over county opponents in numbers on the team, but he put the right people in the right places to get the job accomplished.
BOYS PERFORMER OF THE YEAR * Haven Barnes, South Carroll, Sr. -- From the first day of the season to the last, Barnes was virtually a one-man team for South Carroll. He was very good and very consistent all season to edge Westminster's Matt Knights for the county's top award. Knights was the Performer of the Year last season. Barnes was involved in some spectacular duels with Westminster's Kenny Roe in the 100, 200 and 400-meter events this season. Barnes finished with an overall 7-2 advantage in head-to-head meetings with Roe, going 7-0 in the 400 and 100 and 0-2 in the 200. Barnes entered the season with one primary goal -- to get his time under 50 seconds in the 400, and he accomplished that goal in the state 3A championship meet where he finished fifth at 49.9. Also, Barnes was named the Outstanding Performer in the Westminster Invitational in April where he won the 100 and 400 and anchored South Carroll's third-place 1,600 relay team. "You couldn't ask for a better team leader," said South Carroll coach Rob Pennington. "He scored over 245 points for us this season."
THE FIRST TEAM AT A GLANCE * Bobby Bollinger, Francis Scott Key, Fresh. -- Bollinger won the county shot put championship with a toss of 43 feet, 10 inches, and then broke Key's freshman record with a throw of 47-3 in the 1A regionals, placing fourth. Bollinger has been pushed to greater heights by Key throwing coach Mike Coons, said Eagles coach Rich Salkin. "Bobby stands for how well our track program has come along," said Salkin.
* Josh Crone, Francis Scott Key, Sr. -- No one in the state track and field championships pole vaulted higher than Crone (13 feet) this season at any of the four classifications. He won his second straight state 1A championship, completing a grand slam. He won the Carroll County championship (13-0), the Monocacy Valley Athletic League title (13-8), the 1A regional (12-6) and the states. His leap in the states was short of his state junior mark of 13-6. But Salkin said: "Josh was never pushed that much, and he vaulted the first month without the right pole for him. It's very important to feel comfortable with a pole."
* Steve Kahler, Westminster, Sr. -- Kahler took third place in state 4A with a 1:57.3 time in the 800, had the fastest 1,600 time (4:37) in the county even though he ran it only four times, and often ran on three winning relay teams. It was the culmination of an outstanding four-year career for Kahler, who has put his speed to good use in football as well. Shank said he didn't run Kahler in the 1,600 against county competition because he was too fast for the opposition. Kahler has decided to end his track career and head to the Baltimore County Police Academy.
* Matt Knights, Westminster, Sr. -- He entered the season with high expectations and lived up to almost all of them, except surpassing his junior mark of 46-9 in the triple jump. Knights finished second in the state 4A meet in the triple jump (45-10) and could have won it with a mark of 46-2. His top jump this season was 46-7. Knights might have repeated as Performer of the Year if he had not run with a cast on his hand all the way through the Central Maryland Conference championships May 5. spite of the injury, Knights turned in top performances at the Westminster Invitational (won triple jump and finished second in the long jump and 110 hurdles), the CMCs (won triple and long jumps and the 110 hurdles) and the county championships (won the triple and long jumps and ran on the winning 400 relay team). Knights, who runs track year-round and is considered a possible decathlete, is headed to California (Pa.) State.
* Jason McCarley, Francis Scott Key, Sr. -- This four-year track athlete peaked for the state championships, turning in his best time (41:07) in the 300 hurdles to finish second in 1A competition and help the Eagles take fourth as a team. McCarley was also an important part of the 1,600 relay team that captured third in the states (3:29.22). In the regionals, he made the difference on the ,, 3,200 relay team that qualified for the states, running the second leg and turning in a split of 2:05 to set up a third-place finish. That 3,200 relay team finished second in the states without McCarley, since the 110 hurdles and 3,200 relay were back-to-back events.
* Mike Recek, Westminster, Soph. -- He burst on to the county scene in cross country last fall. Recek took first (10:19) in the 3,200 in the 4A regionals on a cold day after winning the county 3,200 in 10:23. "You rarely see him at the in the lead at the start of a race," said Shank. "He sticks to the business of racing, and that's it."
* Kenny Roe, Westminster, Sr. -- It's impossible to forget Roe's exciting races with Barnes. But Roe went a step beyond the normal field of competition May 13 in the Carroll county championships. He had just been declared the winner by the timer over Barnes in the 100, but Roe thought the official had made an error and gave the gold medal to Barnes. Both runners finished in 11.2 seconds, calling for a photo finish, but the Accutrack machine had broken and no photo was available. Roe was the most improved performer in the county, turning in top times in the 100 (11.1) and the 200 (22.9) and constantly challenging Barnes. He will enroll at Catonsville Community College.
* Ted Sanders, Liberty, Sr. -- No one in the state ran a faster time in the 110 hurdles (14.5 seconds) than he did. Sanders turned in that top time in a dual meet against South Carroll, went on to
take first in the Carroll County championships in the 110 and 300 hurdles before topping off the season with a second-place finish in the 300 hurdles in the state 2A title meet (40.06). That time in the states could not match his school-record clocking of 39.8 this season.
* Steve Wright, Francis Scott Key, Jr. -- One of just three Carroll County athletes to win a state individual title this year (teammate Josh Crone in the 1A pole vault and Liberty's Vicki Osinga in the 2A high jump were the others), Wright played a major role in the Eagles' fourth-place finish in the state 1A championships. He took the state 1A high jump gold medal with a leap of 6-6, a mark that equaled his school record jump earlier in the year at Middletown. Wright has been high jumping for three years and was seeded first in the state, regional and Carroll County meets. He responded by taking first in all three meets.
PICKING THE TEAMS
The 1994 All-County Track and Field Teams were selected by Bill Free after consultation with staff writers and county coaches.