"It is so beneficial for our kids to have something that allows them to connect to the school beyond the classroom," says Miragliuolo, who is also the school's Head Baseball Coach. "Plus, I really want to get our young people active at a time when obesity is such a problem in our society. I wish I could keep everybody on the baseball team, but I just can't because of the nature of the sport. One of the things I love about cross country is that I don't have to put a limit on the roster."

How does he attract so many members to his team? To start, he has worked on making cross country the "in" team at Green Hope.

"Cross country has always had a reputation as being a sport with different kinds of kids," says Miragliuolo. "They're thought of as dorky or geeky or whatever. I wanted cross country to be seen as a cool thing to do. So I started by getting some of the kids who are seen as more popular to join the squad."

From there, he has relied on word of mouth from his runners, building the program's reputation one athlete at a time. "I always ask each team member to find one friend to come out the next year," says Miragliuolo.

He also talks up the team to any student who will listen. "I go out into the halls and recruit," says Miragliuolo. "I think I've asked everybody in the school at one point or another to come out and run. Sometimes it just takes an invitation. The fact that you want them to be part of something helps them become interested."

Another way Miragliuolo makes the team attractive is by cultivating a fun atmosphere. Practice occasionally turns into an ultimate Frisbee game, and team parents host weekly pasta parties that draw 160 team members. Miragliuolo makes it a point to accommodate his runners' lives outside of cross country, and the sheer size of the team makes practice seem more like a social event.

To help organize the team, Miragliuolo has a network of seven or eight team parents, who round up other parent volunteers. Along with overseeing the pasta parties, team parents help with administrative functions like ordering warm-up suits. They also organize fan support, making sure there are cheering sections stationed throughout the course at each meet.

To make practices manageable, Miragliuolo uses a tier system. Three groups of 60 to 70 runners each complete workout plans at three different levels of difficulty. The runners are then further broken down into companies of 10 each, with a student-athlete captain leading the workout and taking attendance for his or her company.

"Having the tiers is essential," says Miragliuolo. "We talk to the kids a lot about their reasons for running. Some of them do it just to stay in shape, for socializing, for their resume, or to prepare for another sport. Those kids will be in one of the less intense or competitive groups, and we don't mind that, as long as they do what they're supposed to do inside their group.

Miragliuolo staggers the days he works with each group, doing intervals with one tier, while the other tiers are on a long run. Three assistant coaches help out, but none are at practice every day.

The large squad size has certainly not hindered the team's competitiveness, as the boys' have won eight straight Tri-8 Conference titles and the girls won the state title this past fall.

Beyond the team's success, Miragliuolo is very proud of making everyone and anyone feel welcome. Green Hope suits up around 50 runners for dual meets, and every team member gets to compete at least once. Three seasons ago, Will Craigle participated while flying back and forth to Boston for chemotherapy to fight a brain tumor. Last year, Nathan Baker, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, has cut eight minutes off his 5K race time, down to 24:18.

"We try to create 200 different options for our 200 kids so they can find a comfort zone, and then we push them from there," Miragliuolo says. "I try to say hello to each team member as often as I can, and I walk around and talk with the kids about anything, whether it's school or workouts--the important thing is that everyone feels a part of it."

To read more about no-cut teams, check out the story, "The More the Merrier" appearing in our February/March 2010 issue.