Jeff Hamlin

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.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is sophomore diver Stasz Zitko. On Friday morning, Zitko finished 3rd in the NCHSAA 3A State Diving Championships at Koury Natatorium at UNC-Chapel Hill. Zitko ended up with 391 points. Last week, Zitko became the first diver from Orange High ever to win a regional championship. At the Greensboro Aquatic Center, Zitko compiled 372.10 points to win the 3A Central Regional Championship. Zitko is the only diver for the Orange Men’s Swimming and Diving team. While his swimming colleagues train at the Orange County Sportsplex in Hillsborough, Zitko works out at Duke University. He has qualified for the 3A State Championships in both of his years at Orange. His goal before the end of his career is to win a state championship and earn a diving scholarship to a major university.

The first burst of severe weather this winter wasn’t a snowstorm. It was thunderstorms and high winds, which has led the Cedar Ridge and Orange basketball teams to reschedule its final home games.

Cedar Ridge’s game against East Chapel Hill, originally scheduled for Friday night, was rescheduled for Monday night at 7. The Red Wolves’ women’s basketball team will play at East Chapel Hill on Monday night at 7.

The Orange men’s basketball team not only had to adjust its game against Chapel Hill on Friday, but also its final home game of the year against Southern Durham.

The Panthers’ men’s basketball team will face Chapel Hill on Monday night at home at 7:30. The Orange women’s basketball team travels to Chapel Hill on Monday night.

Originally, the Orange men had its senior night game scheduled against Southern Durham on Tuesday. Now, the game has been rescheduled for Wednesday night at 7:30. The Orange women will also travel to Southern Durham on Wednesday.

The Orange men will conclude its regular season with a road trip to Northern Durham at Poe Gymtorium next Thursday. The Orange women will have its senior night game against the Lady Knights next Thursday, which will be the final home game for Lady Panthers senior Grace Andrews.

The Big 8 Conference Tournament will start February 17. All four basketball teams will be on the road for their respective first round games.

Orange’s Senior Night game will be the final home game for seniors Joey McMullin and Tucker Miller. It will be an unusual ending to an awkward season for McMullin, in particular. On the opposite sideline will be Southern coach Greg Motley, who was McMullin’s coach for his first two seasons at Orange. Motley, who coached Orange for 20 years before resigning at the end of the 2017-18 season, still teaches Economics at Orange and even has several current Panther players as his students. McMullen was one of them earlier this year, as was Orange’s starting point guard J.J. Thompson.

Of the four local teams, the Orange women have the best chance to make the state playoffs, despite a rash of injuries and losing four starters from last year. The Lady Panthers nearly turned the Big 8 Conference standings over on its ear on Thursday night, carrying league leader Northwood to overtime. The Chargers came away with a 51-44 victory, but only after Orange missed two free throws with three seconds remaining with the score tied at 44-44.

The Lady Panthers are 10-9, 4-7 in the Big 8 Conference.

While the Cedar Ridge men held its senior night ceremonies against Orange on January 31, Monday’s game against East Chapel Hill will be the official final home game for Mekai Collins, K.J. Barnes, Andrew Altieri, Jai’kel Gibbs, Zach Holmes, Grayson Ramos and Cameron Hartley. With a win, the Red Wolves would have its first three-game winning streak since early December 2016.

The Cedar Ridge men will conclude its regular season with a road trip to Southern Durham on Thursday.

For the third time in four years, there’s a chance the same school could win both the Big 8 men’s and women’s regular season championships. In the men’s standings, Northwood is 10-1, one game ahead of Southern Durham and Vance County. The Chargers end the year with road trips to Northern Durham and East Chapel Hill before finishing with a home game against Vance County. The Chargers defeated the Vipers 72-55 on January 21. Northwood and Southern Durham split their season series.

After escaping against Orange, Northwood leads the Big 8 Conference with a 10-1 record. Southern Durham, who lost both games to the Chargers, is 9-2.

Orange swept both basketball races in 2016-17. Hillside did it last year.

Schedule for the final week of the regular season:

Cedar Ridge men:

Monday: vs. East Chapel Hill in Hillsborough at 7.

Tuesday: at Vance County

Thursday: at Southern Durham

Cedar Ridge women:

Monday: at East Chapel Hill

Tuesday: at Vance County

Thursday: at Southern Durham

Orange men:

Monday: vs. Chapel Hill at 7:30

Wednesday: vs. Southern Durham 7:30

Thursday: at Northern Durham 7:30

Orange women:

Monday: at Chapel Hill

Wednesday: at Southern Durham

Thursday: vs. Northern Durham

This winter will be recorded as a time of change within local wrestling circles.

Not just because Chapel Hill ended Orange’s dynasty of 17 consecutive conference championships, but also for the revival of wrestling in western Hillsborough.

While the Stanback Middle School Bulldogs didn’t end Stanford’s string of dominance, the Bulldogs’ were competitive with the Chargers. Stanford defeated Stanback 47-46 at Bulldog Gymnasium on January 10 (the Chargers did forfeit its last two matches).

On the surface, that bodes well for Cedar Ridge in the future. Some, if not all, of the Stanback 8th graders will likely wind up wrestling for Scott Metcalf in the future.

As for the Red Wolves, Metcalf thought this would be a rebuilding season in October. Darius McLeod, who qualified for the 3A State Championships in 2019 at 132 pounds, graduated in June after winning 98 career matches.

Instead, this season has turned into a pleasant surprise. A freshman, Fernando Martinez, has posted 29 wins at 106 pounds with 13 pins and three major decisions. Martinez didn’t even start wrestling until two years ago.

The Red Wolves won its final four Big 8 Conference matches. The most thrilling came in its regular season finale against Southern Durham on January 29, which boiled down to the final match at Spartan Gymnasium. Trailing 35-33, Cedar Ridge’s Alex Davis defeated Zion Mcrae 14-8 at 138 pounds, which paved the way for a 36-35 Red Wolves’ victory.

It was the ultimate team win,” Metcalf said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them. I think the future is awfully bright for us especially considering what we have coming back and those coming up from the middle school ranks.”

Davis improved to 17-3 with eleven pins. As is so often the case in tight matches, Cedar Ridge won via bonus points. At 160 pounds, James Rosati-Brown pinned Kasiem Willis in 3:48. Rosati-Brown, who won the individual championship at 152 pounds in the Buccaneer Cup on January 11, ended the regular season 28-11 with 18 pins.

Ruffin Wyrick pinned Southern’s Daveyon Garner in 3:51 at 170 pounds. Wyrick goes into the Mideast Regionals with a 24-11 record with a team-high 20 pins. Alex Christian pinned Jadon Roger in 3:43 for his 21st victory.

At 113 pounds, Eh Tha, who played soccer for Cedar Ridge, pinned Demarion Garner in 4:58.

Daina Pritchard opened the night for the Red Wolves with a 11-4 decision over Thomas Johnson at 132 pounds. Pritchard is tied with Martinez for the team-lead with 29 wins this season.

“Something we had been preaching to them all year was the difference in tight dual matches is often simply getting pins and not giving up pins,” Metcalf said. “Against Southern Durham, that finally came too fruition. And its one thing us saying its another thing for them to experience it. So I think was a big step forward for our team and program.”

For its senior night on January 23, Cedar Ridge defeated East Chapel Hill and Vance County. The Red Wolves defeated the Wildcats 64-18, then defeated the Vipers 78-6.

This weekend, Cedar Ridge’s Kady Watkins will journey to Concord for the NCHSAA State Girls Tournament. Watkins, who won nine matches during the regular season competing at 120 pounds, was the first female wrestler in Hillsborough history to compete for a state championship last year in Winston-Salem. She went 1-2 in the 126 pound division, pinning Haley Shipes of West Mecklenburg in the consolation bracket in 2:30.