Orange High School

Gabe Walker had a successful senior day for Orange Swimming against crosstown rival Cedar Ridge.

Orange captured the boys and girls meets over Cedar Ridge. The boys won 164-111, while the girls prevailed 185-76.

Sam Rasinske was part of the 400 yard freestyle relay team that was victorious. He teamed with Conor Towell, Cross Roman and Noah Jamison. Rasinske also finished 2nd in the 100 yard breastroke, behind Orange’s Collin Montague. He finished fourth in the 200 yard intermediate, a race that Noah Jimison won.

Walker and Montague were the most successful male swimmers of the day for Orange. Walker finished first in the 200 yard medley relay with Montague, Noah Jimison and Thomas Sikes. That quartet also captured the 200 yard freestyle relay.

Walker also won the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:02.45, ahead of Cedar Ridge’s Devin Bunner. He finished runner-up in the 100 yard freestyle, just behind Cedar Ridge’s Christian Fischer.

Orange’s Sam Rasinske and Gabe Walker Discuss Senior Day vs. Cedar Ridge

Walker finished first in three events against Cedar Ridge on Thursday. Rasinske has his sights set on the future after finishing 2nd in the 100 yard breaststroke and winning as a part of the 400 yard freestyle relay team.

It was a busy day for Orange swimmer Stephanie Nolte, but it was a victorious one.

Jones won four events, including two relay races on Thursday afternoon at the Triangle SportsPlex against crosstown rival Cedar Ridge. Nolte teamed with Anna Geib, Carson McLendon and Amanda Jones to win the 200 yard medley relay and the 200 yard freestyle relay. On her own, Nolte won the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 1:03.03. She also captured the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 27,07, five seconds ahead of teammate Shannon Pinnell.

Orange’s Stephanie Nolte Wins Four Events in Eventful Meet on Senior Day vs. Cedar Ridge

Uploaded by Hillsborough Sports on 2017-01-13.

A banner day for Orange swimmer Amanda Jones ended with three victories. Competing in four races, Jones captured the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:07.37. She joined Carson McLendon, Anna Geiger and Stephanie Nolte in winning the 200 yard medley relay and the 200 yard freestyle relay.

Orange’s Amanda Jones Takes 3 Events on Senior Day at Triangle SportsPlex

Jones was a member of the 200 yard medley relay team that won on Thursday. She also won the 100 yard butterfly, and was a part of the 200 yard freestyle relay team that won, as well.

The Orange Boys Basketball Team is the only undefeated squad remaining in Big 8 Conference play after last Thursday’s victory over Chapel Hill. Orange won 73-64 behind a season-high 38 points from Connor Crabtree. The Panthers lead the Big 8 with a 3-0 record, while Chapel Hill falls to 3-1. Southern Durham is 2-1, while Northern Vance is 1-1. Webb and Northwood are 1-3. Orange is slated to travel to Webb on Friday night, followed by a Saturday afternoon home game against Cedar Ridge.

Orange Coach Greg Motley Talks the Win Over Chapel Hill

Orange is the last undefeated team in Big 8 Conference play after beating CHHS 73-64 on Thursday night.

It has been quite sometime since the Orange Girls Basketball team has earned a tournament trophy.

That changed on New Year’s Eve when the Panthers defeted Bartlett Yancey 51-38 for the tournament championship. It was the culmination of three games in three days which started with Orange continuing its best-of-73 series against Southern Alamance (it was the third time they’ve played in five weeks) with a 43-26 win. The following night, the Panthers defeated former Big 8 rival Cardinal Gibbons 55-43, its first victory over the Crusaders since 2008.

In their season-opening eleven-game winning streak, Orange’s victory over BY was certainly the most difficult. They trailed 17-6 early in the second quarter, their largest deficit of the season. Veteran Lady Bucs coach Lindsey Page flustered Orange’s offense by throwing a mixture of 2-3 zones, 1-3-1 zones, midcourt traps and regular man-to-man defenses.

While Kaylen Campbell justifiably won tournament MVP honors after scoring 18 points against Gibbons and 17 against BY, it’s likely Orange wouldn’t have won the championship without the contributions of Icez Barnett and Jazlyn Watson.

Barnett came off the bench to score 15 points and grab a season-high 15 rebounds. Watson scored ten points and registered eleven rebounds.

After wins over Northern Durham and Chapel Hill this week, Orange is now 13-0 heading into the most difficult week of the season (weather permitting). The Panthers, 13-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big 8, are supposed to play Northwood in Pittsboro on Tuesday, Webb on Friday and Cedar Ridge on Saturday. Of course, Mother Nature will have the final word.

Here’s Icez talking about winning the Holiday Hoopla championship and what’s ahead for the undefeated Lady Panthers.

Orange’s Icez Barnett on Winning the Eastern Alamance Holiday Hoopla Tournament

Kaylen Campbell deservedly earned the Holiday Hoopla MVP, but one could argue Orange wouldn’t have the tournament without the play of Icez Barnett. In the championship game against Bartlett Yancey, Barnett scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as Orange won 51-38.

Last Friday, Orange trailed Eastern Guilford 18-2 before they stormed back to win 74-60. It was another game where Connor Crabtree and Logan Vosburg were huge, scoring 27 and 24 points, respectively. But there were other factors. Like junior Mitch Portman, who scored eight points. Freshman Joey McMullin added seven.

Instead of just letting Connor and Logan do the talking, they insisted the whole team participate after Orange concluded 2016 with a tournament championship, just as they started the calendar year by winning the Big 8 Tournament Championship in February.

A victorious Orange boys basketball team asks after winning the Eastern Guilford Holiday Tournament

After trailing 18-2 to Eastern Alamance at EAHS, the Panthers stormed back to beat the Wildcats 74-60. Rather than just focus on one player for the post game video, we made it a team effort.

Orange Coach Greg Motley Discusses Winning the Eastern Guilford Holiday Classic

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Like lists? You’ll love the start of 2017 on HillsboroughSports.com.

Over the next ten days, we’ll count down the top ten moments from the fall sports season.

To start the list, we journey all the way back to August. The Orange boys soccer team got off to a 4-1-1 start, thanks in part to junior striker Jamar Davis.

To start his junior season, Davis scored nine goals in five games.

He began the year with a hat trick against Northern Durham in a 5-2 victory on August 15. A week later, he notched another goal in a 9-1 win over Graham.

But his best performance came in the Panthers’ third game of the season against Bartlett Yancey in Hillsborough. Davis scored four goals against the Buccaneers in an 8-1 win. Alfredo Rodriguez assisted on two of the goals.

Davis, who has placed four times this year for Orange’s wrestling team at 190 pounds, finished the year with a team-high 20 goals and six assists. He also led the team with 46 points.

Orange finished the year 8-11-1 and was eliminated from playoff contention following a 6-4 loss to Southern Durham on October 25. It was a disappointing finish after a 2015 campaign where Orange went 10-10-2 with a playoff appearance against Cleveland.

Next fall, Davis, Ewan McCallum (five goals), Bryan Torres (7 goals and 1 assist) and goalkeeper Noah Miller are all slated to return to the Panthers in a brand-new conference, which will include the addition of 4-A power East Chapel Hill, along with Northern Durham and Hillside.

In theory, it was possibly the longest road trip for any Orange High sports team in the 53-year history of the school.

In practice, Orange Wrestling Coach Bobby Shriner went home.

Shriner, a native of Roselle Park, New Jersey, returned to his stomping grounds this week after a 10-hour bus trip each way. It was a fulfilling journey, on and off the wrestling mat.

After a tour of Manhattan on Wednesday, the Panthers captured the Roselle Park Invitational team championship, finishing with 224 points in the nine team competition. Passic Valley High, from Little Falls, NJ, finished 2nd with 204 points.

It was another Payton Wilson victory at 220 pounds. Wilson, who won the 220 championship at the Tiger Holiday Classic after beating South View’s Cade Smith 10-3, earned his third tournament championship this year at 220. Wilson is 25-0 on the season and remain #1 in the state at 220.

Just weeks after suffering an injury on his right knee from an ingrown hair on his right knee, junior Bailey Hawkins captured his first individual championship at 132 pounds. Hawkins, ranked 5th in the state at 132, is now 25-6 thus far.

Also claiming his first individual championship was heavyweight Daylen Alson, who learned how delicate winning tournament championships can be at the Tiger last week. Facing Carrboro’s Emanuel Oquaye in the semifinals, a weary Alston got a takedown to go ahead 9-6 with :23 remaining in the third period. Yet Oquaye had the stamina to secure a two-point reversal to force Alston to the mat, then gained a near fall in the dying seconds to win the match 10-9 and advance to the finals. Alston, ten seconds away from facing Southeast Guilford’s Evan Surgeon in the finals, finished the tournament 5th.

His fortunes in New Jersey were better. He captured the championship, improving his record to 21-6.

Five Orange grapplers finished second: Gavin Wiggins (120); Charlie Fitzpatrick (152); Josiah Ramirez (170); Branden Homsey (182) and Jamar Davis (195).

Mitchell Askew, Mitchell Lopeman, Levi Anderson, Avery Jenkins, Noah Davis and Caleb Brimmer all placed for Orange.

That ends the 2016 calendar for the Panthers. Now, Orange enters 2017 the favorites to win the Big 8 Conference Championship after beating Northwood before Christmas break. The Panthers return to Big 8 action with a tri-meet against Northern Vance and J.F. Webb at Webb on Wednesday.