Coaching Staff
Coach Michael Miragliuolo will be in his 25th season as the Head Cross Country Coach at Green Hope in 2025. The team has built a tradition of excellence and fielded the largest cross country team in the state and one of the largest in the nation for many years with more than 220 runners annually (Covid brought numbers down, but they are growing again with 105 in 2024). 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 more than 24 years at the helm the Falcons have built an impressive list of accomplishments.
The men's team has won 15 Conference Titles, as well as 4A Mideast Regional Championships in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022 (with runner-up finishes in 2002, 2008, 2018, & 2020). The women's team has won 15 Conference Titles as well as Mideast Regional Titles in 2003, 2004, 2008-2014, and 2016 (with a runner-up finish in 2005, 2015, 2017, & 2018). In 2009 the girls won the school's first-ever State Cross Country Title and followed it up with state titles in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 (with state runners-up finishes in 2008, 2015, 2016, and 2017). The boys' team made it a sweep in 2010 with a title of their own (and finished as state runner-up in 2016 & 2018) and won a state title in 2017 and again in 2022. In addition, the boys were ranked in the National Top 25 in 2007 and 2017. The girls finished the 2009 season ranked 27th in the nation, ended 2010 ranked 10th in the nation, and spent most of the 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015 seasons ranked in the National Top 50 by ESPNRise and The Harrier.
Coach Miragliuolo has been named Conference Boys Coach of the Year 11 times and Girls Coach of the Year 10 times. In 2013 the News and Observer named Miragliuolo the Tarheel of the Week for his work with the cross country program. In 2014 Miragliuolo was awarded the North Carolina Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year Award, the Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Award by the NCHSAA, and was named the Cary News High School Coach of the Year. In 2017 he received the Green Hope Booster Club's Distinguished Service Award and was named the USATF Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year Award for the state of North Carolina. In 2018 he was named the Green Hope Booster Club Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Green Hope Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024. Miragliuolo is a USA Track and Field Level 1 Certified Coach and he is also an AIC and CIC Certified Athletic Coach by the NFHS.
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, baseball, golf and ran cross country. He later earned a BA in history from the University of Tennessee. After graduation he taught for 5 years at John Bapst Memorial High School where he coached the basketball, baseball and soccer teams. He was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.
Coach Miragliuolo came to Green Hope in 2001, where he teaches AP U.S. Government and Politics. In addition to coaching Cross Country, he serves as an Assistant Athletic Director and travels and writes in his free time. He coached the Falcons Baseball team for 22 years as well, compiling a 371-161 record. Coach Miragliuolo has published 3 books, An American Boy (2011), The Real Story of a High School Coach (2014), and Ischia: La Mia Seconda Case (2023). Miragliuolo lives in Cary with his wife Jessara.
Coach Jill Gardiner was born and raised in Cary. She graduated from Cary High School where she played several sports: soccer, tennis, swimming, cross country, and track and field. She eventually earned a full soccer scholarship to NC State University where she earned All-American status. While playing for the US Women’s National Team she sustained a career ending soccer injury. This is when her attention turned to long distance running and triathlons. After starting in mechanical engineering at NCSU, Jill earned a degree in Social Work instead (NCSU 1995). She then went on to earn dual Master degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Mathematics and Secondary Education (1998). While earning her Master degrees she also began teaching and coaching at Garinger High School, in Charlotte. While at Garinger she taught history and coached women’s soccer, men’s tennis and men’s and women’s track and field (1996-1998). After Garinger, she taught and coached at Concord High School. While at Concord she coached cross country, track and field, soccer, tennis, swimming, volleyball and basketball.
Coach Gardiner has earned several honors while teaching and coaching. In addition to being named Teacher of the Year twice, she has also been named conference coach of the year multiple times for different sports (men’s cross country, men’s tennis, men’s soccer, men’s track and field, women’s tennis and women’s soccer). She was also honored as the County Coach of the Year a few times. She has coached numerous Conference Championship teams, Regional team winners and several individual state champions.
In 2017 Coach Gardiner returned home and has taught mathematics at Green Hope since. 2025 will be her 8th year on the Green Hope cross country and track coaching staffs.