Month: February 2020

Two Orange High swimmers competed in their respective individual championship meets during the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A State Swimming Championships.

In addition, Cedar Ridge’s Devin Bunner, who was named the Big 8 Male Swimmer of the Year last month at the Big 8 Conference Championships, finished eighth in the 100 yard breaststroke on Saturday afternoon at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary.

Orange junior Matthew Geib competed in the championship final individually and in a relay race. Geib finished 7th in the 100 yard butterfly at 53.11 seconds. Boyd Poelke of Marvin Ridge captured the championship at 49.26 seconds.

Geib joined senior Noah Jimison, Cross Roman and Owen Rasinske to come in 8th in the state in the 200 yard medley relay at 1:41.55. Earlier in the day, Geib, Jimison, Roman, and Rasinske qualified for the championship race with an eighth place finish in the preliminaries.

It was the last time that Jimison and Roman, both seniors, would race alongside junior teammates Geib and Rasinske.

“In my mind, I was just trying to do my best today,” Jimison said. “We were looking forward to the relays. My goal is this meet was to make the (championship) finals. So I just wanted to make everyone proud.”

In addition, Jimison qualified for the state championships in two individual events. He finished 12th in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:01.21. In the 100 yard backstroke, Jimison came in 14th at 55.65 seconds.

The previous week in the 3A Central Regionals in Greensboro , Jimison, Geib, Roman and Rasinske won the regional championship and broke the school record in the 200 medley with a time of 1:40.44.

“I just wanted to leave it all in the water,” Roman said. “I wanted to give it everything I had and make it the best meet I’ve ever had in my four years at Orange. That’s what I’ll remember about my time at Orange. Breaking the records with my boys right here and just really enjoying the entire four years.”

Bunner ended his Cedar Ridge career with a 10th place finish in the 200 yard individual medley. He touched the wall at 2:00.46.

Cedar Ridge’s 400 yard freestyle relay team of Bunner, Gabriel Castaneda, John Garcia and Grant Fox finished 17th in the preliminaries, ending up with a time of 3:35.39.

In the women’s ranks, Orange’s 200 yard medley team of Abby Dease, Ashley Behringer, Brooke Walker and Calla Walker finished 16th in the 200 yard relay at 1:59.14.

Dease, Calla Walker, Behringer and Melissa Campbell finished 16th in the 400 yard freestyle relay. They ended up with a time of 3:54.62. Campbell is a sophomore, while Walker, Dease and Behringer are all juniors.

Behringer also qualified for the state championships in two individual events. She finished 18th in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:21.45. In the 100 yard butterfly, Behringer came in 17th at 1:01.74.

Calla Walker, a junior, came in 18th in the 50 yard freestyle at 25.83 seconds.

Orange’s Brooke Walker came in 16th in the 100 yard backstroke at 1:13.28.

Chapel Hill won the men’s team state championship at 266 points. Marvin Ridge had 254. Orange finished 13th in the men’s standings with 75 points.

Charlotte Catholic won the women’s state championship.

Mia Davidson: The Mississippi State softball team opened the 2020 season by winning the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Leadoff Classic at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, FL. The Bulldogs defeated Missouri State 5-0 on Friday, romped past Liberty 9-2 and edged Louisville 3-2 in eight innings on Saturday, then shut out N.C. State 9-0 in five innings on Sunday to clinch the championship. Davidson hit her first home run fo the season against Liberty, a solo blast in the fourth inning. For the weekend, Mia hit .385 for the weekend. She finished 5-for-13. In the season opener against Missouri State, Davidson went 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Montana Davidson: Montana started her redshirt junior season by playing all four games this weekend for Mississippi State, as well. Montana went 1-for-2 against Missouri State and had an RBI off a sacrifice fly. She finished .273 with two RBIs. Mississippi State will host Alabama State in hits home opener at Nusz Park in Starkville, MS on Wednesday.

Marvin Jones: The North Carolina Central junior continued a strong season for the Eagles’ indoor track & field team. In the Camel City Invitational at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, Jones won the high jump on Saturday. Jones matched his career-best leap by clearing 2.10 meters. Jones, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2017, has now won the high jump twice and finished second twice this season. He has also qualified for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championships, which starts February 20 in Landover, MD. The Eagles will return to action in the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational, hosted by Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA on Friday.

Bowen Collins: The Lenoir-Rhyne men’s lacrosse team opened its season with a 22-11 victory over Young Harris at Moretz Stadium in Hickory on Saturday. Collins had three goals and two assists for the Bears, who are ranked #16 in Division II. With his first career hat trick, Collins matched his total goal output from all of last season. Collins, a redshirt senior, had five shots, four of them on goal. The Bears face Westminster on Friday in Hickory.

Zach Wright: The former Orange attacker started lacrosse season for the Division II Mars Hill Lions. Montevallo defeated Mars Hill 19-12 at Meares Stadium in Mars Hill on Saturday. Wright scored Mars Hill’s last goal of the third period. He had three shots, two on goal. Mars Hill will host Lees-McRae on Tuesday.

Kaylen Campbell: After starting the year 9-1, the Division III Trinity women’s basketball team has lost three straight. On February 1, Williams defeated the Bantams 83-76 in Williamstown, MA. On Friday, Tufts upended the Bantams 77-61 in Medford, MA. Campbell scored two points and grabbed five rebounds in 16 minutes. Tufts, the top-ranked team in Division III, improved to 21-0. On Saturday, Bates edged Trinity 54-50 in Lewiston, ME. Campbell didn’t score in three minutes of action. Trinity is 15-7 overall, 4-4 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Campbell has played in 17 games this season. She’s averaging 11.9 minutes per game, 2.9 points per game and 2.2 rebounds per game. Trinity will host Amherst on Friday in Hartford, CT in an attempt to break its losing streak.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior swimmer Noah Jimison. On Saturday, Jimison swam his final meet for Orange in the 3A State Swimming Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. Jimison finished 12th in the state in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:01.76. He also came in 14th in the state in the 100yard backstroke at 55.96 seconds. Jimison was also a part of two relay teams that qualified for the state championships. He joined Matthew Geib, Cross Roman and Owen Rasinske in finishing 8th in the State in the 200 yard medley, coming in with a time of 1:41.55. Jimison, Geib, Roman and Rasinske also finished 12th in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Swimming has been a big part of Noah’s life since he was ten. He has constantly trained at the Orange County Sportsplex and hopes to continue swimming at the next level after he graduates from Orange in June.

By Jon Franklin

Two Cents from The Franklin Mint

Following the distribution of ballots to each member school, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association announced last week that the proposed amendments to the Association’s by-laws were defeated.

To recap, Proposal #1 would have allowed the NCHSAA Board of Directors to change the number of classifications from four to any number of classifications. The ballot mentioned five or six classifications, with the possibility of dropping back to three or four classifications in subsequent years if the board felt it was necessary.

Proposal #2 would have required the NCHSAA to realign schools and conferences on an annual basis for the state playoffs. This could have resulted in schools having teams in different classifications in each sport, each year. It also meant that conferences and the regular season could be less dependent on school classification.

Principals were designated voters on behalf of each member school and each school received a singular vote. Any school who failed to submit a ballot was be counted as a “no” vote. In order to pass these amendments, each issue required a three-fourths vote in the affirmative of the full membership to pass, or 314 of the 418 member schools. 

The exact figures of the votes were not released, but would be discussed at the NCHSAA Annual Meeting at the Dean E. Smith Center on April 30. The new realignment cycle is still slated to begin at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.

So what does this all mean? Simply put, realignment is back at square one.

I’m not surprised to see these amendments fail. I personally believe that they were written TO fail. Whether this is true or not, remains to be seen. 

Think about it. With the mass expansion that the NCHSAA has experienced since the year 2000 has allowed football playoffs to grow from four state champions to eight state champions. Sports such as baseball, basketball, softball, and volleyball have expanded their playoffs from 48 teams to 64 teams. Despite being a non-profit organization, they seem to have “profited” from this expansion. Yet again, more teams produces more games, and more games equals more money. If all of this is true, why would you change something that brings in much needed revenue, and why would you take away these games that adds to the revenue?

The truth remains in that the Association is bloated beyond belief, and its playoff selection and qualification criteria is more likened to parks and recreation leagues handing out participation awards. The more this organization continues to swell and the playoffs continue to become diluted with inferior teams, the more irrelevant the championships will become.

And yes, until change comes with the expansion to 5A, and more sensible playoff qualification and selection rules are adopted – I’ll keep repeating all of this. 

So with the failure of this vote, what becomes next of realignment?

The truth is, realignment is still slated to begin at the start of the 2022-2023 academic year. While mandated by the Association’s by-laws to realign every four years, the extra year in this current cycle is designed to give the NCHSAA extra time to figure how they will expand. But if the expansion proposal was defeated how will the Association expand?

The simple answer might be to create a “Class 4AA”. This would allow the NCHSAA to expand without amending its by-laws as the by-laws only permits classifications of 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A. This is reminiscent of the “Big 16” division in South Carolina, which is a super-conference of the 16 largest high schools in the Palmetto State. 

Conventional wisdom would also suggest that each of the classes would be aligned by an across-the-board, twenty percent split. Currently, schools are aligned by a 20-30-30-20 format as the highest and lowest twenty percentiles are the 4A and 1A classes, respectively, while the middle thirty percentiles are 2A and 3A. 

With 418 schools in the NCHSAA membership, an even twenty percent split would give each classification approximately 84 teams. At this rate, the idea of subdividing the football playoffs and 64-team state playoffs in other sports could finally be buried. In addition, there are dozens of schools caught in gray areas. This means is that currently, there are a number of schools that could be one classification or another. An even split would place each team in its’ rightful classification.

While the measure of yearly realignment was defeated, it could be brought up in the future that realignment could be suggested to take place every two years. The data utilizing Average Daily Membership (or ADM) becomes very ancient as the Association begins to compile the data two years prior to implementing the realignment. By the time the data reaches the end of the realignment cycle, the data is six years old. 

A city, town, county, or school district can drastically change in that period of time. With the rapid pace of school construction, a four-year realignment cycle could be inaccurate. An every two-year approach could be more accurate and sensible.

—–

If you didn’t come out to last Friday’s rivalry showdown between Orange and Cedar Ridge, you certainly missed out on some excellent games. All three games were tightly contested and all three games were tied going into the fourth quarter.

The highlight came in the Varsity Boys game as Cedar Ridge Arena was filled to capacity. The game was very much in favor of the Red Wolves as they were firing on all cylinders as senior captain Chris Tinnen (21 pts) and senior reserve Jai’kel Gibbs were laser-focused. Gibbs sent the Red Wolf faithful to a frenzy in the first quarter as he came off the bench to hit a trio of three-pointers in the last ninety seconds of the period. Tinnen was on point all game long with accurate mid-range shooting, and was all over the place defensively. Gibbs would also wind up hitting two more trifectas in the game, tallying 15 pts. Senior Mekai Collins (16 pts) also contributed with another solid performance. 

Let’s not take anything away from the Panthers’ double-double duo of Jason Franklin (no relation; 26 pts, 11 rebs) and Joey McMullin (18 pts, 12 rebs), who were instrumental in keeping Orange within striking distance. But with leads of up to 18 points in the game, the Red Wolves were not going to be denied of their first sweep of their crosstown rivals since 2015. 

And finally, last Friday’s games were the first Hillsborough Heat games for new Cedar Ridge principal, Dr. Carlos Ramirez and new Orange principal, Mr. Matthew J. Hunt. I was fortunate to meet Dr. Ramirez, who was immensely encouraged on what he witnessed inside Cedar Ridge Arena. Both principals (and fans) are in for a treat with this hotly contested rivalry.

Orange High’s 200 yard medley relay team of Noah Jimison, Matthew Geib, Cross Roman and Owen Rasinske came in 8th in the state on Saturday during the 3A State Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center. The group had a time of 1:41.55. On Saturday morning, Jimison, Geib, Roman and Rasinske finished eighth in the preliminaries at 1:40.25 to qualify for the championship final. It was a busy day for Jimison and Geib. Geib reached the championship race of the 100 yard butterfly, where he finished 7th in the state at 52.07 seconds. Also, Geib finished 10th in the 100 yard breaststroke. Jimison finished 12th in the state in the 200 yard individual medley, finishing with a time of 2:01.21 in the consolation race. Jimison, in his final event as a Panther, also finished 14th in the 100 yard backstroke. While Jimison and Roman will be graduating, Geib and Rasinske will be back next year waking up early during winter mornings to practice at the Orange County Sportsplex.

While it wasn’t as dramatic as the UNC-Duke finish on Saturday night, the Stanford and Stanback Middle School wrestling teams had one more tight competition before wrestling season ended.

This time it was at the OPAC Tournament in Roxboro.

At Southern Middle School on Saturday, the Chargers finished first in the OPAC Tournament team standings with 155 points. The Bulldogs had 145 points.

Stanford won its 20th consecutive regular season championship last week after they defeated the Bulldogs 51-45 in Hillsborough. Last month, the Chargers edged the Bulldogs 47-46 at Bulldog Gymnasium.

Both the Chargers and the Bulldogs crowned four individual champions.

Gravelly Hill, who finished with 42 points, had Lucas Calvin win the 198 pound championship. Calvin defeated Stanback’s Carlos Vera De Lara in the championship match. He was one of two Grizzles to win individual championships.

Stanford’s Mateo Albright came in 3rd at 198.

After finishing 2nd last season at 76 pounds, Stanford’s Wyatt Hedrick won the 86 pound championship to complete a perfect season. Hedrick defeated Culbreth’s Jake Kent in the semifinals.

Stanback’s Pierce Prescod won the 101 pound championship, defeating Southern Roxboro’s Christian Lemaire in the final. Prescod had two individual wins over Stanford during the regular season. Stanford’s Aidan Cain finished 4th.

At 109 pounds, Stanford’s Jared Hutchins defeated Smith’s Siena Palmisiano in the final. Hutchins also finished the season undefeated and claimed his 2nd OPEC championship. Last year, he won the 86 pound title. Gavin Stone of Stanback finished 4th.

Josh Cowan won the 116 pound title for Stanford. Cowan defeated Stanback’s Leo Oguntiyinbo in an All-Hillsborough final to end the season undefeated. Cowan finished 2nd last year at 106 pounds.

Stanford’s Jace Womble also completed a perfect season by winning the 135-pound championship. Womble, who was the runner-up at 120 pounds in 2019, defeated Stanback’s Edwin Hernandez Huerta in the championship.

Stanback’s Kaden Tatro was the Bulldogs’ second individual champion. Tatro defeated Stanford’s Andre Hill to win the 141 pound title and ended the year with an unblemished record.

At 163 pounds, Stanback’s Marcos Esparza defeated Stanford’s Joshua Merrill in the title match. Esparza finished the year 11-0.

Stanback’s Joe O’Meila won the 173 pound championship over Northern Roxboro’s Daniel Moreno. O’Meila finished the year 11-1 for the Bulldogs. Stanford’s Vincent Jobert-Stenzel came in third.

Gravelly Hill’s other champion came at 155 pounds, where Mason Cates captured the crown. Cates defeated Stanford’s Sascha Van Praag in the final.

At 185 pounds, Stanback’s Marcos MacNeil came in 2nd. Gravelly Hill’s Victor Mendoza came in third.

Stanford’s Laurencio Grimaldo, competing at 148 pounds, finished 2nd. Angus Pritchard of Gravelly Hill came in 3rd in that weight class.

Stanford’s Kale Womble finished 2nd at 93 pounds after going undefeated in the regular season. Stanback’s Tommy Heckler came in 3rd.

Stanford’s Luke Stitz finished second at 76 pounds, falling in the championship match to Northern Roxboro’s Taveon Moss. Mason Pierce of Stanback finished 3rd.

At 123 pounds, Stanford’s Luke Nevius finished 2nd, falling to Culbreth’s Cameron Perry in the final. Nevius lost only two matches this season. Stanback’s Ryan Rakouskas came in fourth.

At heavyweight, Stanback’s Aaron Olivares Mojica came in second, falling in the final to McDougle’s John Reyez Cruz.

Stanback’s Kellen McMullen finished 2nd at 223 pounds.

Girl’s Basketball:

Last week, Stanford defeated Southern Roxboro 32-17. The Chargers were led by Shannon Murphy with eleven points. Katie Wolter added six. Evelyn George had five. Olivia Jones scored four, as did Dyreshia Farrish. Caden Robinson scored two for the Lady Chargers.

(Editor’s note: this award is retroactive December 7).

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore pole vaulter Caroline Fowlkes. On Saturday, Fowlkes won her fourth indoor track & field meet of the year at the Apex Last Chance meet at Apex High School. Fowlkes cleared nine feet for the victory. Earlier this year, Fowlkes set her new personal best at the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #2 in Mebane, when she vaulted nine feet, six inches. With that, Fowlkes qualified for the 3A State Indoor Track & Field Championships, which takes place next Saturday at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem. This is the second year in a row that Fowlkes has qualified for the state indoor championships. Last year as a freshman, she finished 14th in the state when she finished at 8 feet, six inches. Last May, Fowlkes also qualified for the outdoor state championships in the pole vault at North Carolina A&T. She finished 9th in the state championships with a vault of ten feet. Fowlkes comes from a family of pole vaulters. Her father, who competed at the University of South Alabama, is her coach. Her mother competed at the University of Florida.

Cedar Ridge’s 4×800 meter relay team has qualified for next week’s 3A State Indoor Track & Field Championships. On Saturday, the team of Zoe Wade, Georgia Roney, Allison Musty and Sarah Tucker finished with a time of 10:33.70 at the Apex Last Chance meet at Apex High School on Saturday morning. The team will compete at the 3A State Championships next week at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem. It’s another impressive item to the resume of Wade and Musty, who helped the Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team qualify as a squad for the 3A State Championships after finishing 2nd in the Mideast Regionals. Musty helped set the Cedar Ridge outdoor track and field record in the 4×800 relay in 2018 at the Mideast Regionals. Joining Wade, Roney, Tucker and Musty in the state championships next weekend will be Cedar Ridge senior sprinter Elijah Horne and sophomore pole vaulter Caroline Fowlkes.

After a solid finish in the 3A Central Regional Championships, ten Orange swimmers are set to compete in the state championships.

Cedar Ridge’s Devin Bunner is also headed to Cary.

At the regionals last week at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, the Orange High men’s team finished 3rd overall out of 28 teams. The Lady Panthers women’s team finished 7th.

The biggest day belonged to Orange sophomore diver Stasz Zitko, who became the first athlete in school history to win a regional championship. Zitko finished with a score of 372.10. On Friday morning, Zitko finished 3rd in the 3A State Championships at Koury Natatorium at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Orange’s men’s medley relay team won the regional championship, breaking the school record at a time of 1:40.44. Noah Jimison, Matthew Geib, Owen Rasinske and Cross Roman formed the team that edged the Chapel Hill team by .16 of a second.

Jimison set two school records in the 100 backstroke and the 200 individual medley, qualifying for the state championships in both events. Jimison finished 4th in the backstroke in 55.19 seconds, and came in 5th in the 200 at 2:01.85.

In addition to the relay teams, Geib qualified for the state championships in the 100 meter butterfly and the 100 breaststroke. Geib finished 2nd in the 100 fly at 52.29. He finished 4th in the breaststroke at 1:01.57. Both times were personal bests.

Bunner, the Big 8 Male Swimmer of the Year, finished 2nd in the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:00.20, just seven-tenths-of-a-second behind Chapel Hill’s Michael Volpe. Bunner also came in 4th in the 200 yard individual medley at 1:59.07.

Cedar Ridge’s 400 yard freestyle relay team of Bunner, Grant Fox, Gabriel Castaneda and John Garcia also qualified for the state championships with a sixth place finish.

Individually, Castaneda broke 1:00 in the 100 butterfly for the first time in his career.

Orange’s Ashley Behringer qualified in two individual events. She finished 7th in the 200 individual medley at 2:20.49, her best time of the season. Behringer came in eighth in the 100 meter butterfly at 1:01.88, another season best. She also swam on both relay teams that qualified for the state championships.

Behringer was joined by Calla Walker, Brooke Walker and Abby Dease on the Medley Relay team. Behringer, Dease, Calla Walker and Melissa Campbell qualified in the 400 yard freestyle relay team with a sixth place finish at 3:55.46.

The 3A State Championships will be held at the Cary Aquatic Center starting on Saturday morning. The preliminaries will be held Saturday morning. The Championship finals will be held later in the afternoon.

Brooke Walker finished 7th in the 100 breaststroike with a mark of 1:11.88, another personal best.

On the men’s side, Roman finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke at 1:05.44. Roman will also spend Saturday on Orange’s two relay teams.

Both of the teams that finished ahead of Orange in the men’s team standings were Big 8 Conference rivals. Chapel Hill won the 3A team championship with 375 points. East Chapel Hill finished 2nd at 334 points. Orange had 220 points.

On the women’s side, East Chapel Hill won the team regional championship with 356 points. Chapel Hill came in 2nd with 301 points. Orange had 147 points.

Cedar Ridge’s Olivia Aitkin broke six minutes in the 500 freestyle for the first time.