Coach Michael Miragliuolo has spent 10 seasons as the Head Cross Country Coach at Green Hope High School. The team has built a tradition of excellence in a relatively short amount of time, as the school is in its 12th year of existence, yet has fielded the largest cross country team in the state and one of the largest in the nation for the past 7 years with more than 200 runners. The team has appeared in numerous publications including the Raleigh News and Observer, Coaching Management Magazine, Vype Magazine, USA Today and several others. In his 10 years at the helm the Falcons have built an impressive list of accomplishments.
The men's team has won 9 straight Tri-9 Conference Titles, as well as 4A Mideast Regional Championships in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2010 (with runner-up finishes in 2002 and 2008). The women's team has won 8 of the last 9 Tri-9 Conference Titles as well as Mideast Regional Titles in 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (with a runner-up finish in 2005). In 2009 the girls won the school's first-ever State Cross Country Title and followed it up with another State Title in 2010. The boys' team made it a sweep in 2010 with a title of their own. In addition, the boys were ranked in the National Top 25 in 2007. The girls finished the 2009 season ranked 27th Nationally and spent most of the 2010 season ranked in the National Top 10 by ESPNRise and The Harrier.
Coach Miragliuolo was named Tri-9 Boys Coach of the Year in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009, and was named Girls Coach of the Year in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010. Both teams compete in many of the top invitational meets in North Carolina, including the Seahawk Invitational in Wilmington, the Providence Invitational in Charlotte, the Great American Invitational in Cary and others.
Coach Miragliuolo was born in Kingstree, South Carolina but moved to Bangor, Maine where he graduated from John Bapst Memorial High School. He played varsity basketball (3 years), varsity baseball (4 years), varsity golf (1 year) and ran varsity cross country (3 years - with a 17:12 PR). He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a BA in History. After graduation he taught for 5 years at John Bapst Memorial High School where he coached the basketball, baseball and soccer teams.
Coach Miragliuolo came to Green Hope in 2001, where he teaches AP U.S. Government and Politics as well as Civics and Economics. In addition to coaching Cross Country he serves as the Head Varsity Baseball Coach.
Coach Roger Collins has been serving as the top Assistant Cross Country Coach at Green Hope for the past 6 years, where he also serves as an Assistant Track and Field Coach overseeing the middle and long distance groups. He spent 5 years in the Washington, DC area coaching Track and Field at the middle school, high school and Junior Olympic levels. He is a certified USATF Level 1 coach.
Coach Collins' boys' teams have enjoyed tremendous success over the last few years, placing 3rd at the
2009 Indoor and Outdoor State Championships and 3rd at the 2008 Indoor State Championships. The boys have
also recorded Top 5 finishes at the last three Outdoor Mideast Regional meets. Coach Collins also led the 2010
boys Cross Country team to its first ever State Championship.
The girls' program has also been extremely successful, recording a 10th place finish at the 2008 Indoor State Championships and an 8th place finish at the 2006 Outdoor State Championships. Several Green Hope girls are on North Carolina's All-Time Top 25 Performance List - including the 4x800m Relay Team of Christine Truesdale, Felicity Brower, Megan Brower and Brittany Johnson; Johnson in the 3200m Run; and Karen Kazaglis in the Pole Vault. The girls' Cross Country team has been especially successful during Coach Collins' tenure, as the girls placed 2nd at the State Championships in 2008, then went on to win back-to-back State Titles in 2009 and 2010 - with 2 All-State runners in 2009 and 4 in 2010.
Over the last 6 years a number of athletes have continued their running careers at the collegiate level at schools such as University of North Carolina, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, University of Wisconsin, Duke, Radford, Furman, UNC-Wilmington, Appalachian State and Johns Hopkins.
Coach Gwen Orilio has been an Assistant Coach for the Cross Country and Outdoor Track and Field teams for the past 6 years. Coach Orilio participated in Track and Field at her alma mater, Geneseo, before moving to North Carolina.
Coach Jed Vaughn has been an Assistant Coach for the Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field teams for the past 2 years. Coach Vaughn ran Cross Country and Track, and played baseball at New Hanover High School in Wilmington and will be graduating from North Carolina State in May.
Coach Michael McDonnell has been an Assistant Coach for the Cross Country team for last 2 years.