Orange Track and Field

The finish line is approaching for several fall sports. After the Big 8 Women’s Tennis Championships last week at East Chapel Hill High School, two singles players qualified for the 3A Mideast Regionals at the Burlington Tennis Center. Another tandem qualified for the doubles regionals.

In volleyball, Cedar Ridge and Orange enter the week tied for 3rd place after the Lady Panthers defeated the Red Wolves last Thursday. Orange hosts Chapel Hill this week, while Cedar Ridge will have senior night on Tuesday against East Chapel Hill. Orange will also have its senior night on Thursday against Southern Durham.

In men’s soccer, the second leg of the Hillsborough Derby will be held tonight (Monday) at Orange. After Cedar Ridge rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Orange in penalty kicks last month, the Panthers will look to split the season series tonight at Orange Soccer Stadium. Cedar Ridge defeated Orange last year at OHS. Cedar Ridge is on the state playoff bubble, currently ranked #63 in the Maxpreps ranking. Orange is #71.

Of course, on Friday night, there’s football. Cedar Ridge, coming off the Chapel Hill win last week, will look for its first winning streak since September 2016 when they travel to East Chapel Hill. Interestingly, the last time Cedar Ridge won consecutive games, they defeated Jordan-Matthews and East Chapel Hill en route to a 6-5 season.

Orange will make its first-ever trip to Vance County. After a disappointing performance against Northern Durham, Orange’s state playoff hopes may be on the line against the Vipers.

Without further ado, here’s this week’s Magnificent 7.

Isaiah McCambry: The sophomore was simply sensational in the Cedar Ridge football team’s 20-19 win over Chapel Hill. He amassed 190 rushing yards and three touchdowns as the Red Wolves won a varsity football game for the first time in 765 days. McCambry has a chance at a 1,000 yard season. With four games remaining, he has 630 yards and five touchdowns.

Brianna Cellini: Cellini qualified for the 3A Mideast Regional tennis tournament in doubles. Last week, Cellini and Mary-Hunter Millet partnered to advance to the semifinals of the Big 8 Conference Tournament. Cellini and Millet will start play this weekend at the Burlington Tennis Center. Cedar Ridge’s Olivia Ward also qualified for regionals in singles competition.

Anne Morrell: Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team won a meet at Orange last week. Morrell won the women’s race at 22:31.6. In fact, Cedar Ridge had the top seven finishers: Morrell, Zoe Wade, Jill Myler, Ariadna Solis, Allegra Hart, Allison Musty and Sarah Tucker. Morrell has been the top finisher for the Cedar Ridge women in races in Charlotte and Greensboro this season.

Cameron Lloyd: Lloyd is one of three Cedar Ridge players to register 100 points this year. The kicker is all three of those players are freshmen. Lloyd had two 20-kill matches last week. In a four-set win over Northern on Thursday at Poe Gymtorium in Durham, Lloyd had 20 kills, eleven digs, three aces and two assists. In the five-set loss to Orange, Lloyd had a career-high 25 kills, five aces, 17 digs, and an assist.

Jera Hargrove: A sophomore, Hargrove qualified for the 3A Mideast Regionals during the Big 8 Women’s Tennis tournament. In the quarterfinals last Wednesday, Hargrove defeated an opponent from East Chapel Hill 6-2, 6-4 Hargrove also won in Orange’s final dual match of the season against Northern Durham last Monday. Hargrove had to default in her semifinal match in the Big 8 Tournament because of a gimpy knee, but she is set to compete for a spot in the state championships this weekend.

Lottie Scully: The Orange volleyball team is headed to the state playoffs after sweeping Cedar Ridge and Northwood last week. Scully, a sophomore, had 12 kills, three aces, ten blocks and eight digs against the Red Wolves. Scully is second on the team with 72 kills going into Tuesday match against Chapel Hill.

Bennett Fleming: A senior for the Orange men’s cross country team, Fleming finished first in a meet against Cedar Ridge last week at Cedar Ridge. Fleming crossed the finish line at 18:53.6. as Orange won the meet with 26 points. Last month, Fleming was Orange’s top finisher at the Adidas Cross Country Challenge at WakeMed Soccer Complex in Cary.

When B.J. Condron bid farewell to his women’s basketball class of 2019 last summer, he knew each of the five seniors had a bright future.

The months that followed, predictably, proved him right.

Icez Barnett, the leader of a 19-7 team last season, moved to Murfreesboro to start her college basketball career with Division II Chowan. Three-point ace Lauren Cates finally found a post-Orange basketball destination at Wake Technical Community College.

Not all of the accolades would be on the hardwood. Namron Chapman was named the North Carolina 4-H Youth Volunteer of the Year in July. Grace Dively, the starting point guard for three straight seasons, earned a $2,000 scholarship from Piedmont Energy to study chemical engineering at N.C. State.

Indeed, there was nothing that any of those five seniors could do that would surprise Condron.

And he was wrong.

Earlier this month, Condron received a text message from Kate Burgess, his starting center the past two years.

“I JUST MADE THE UNC ROWING TEAM!”

“What?!” Condron muttered to no one in particular.

“I had no idea she was going out for rowing,” Condron said. “She just sent that text in.”

Burgess was among 18 walk-ons chosen by UNC Rowing Coach Sarah Haney and her staff among 100 candidates.

Like some of her teammates, Burgess had an exemplary academic record. She also wasn’t afraid to touch a brain in biology class, so why would she be reluctant to go out for a sport she had never participated in?

In May, Burgess was honored by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association with the Heart of a Champion award at the Sheraton Hotel in Chapel Hill. She graduated with a 4.42 GPA with plans to study Biomedical Engineering at UNC.

Burgess isn’t interested in engineering as a career. She’s infatuated with it. In biology class, her squeamish classmates would shy away during activities like brain dissection. Burgess practically jumped for the scalpel, then posed for pictures after the grisly process ended.

If anyone asked, she would freely show them her brain dissection gallery on her iPhone.

After her basketball career ended with Eastern Alamance defeated Orange in February in the 3A State Playoffs, there was still a hunger within Burgess to compete.

“I’ve dreamed of being a Division I athlete since I was a kid,” Burgess said. “Especially at UNC because I’m Tar Heel born and bred.”

As her first semester at UNC started in August, Burgess approached assistant rowing coach Emily Gross, who informed her about the walk-on process.

“When I got to school, I got an email telling us about rowing walk-on tryouts,” Burgess said.

The only problem was she had never rowed a boat in her life.

“I figured why not?” Burgess said. “It could be fun and would be a new challenge.”

Burgess had played a sport every season for the past six years. In addition to women’s basketball, she ran cross country (with Dively) in the fall and track & field in the spring.

“We can be very particular about walk-ons because we have such a large campus,” said UNC Rowing Coach Sarah Haney, a resident of Hillsborough. “We don’t need a ton of walk-ons to fill our team. Kate is incredibly coachable. She was proactive before the tryout process about what she needed to do and how she could better herself to be prepared. We liked that attitude.”

Burgess’ 5-10 frame didn’t hurt. But it was her attitude that impressed Haney the most.

“Height definitely does matter, but if you don’t have the right attitude or work ethic, then your height can mean absolutely nothing,” Haney said. “So we liked Kate’s height. But we also liked that she’s presented to us from a character standpoint and a work ethic standpoint.”

While Condron was surprised by Burgess new sport, he knew Kate well enough to know she’s ready for anything.

“I was surprised at first because I didn’t know it was something that she was interested in,” Condron said. “But Kate is an athlete. She played three sports throughout high school. She is laser focused when it comes to accomplishing goals.”

UNC will start its season at the Head of the Charles on October 19 in Boston.