When the 1993 Carroll County Runner of the Year speaks, people are bound to listen.
Liberty High's Joe Ledda has created quite a stir around the county by predicting the Lions will beat powerful and 10-time defending champion Westminster in the county boys cross country championship meet at Western Maryland Oct. 28.
Liberty coach Dan Jones would not go quite as far as Ledda but Jones has supported his senior standout's bold statement.
"Someone needs to say it," said Jones. "Joe's taking pressure from the team and putting it on himself by making that prediction. We need to believe it. I don't want to predict that we'll beat Westminster, but I will say we can compete with them. No one on our team is intimidated by them. Our runners used to feel they didn't have a chance against Westminster. Now they're saying things like 'Let's go out and beat them.' They're going crazy with confidence."
Westminster coach Jim Gilford, the architect of the Owls' dynasty, does not agree with Ledda and Jones.
"We won't take Liberty lightly, but they're not in our class," said Gilford. "I heard they won a little dual meet [against Francis Scott Key] and they were talking about us instead of the meet they had won."
Also, Gilford doesn't believe Ledda will repeat as the county individual champion. Ledda finished 10 seconds ahead of second-place Westminster senior Tim Meerschaert last season.
Owls junior Mike Recek will replace Ledda as the Carroll individual champion this season, Gilford said.
"Mike is the class of our team, the class of the county and one of the top runners in the state," said Gilford. "Mike is as good a runner as I've ever had. He can run with Ledda. I don't think it will be that close when they meet in the county championships. Mike should win easily."
If Liberty doesn't upset Westminster, the Lions virtually are assured of a second-place finish.
The North Carroll and South Carroll boys figure to fight it out for third, with Francis Scott Key close behind them.
In the race for the Carroll girls cross country championship, Westminster is seeking a seventh straight title, but should get strong challenges from Francis Scott Key and South Carroll.
Key has four of its top seven runners back and gained a lot of talent when senior Jen Moorman gave up field hockey for cross country and has taken over the No. 1 position.
Liberty has more girls (12) out for cross country than ever and could make a run for a finish in the top three teams.
This is the second straight season that the Key girls have been given a good shot at surpassing the always-deep Westminster team. Last year, the Eagles ran into some injury problems at the county championship race and dropped to third place.
That opened the way for a cinderella South Carroll team to surge into second place and finish only 12 points behind the Owls. The Cavaliers made the run behind two freshmen -- Carrie Braun and Annie Mullins -- who return as sophomores.
The Westminster girls will be trying to make it seven straight. They will have to do it without coach Dale Fogelsanger, who has left the school to coach cross country and teach at Messiah (Pa.) College near Harrisburg.
Fogelsanger has been replaced by Jim Shank, who coached the Westminster boys track team last spring.
OC Here is a closer look at the five Carroll boys and girls teams:
Francis Scott Key
Boys -- Three freshmen are among the top seven runners for the Eagles, making the season "a project" for coach Rich Salkin. But All-Carroll first-team choice Damon Battaglia, a senior, returns and is No. 1 on the team again.
The freshmen are No. 2 runner Sean Deal, No. 3 David Higgs and No. 7 Brett Ebersole. Completing the squad are senior twins Jeffery Wright (No. 5) and Jerry Wright (No. 6) and No. 4 Ryan Meadows (a senior).
Girls -- The big story here is Moorman, who fell in love with running last spring while competing on the track team that upset Westminster for the county title and finished second in the state 1A meet.
Moorman joins four outstanding returnees from last year among the top seven. They are No. 2 Christine Harner (senior), No. 3 Kim Hugg (junior), No. 4 Ali Jones (junior) and No. 7 Mary Winters (senior). Jones was the Carroll Runner of the Year in 1992.
Two freshmen have gained top seven spots, with Kristen Engel No. 5 and Dawn Harner No. 6.
Liberty
Boys -- Seniors Ledda and Justin Combs are returning All-Carroll first-teamers and are running 1-2 for the Lions. When a death in his family forced Ledda to miss a quadrangular meet at South Carroll Monday, Combs stepped forward to finish first and lead the Lions to a first-place finish ahead of North Carroll, South Carroll and Francis Scott Key.
Junior Kenny Fischer is No. 3 for the Lions, senior Vince Novak is No. 4, senior Nolan Johnson is No. 5, sophomore Jimmy Jett is next at No. 6, and senior Aric Dietrich completes the top seven. Johnson returns to the squad after a year's absence due to academic ineligibility.
Girls -- With Jen Meyers having finished her superb career, the Lions now will look to senior Carie Beam to lead the way as the team's No. 1 runner. Beam is in her fourth year of competition.
Sophomore Regan Hughes has been challenging Beam for the top spot but remains No. 2, sophomore Jill Ondercin is No. 3, freshman Brittany Collins is next at No. 4, first-year runner Melanie Hancock (senior) is No. 5, freshman Katie Skierski is No. 6, and freshman Noel Chandler settles in at No. 7.
North Carroll
Boys -- Returning All-Carroll first-teamer Bryan Gunning (senior) will carry the Panthers and will be expected to provide leadership for three sophomores and a freshman who are among the top six runners on the team.
The only other senior in the top six is No. 3 Mike Lawlor. Freshman Jeremy Cuno is running No. 2 behind Gunning, and three sophomores make up the Nos. 4 through 6 positions. They are Scott Harden, Neal Lagatare and Ralph Henry, respectively.
Girls -- With only five girls coming out for the team, the Panthers will have to be content to run solely for individual rewards. Coach Sarah Osborn said: "It's one of those years where a lot of girls decided to get jobs."
Senior Carrie Cook will run at No. 1, sophomore Courtney Mattingly is No. 2, junior Christy Keith is set at No. 3, junior Christine Deal checks in at No. 4, and sophomore Tara Talbert will run at No. 5 when she becomes eligible Sept. 27.
South Carroll
Boys -- The numbers have improved with 15 out for the team compared to 11 last season, and most of the top Cavaliers runners are ahead of last year's times. But co-coach Rob Pennington said the best South Carroll probably could hope for is third in the county after a last-place finish in 1993.
"We're hoping to get out of the cellar and pass Francis Scott Key and North Carroll for third," said Pennington. Senior Josh Fortenbaugh has secured No. 1 for the Cavaliers, sophomore Sean Rayford is set at No. 2, sophomore Eric Parks will run No. 3, senior Matt Taylor checks in at No. 4, junior Bob Coffman has the No. 5 spot, freshman Adam McCready is No. 6, and senior Iain Young and sophomore Jason Roden are dueling for No. 7.
Girls -- Braun and Mullins, two sophomores, were third and fifth, respectively, in the Carroll championships last season, and will have to run with the pressure of those surprising showings as freshmen.
Pennington said he would change strategy a little for his girls team as they try to overtake Westminster after last season's second-place effort. He said he would give his runners more days off.
Braun is running No. 1 again, Mullins is No. 2, junior Jen Hodgin has won the No. 3 spot, junior Stephanie Linton holds down No. 4, junior Becky Yzaguirre is set at No. 5, senior Kerri Herman is No. 6, and freshman Kellyn Mitchell completes the top seven.
Westminster
Boys -- As usual, the Owls hope to dazzle county opponents with numbers (54 out for team) and talent. They have 1993 Metro Coach of the Year Gilford, and junior Recek to run in the No. 1 position.
Gilford said Recek is such a strong runner that he fell down twice and got lost once but still took first in the opening dual meet against Old Mill. Gilford said his one through six runners are separated by only 40 seconds, a show of balance he believes would be strong enough to possibly win a state 4A championship in a normal year.
But Gilford said defending 4A champion Quince Orchard has its top five runners back and has to be considered a strong favorite to repeat. The Owls were second to Quince Orchard last season but have lost two All-Carroll first-teamers in Shawn Donovan and Tim Meerschaert.
Senior Nate Shank will run No. 2 for the Owls and continues to be a leader on the team. Shank is healthy again after some back problems throughout his high school career.
Shank, No. 3 W. C. Knight (senior), No. 4 Greg Fisher (freshman) and No. 5 Brent Harbaugh (senior) are bunched in their times. Only five seconds separated Shank and Fisher in the Old Mill meet. Holding down No. 6 is junior Josh Heckathorn, and six runners are competing for No. 7. They are senior Ryan McKinney and juniors Dave Reazin, Brian Schroeder, Steve Hoff, Shane Martin and Tony Palaia.
Girls -- The Owls have been hurt by the decision of senior Brooke Hammel not to come out for cross country after finishing second in the county championship meet and 18th in the state Class 4A championships, the top finish for Westminster. Hammel was a first-team All-Carroll choice along with the Owls' Amy Elwell, who has graduated.
But All-Carroll first-team selection Emily Jones returns and will run No. 1. Jones, a senior, finished sixth in the county last season and most likely would have won the Central Maryland Conference championship if cramps had not set in. Sophomore Anna Perrine has won the No. 2 spot, senior Becky Riegert is running No. 3, junior Heidi Metzer has taken No. 4, and senior Jen Markle is No. 5 despite being in her first season of cross country competition.
Senior Sarah Clark and freshmen Jessica Detrow and Emily Benninghove are in a close battle for the final two spots.
Shank said the Owls always will have five runners "in pretty quick" but need some of them to finish in the top three.