The 1977 Chambersburg girls cross country team, which captured the school’s first PIAA team championship.
Note: The Chambersburg Athletics Hall of Fame will induct its inaugural class of 11 athletes or coaches, plus one team, on Friday, Sept. 20 at halftime of the football game against State College. This is the final story is the series.
Chambersburg Hall of Fame – 1977 Girls Cross Country Team
Being the first to achieve a tangible goal can be a source of great pride.
Being the first to win a state championship, well, that will put you in the history books. If and when a history of Chambersburg sports is ever compiled, the Trojan girls cross country team of 1977 will have its place marked as the first Chambersburg team to ever bring home a PIAA team championship trophy.
The girls on that team will be celebrated, along with 11 individuals, when the inaugural class of the Chambersburg Athletics Hall of Fame is inducted the weekend of Sept. 20-21.
The inductees – including Marcia Brown, Dave Myers, Steph (Van Brakle) Prothro, Bob Thomas, Lowell “Doc” Schlichter, Ron Etter, Marshay Ryan, Tom Brookens, Mitch Stahl, Barry Carter and Tim Cook — will be honored at halftime of the football game against State College on Friday night.
The PIAA had held its first state championship cross country meet in 1976, and the Trojans finished third under coach Tim Cook, so the talent was evident.
When the teams gathered at the 2.2-mile course on the Penn State Blue golf course on Nov. 5, Chambersburg was one of the favorites, although State College and Council Rock had bettered them in regular=season invitationals.
But on this day, the Trojans pulled out the win, scoring 59 points to 64 for Council Rock, the defending champion, and 109 for the Little Lions.
Three factors led to the championship – grouping, kicking and a freshman.
Chambersburg did not place a runner in the top 10. But it did put four runners among the next 10 – Debbie Keyser (11th, 13:13), Staci Tolbert (12th, 13:16), Angie Bell (14th, 13:18) and Maureen Navin (20th, 13:26).
Chrystal Kaiser was the other runner who counted in the scoring, and she finished in 14:04 and was 45th. The other runner was Carol Dudney, who was 75th in 14:40.
The time gap between the Trojans’ top four runners was 13 seconds, and only 51 seconds for the top five.
Another factor was the finishing kick of most of the team. Cook said that with 200 yards to go, had they done the scoring then, his team would not have won. But most of the team was able to pass several runners in front of them over the final precious yards and lower their team score.
Finally, the improvement of Kaiser, a freshman, was a factor. In a dual meet two weeks before, nine State College runners had finished in front of Kaiser. In the state meet, only three Little Lions placed ahead of her.
— By Ed Gotwals