The Magnificent 7, Week 7: The first conference champions are crowned. They won’t be the last

Since high school sports slowly climbed itself out of the mires of the pandemic, Orange County teams have ruled local volleyball.

For the past three years, Cedar Ridge was at the top. With Cameron Lloyd, Cameron Lanier, Julie Altieri, Grace Young, Melissa Benkowitz and Anaya Carter formed the nucleus of a team that took volleyball to new heights in Hillsborough, winning the 2021 3A State Championship, three conference regular season and two tournament championships.

Now, Orange has earned its way to a conference championship, its first since 2005. Almost all of the Orange seniors who clinched the conference title last Thursday in a 3-1 win 0ver Southern Alamance weren’t even alive when the last Orange conference champions were crowned. Back then, Orange was a 2-A team playing in the Mid-State Conference.

Overall, the fall sports scene has been strong for Orange and Cedar Ridge. The Orange volleyball team is ranked #1 in the 3A East RPI rankings. Barring a slip-up during the conference tournament, the road to the state championship match in Raleigh will run through Hillsborough. Again.

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team is in first place in the Central Carolina Conference. There has never been a conference champion in men’s soccer at Orange or Cedar Ridge High Schools. Orange High first fielded a men’s soccer team in 1988, inconveniently across the county from Chapel Hill, who had won three state championships before Orange even started a program. While the current Orange team is on the bubble, they are still on track to make the state playoffs, as well.

The Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team will play for a share of a conference championship today. Even if they don’t defeat Walter Williams, they will qualify for a spot in the 3A State Dual Team playoffs for the first time since 2016, when they won the Big 8 Conference Championship. For the first time, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association will have 32 teams in the dual team state tournament, as opposed to the traditional 16 teams. Thus, Orange will likely make the field for the third straight year.

And we haven’t even brought up the Orange men’s cross country team, the two-time defending conference champions who just happen to have the defending 3A State Champion, Gabriel Schmid, set to run for another conference, regional and state championship.

All in all, there’s a lot to look forward to as we venture into October. And more conference champions waiting to be crowned locally.

With that in mind, here’s this week Magnificent 7 from the week of September 24-30. The seven best performances, in no particular order:

1. Tyler Narold, Orange, Sr. The ultimate Swiss army knife for the Orange football team. Narold had three interceptions for Orange in its 43-0 win over Cedar Ridge on September 29 at Red Wolves Stadium. Narold returned one interception for a touchdown and also kicked three extra points. He started at quarterback, safety, placekicker and punter.
2. Cameron Mayhew, Cedar Ridge, Sr. Won two matches in a 6-3 victory over Orange on September 27 at Panthers Tennis Courts. Mayhew and Adeline Cummings teamed to defeat Erinn and Shannon Sollars 8-4. Mayhew also defeated Erinn Sollars 6-2, 6-1 in the #1 singles match. The following day, Mayhew won two more matches in the Red Wolves victory over Southern Alamance in Hillsborough. Cedar Ridge women’s tennis is 13-4.
3. Sadye Porter, Orange, Sr: Porter, Orange’s libero, had 14 digs for Orange in its 3-0 sweep of Cedar Ridge on September 28. Two days earlier, Porter led Orange with 16 digs in a sweep of Walter Williams in Burlington. Porter also had a team-high six aces against the Bulldogs. After she missed the 2022 season, Porter’s return is a big reason why Orange volleyball returned to the top of the conference this season.
4. Iliah Babchenko, Cedar Ridge, Sr.: The Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team grabbed its first win over Walter Williams since they became conference rivals 2-1 on September 25 in Burlington. Babchenko, Cedar Ridge’s leading scorer, scored the opening goal and assisted on the game-winner from Dominic McNerney. Babchenko is a co-Captain for the Red Wolves who was the first Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week this academic year.
5. Gabriel Schmid, Orange, Sr.: Yet another impressive performance from possibly the greatest runner in Hillsborough history. Schmid finished first in the Greensboro Cross Country Invitational on September 30. He paced a field of 146 runners. Schmid has five first-place finished this season with an Orange team that appears to be deeper than ever.
6. Claire Hargett, Cedar Ridge, Soph: Hargett led the Cedar Ridge volleyball team with 12 kills in a 3-0 win over Southern Alamance on September 26 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Hargett also had 12 digs. It was her ninth double-double of the season. She had seven kills and eleven digs against Orange. Late in her sophomore season, Hargett already has 293 career kills.
7. Adeline Cummings, Cedar Ridge, Jr.: The Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team won three matches in three days, beating Person, Orange and Southern Alamance. Cummings won the top singles match over Person, defeated Orange’s Makayla Davis in three sets, ending with an 11-9 tiebreaker, then won a singles match against the Patriots.