Cedar Ridge High School

In its best season under third-year head coach Mike Jones, the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team built another point of pride in Graham.

Jack Kelsey earned his first career double-double with 16 points and eleven rebounds as the Red Wolves defeated Southern Alamance 52-43 in Graham on Tuesday night. It ended a ten-game Central Conference road losing streak for the Red Wolves, who improved to 6-13 overall, 1-6 in league play after the win.

It’s the most wins for Cedar Ridge since the 2022-2023 season, when they finished 6-16. Previous to Tuesday, Cedar Ridge’s last road win in the Central Conference was on February 3, 2023 in a 42-33 victory over Western Alamance in Elon.

A thin Red Wolf team that played just six players was enough to defeat a depleted Southern Alamance squad, which has lost starting guards Kaleb Kronbergs and Bo Day due to injuries. Cedar Ridge sophomore Jordan Jacobson added 16 points for the Red Wolves.

Micah Stone paced Southern Alamance (4-14, 1-6) with 16 points. Southern Alamance’s Riley Warren, who finished with eleven points and eight rebounds, gave the Patriots a 17-15 lead after he cashed in a lob from Stone. After Southern’s Brandyn Gonzalez nailed a 3-pointer off a pass from Eli Gilley, Cedar Ridge went on a 12-0 run. They held the Patriots scoreless in the final 4:47 of the first half.

Jacobson started the run with a 3-pointer off a skip pass from Wilborun. Wise got an offensive rebound off a miss and stuck it back in, which put the Red Wolves ahead for the rest of the night. Kelsey scored consecutive field goals, again off offensive rebounds. Jacobson ended the half in style with a 3-pointer to give Cedar Ridge a 31-23 lead at halftime.

The Red Wolves built a 12-point lead in the third quarter after Wilbourn found Kelsey for a lay-in, vaulting the Red Wolves ahead 37-25 with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter. Cedar Ridge outrebounded the Patriots 46-29, including 15 offensive rebounds. Kelsey, who is in his first year at the varsity level, finished with his most impressive line of the year. He came away with 16 points, eleven rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

The Patriots shot just 4-of-22 from the 3-point line and only 29% from the field overall.

Southern Alamance climbed with six early in the fourth quarter after guard Drayden Brewer scored on a lay-in. Cedar Ridge’s Kevin Etim scored off his own miss, which was followed by a crucial 3-pointer from Red Wolf sophomore Tripp Beasley. To end the game, Beasley sank two free throws.

Women’s basketball: Cedar Ridge 34, Southern Alamance 12: The Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team earned its first conference road win of the season with a dominant victory over the Patriots on Tuesday night in Graham. Cedar Ridge allowed only 12 points, the lowest total by an opponent this season.

Freshman Kassidy Tolliver led the Red Wolves with nine points and eight rebounds as Cedar Ridge improved to 6-9, 2-5 in the Central Conference. Both of Cedar Ridge’s conference wins have come against Southern Alamance.

Sarah Kathryn Manness led Southern Alamance with eight points. Manness scored all three of the Patriots field goals.

Manness gave Southern Alamance its only lead of the game when she scored in the opening minute off an offensive rebound. The Red Wolves went on  an 11-0 run, which started when sophomore Kate Finnegan split two free throws. Guard Ava Smith drained a jumper off a pass from freshman Kennedi Fearrington. Tolliver scored off a turnover to finish the first half.

Smith finished with a career-high eight points for Cedar Ridge. Finnegan finished with five points and four rebounds. Fearrington had four points as the Red Wolves started a string of three road games over the span of four days with a victory. Cedar Ridge built its lead to as large as 23 points in the second half.

It was a bittersweet Senior Day for the Cedar Ridge women’s swimming team. On Saturday, the Red Wolves won the Central Conference Championship at the Orange County SportsPlex. It was also the final home meet for Cedar Ridge seniors Sophia Stinnett and Quinn McCrimmon, where they have practiced and competed for years. Stinnett, who won two Central Regional championships last year, successfully defended her Central Conference championship in the 500 yard freestyle. She also won the 100 yard backstroke. Stinnett won five individual conference championships in her Cedar Ridge career. McCrimmon captured the conference championship in the 200 yard freestyle, beating out Elizabeth Merlette of Walter Williams by .18 seconds in the most narrow race of the day. Stinnett, McCrimmon, freshman Natalie Kunz and Hala Zafar finished 2nd in the 200 yard medley relay. Stinnett and McCrimmon, the senior co-Captains, won their first conference championship under head coach Amanda Jones and ended Orange’s string of three consecutive titles. On Saturday, Stinnett and McCrimmon will compete at the Central Regional championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. On Friday, February 7, the 3A State Championships will take place at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. Last year, Stinnett finished 3rd in the state in the 100 yard backstroke, her first medal in the state championships.

Cedar Ridge’s Quinn McCrimmon, Sophia Stinnett & Natalie Kunz discuss winning the conference title

It was a bittersweet Senior Day for the Cedar Ridge women’s swimming team. On Saturday, the Red Wolves won the Central Conference Championship at the Orange County SportsPlex. It was also the final home meet for Cedar Ridge seniors Sophia Stinnett and Quinn McCrimmon, where they have practiced and competed for years.

Individual success is nothing new for Sophia Stinnett.

Going into Saturday, she had already won three individual championships at the Central Conference Championships, starting with the 200 yard freestyle in her freshman year.

This year, Stinnett and fellow senior Quinn McCrimmon added a team conference title to their lengthy list of achievements.

Stinnett won two individual gold medals as the Cedar Ridge women’s swimming team won the Central Conference championship at the Orange County Sportsplex on Saturday afternoon. For the second year in a row, Stinnett won the 500 yard freestyle and also captured the 100 yard backstroke, where she is the defending 3A Central Regional champion.

McCrimmon won her second individual conference championship in the 200 yard freestyle during the tightest race of the day. McCrimmon beat Western Alamance’s Elizabeth Merlette by .22 of a second, finishing at 2:08.45. Last year, McCrimmon won the 100 yard butterfly.

Cedar Ridge won the women’s team championship with 382 points. Orange, the two-time defending conference champions, finished second at 361 points. Western Alamance came in third with 310 points.

“It’s a little bit of a story arc,” McCrimmon said. “We’ve always been trying to beat Orange for some reason and we finally did. It was such a shocker that we won but I’m really proud of everyone for how hard we’ve worked this season.”

In addition to swimming in the morning with her teammates, McCrimmon usually returns to the pool for a two-hour workout after a full day of school.

The Red Wolves likely would have likely earned more points, but the event was in limbo because of Tuesday night’s snow cancelling school on Wednesday and Thursday. With the Mid-State Conference Championships booked for the SportsPlex on Friday night, the only other time the Central title meet could fit in was Saturday.

It led to twelve Cedar Ridge swimmers missing the event.

“I’m really proud of the ones that came,” said Cedar Ridge swimming coach Amanda Jones. “They had a really great meet today.”

Stinnett captured two Central Regional championships last year at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. She came in the 3A State Championships in the 100 yard backstroke, but had never won a team conference championship until Saturday.

“It’s been really great having them as seniors,” Jones said. “They are really able to do well behind the blocks on relays. I’m really proud of them and I’m honored to see how far they’ve come since they were freshman.”

In December, Stinnett formally signed to swim at Le Moyne College in DeWitt, New York.

It wasn’t just the end of the Central Conference season for Stinnett and McCrimmon, but it was also their final meet inside the Orange County SportsPlex. Stinnett has swam in the SportsPlex pool since she was six years old. She practices at the SportsPlex with her teammates, as well as competitors from Orange, every weekday morning at 6AM.

“It’s definitely bittersweet knowing this is the end of my career here,” Stinnett said. “It’s really exciting because we had never won a conference championship before at Cedar Ridge.” Zoe

Orange junior Piper White repeated as champion of the 50 and 100 yard freestyles. White, who had won three state championships in relay events over the past two years,  won the 50 at 26.51 seconds, beating out Walter Williams Sophia Shideler. Cedar Ridge freshman Eden Pollard finished third.

White captured the 100 yard freestyle at 59.63 seconds, again beating out Shideler. Cedar Ridge junior Hala Zafar came in third at 1:02.87.

White, Ainsley Rasinske, Zoe Jones and freshman Addison Moore won two relay championships. They took the 200 yard medley at 2:02.68. Cedar Ridge’s team of Stinnett, McCrimmon, Zafar and Natalie Kunz finished 2nd at 2:05.38.

White, Rasinske, Jones and Moore also claimed the 400 yard freestyle relay at 4:09.98. McCrimmon, Kunz, Zafar and Stinnett got another runner-up finish (4:16.79).

Orange freshman Reilly Jermyn won the 100 yard breastroke. Jermyn, who was the top runner for Orange’s women’s cross country team last fall, earned her first conference title at 1:18.74, well ahead of Ale Gonzalez Palacios of Williams (1:23.94).

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Pierce Prescod. On Saturday, Prescod won his third consecutive Central Conference championship at 120 pounds at Williams High School in Burlington. Earlier this month at Williams High, Prescod won his 150th career match. During the past four years, Prescod has been a vital part of unprecedented success for the Cedar Ridge wrestling team.  During his sophomore season, Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference Tournament at Orange High School, where he pinned Person’s Taveon Moss for his 1st individual conference title. In his junior year, Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference regular season championship. On December 6, 2023, Prescod earned a pinfall victory as the Red Wolves defeated crosstown rival Orange for the first time in school history. In February 2024, Prescod and his teammates made the long trip to Currituck County and defeated Carrboro and Person to reach the state quarterfinals of the 3A State Dual Team Tournament. In the beginning of his junior season, Prescod won the Red Wolf Invitational. He ended his junior year with 48 wins. Next month, Cedar Ridge will once again compete in the state dual team playoffs after finishing 2nd in the Central Conference this season. Prescod will compete in the Mideast Regionals at Cedar Ridge High School and will aim to earn an elusive trip to the 3A State Individual Tournament at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Pierce Prescod

This week’s Cedar Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Pierce Prescod. On Saturday, Prescod captured the Central Conference championship at 120 pounds at Williams High School in Burlington. It continues a season of milestones for Prescod, who secured his 100th career pinfall victory earlier this month.

After winning his 100th career match in November, Ryan Rakouskas became the latest Cedar Ridge wrestler to celebrate 100 career pins.

In the quarterfinals of the Coach T Memorial Classic at Riverside High School in Durham on Saturday, Rakouskas pinned Topsail’s Luke Williams in 4:00 for his 100th career pinfall. It came two weeks after Rakouskas teammate, Pierce Prescod, earned his 100th career pin.

Rakouskas competed against Williams twice. In the consolation final, Rakouskas pinned Williams again, this time in 3:43, to earn third place in the tournament. Rakouskas improved to 39-6 on the season with 27 pins. He surpassed Randy Greenough for sixth on the all-time schools career win list.

Speaking of which, senior Pierce Prescod continues to move closer to the all-time record, held by Chandler Collins, with 166 career wins. Prescod is now at 152 wins after finishing 2nd in the 120-pound weight division. In the semifinals, Prescod pinned Santos Marin of Wakefield in 3:01 for his 152nd career victory, surpassing Josh Collins for third place on the all-time list. Prescod, who is looking to qualify for the state championships for the first time, lost in the finals to Cape Fear’s Mac Johnson, who was the #3 seed.

Kaden Tatro, who graduated from Cedar Ridge, is #2 in school history with 159 wins.

In the women’s tournament, Cedar Ridge freshman Thalia Paterno continued an impressive rookie year with a second place finish at 100 pounds. In a round-robin event, Paterno score pins in each of her opening three matches, none of which exceeded one minute. Paterno pinned Kaleigh Poteat of Southeast Alamance in 13 seconds; pinned Ashley Smith of Wakefield in 37 seconds and finished Anai Carrillo of Cardinal Gibbons in 50 seconds.

It set up a championship match with Morgan Carpenter of Pine Forest, who had also won her opening three matches. Carpenter scored a pin at 4:49. This season, Paterno has won three individual championships at the Red Wolf Invitational, the Jim King/Orange Invitational and the Eagle Invitational in Mebane.

At 113 pounds in the men’s tournament, Cedar Ridge junior Favio Jaramillo captured 3rd place in a tournament where he scored three wins to boast his record to 37-8 on the season. Jaramillo, who won the championship of the Eagle Invitational last month, dominated Bennett Teague of Southern Alamance 16-3 in the 3rd place match. Jaramillo, seeded #2, scored a technical fall over Jaxton Couch of Pine Forest 19-3. In the consolation semfinals, Jaramillo defeated Jacob Keel of Rolesville 19-11. Top-seeded Spencer Sterling of Cardinal Gibbons won the 113-pound championship with an 11-4 decision over Jacob Pope of Topsail.

Sophomore Alejandro Briones had tough luck in a fourth-place finish at 144 pounds. Briones, who is 37-8 on the year, won his quarterfinal match over Troy Crain of Seaforth. Broughton’s Benjamin Zeren scored a takedown in the third period to defeat Briones in the semifinals 9-6. Briones pinned Wesley Taylor of Cape Fear to reach the third place match. Cardinal Gibbons’ Derek Mason a takedown with :08 remaining to edge Briones 10-9 in the consolation final.

In the women’s tournament, Cedar Ridge’s Chloe Pankratz finished fourth at 138 pounds. Pankratz, a senior who won the JKO tournament in December, opened with a pin over Izabella Roldan of Curritcuk County. Italia Squicciarini of Topsail pinned Pankratz in the second round robin match. Katie Lloyd of Southeast Alamance pinned Pankratz in the 3rd place match.

Cedar Ridge’s Carolina DonJuan was the only entrant in her weight class and claimed first place at 235 pounds.

On Saturday, Cedar Ridge will compete in the Central Conference Championships at Williams High School in Broughton. Briones and Prescod each won their respective conference championships last year in Burlington.

For the first time, there will be a conference tournament for women’s wrestling. This season, Cedar Ridge had several dual women’s matches, including wins over Person, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill, Walter Williams and Southern Alamance.

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It was a joyous holiday for Juan and Favio Jaramillo at the Eagle Invitational in Mebane on December 21. Juan, a freshman, won the 106-pound championship, his first individual tournament title as a Red Wolf. Favio, a junior, won the 113-pound championship. It helped Cedar Ridge to a 1st place finish at the Eagle Invitational, the Red Wolves second team tournament championship this year. Juan scored pins in all three of his matches. In the championship match, he defeated Roland Owen of East Chapel Hill in 5:58. At the time of the pin, Juan led the match 10-1. Juan also pinned Junior McKay of Overhills and Max Molinar of Orange in the tournament. Favio was seeded #2 in the 113-pound tournament and pinned top-seeded Alex Raymundo of Randleman in 4:28. In the semifinals, Favio scored a technical fall against Wyatt Collins of Northwest Guilford 16-1. Favio has had a strong freshman year. Juan is 26-10 with ten pins this season. Favio had a career-high 34 wins with eleven pins this season. Together, they’ve helped Cedar Ridge reach the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs for the second consecutive season after beating Walter Williams on Wednesday night. The Red Wolves have already clinched 2nd place in the Central Conference and the Jaramillo brothers have been a big reason for the team’s success.

Cedar Ridge wrestling’s Juan and Favio Jaramillo discuss their championships at Eagle Invitational

It was a joyous holiday for Juan and Favio Jaramillo at the Eagle Invitational in Mebane on December 21. Juan, a freshman, won the 106-pound championship, his first individual tournament title as a Red Wolf. Favio, a junior, won the 113-pound championship.

In a pressure situation, two players stepped up for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team in its biggest win of the season. Junior Jamee Watson drained two free throws with 54 seconds remaining for the game-winning points as the Red Wolves defeated Chatham Central 36-33 on January 10 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. The Bears came into the game with an 8-2 record. Sophomore Esther Mwirinzi added six points, including two more free throws after a steal by Kennedi Fearrington with 17 seconds remaining. Watson finished with eight points to lead the Red Wolves. Watson has been on the varsity since her freshman year under head coach Megan Skouby. Mwirinzi is in her second year at the varsity level. To start 2025, Cedar Ridge defeated Southern Alamance 37-29 for its first Central Conference win of the season. Watson scored nine points against the Patriots and also had four steals. Cedar Ridge forced 28 turnovers in the win over the Patriots. Mwirinzi has learned on the job as the starting point guard this season after the transfer of Sarah Utley during the summer. The win over the Bears gave a boost for Cedar Ridge to make the state playoffs for the second year in a row. The Red Wolves will commemorate Senior Night with a home game against Walter Williams on Friday night in Hillsborough.

Cedar Ridge’s Jamee Watson & Esther Mwirinzi discuss win over Chatham Central

In a pressure situation, two players stepped up for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team in its biggest win of the season. Junior Jamee Watson drained two free throws with 54 seconds remaining for the game-winning points as the Red Wolves defeated Chatham Central 36-33 on January 10 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

For the second year in a row, the Cedar Ridge wrestling team is going to the State Dual Team Playoffs.

On Wednesday night in Burlington, the Red Wolves disposed of Walter Williams 68-12 to officially clinch second place in the Central Conference. Cedar Ridge improved to 15-7 overall and finished the conference season at 5-1. Only a 34-32 loss to Person on November 26 in Roxboro kept the Red Wolves from repeating as Central Conference champions.

Person earned its first conference championship since the league was formed in the 2021-2022 academic year.

Senior Pierce Presco, who achieved his 100th career pinfall victory last month, continues to move up the career win list in school history. Prescod defeated Abdiel Gutierrez Moreno via technical fall 19-4 at 120 pounds to improve to 38-6 on the season. Prescod is now at 148 career wins. The school record is 166 wins held by Chandler Collins. Josh Collins on the original Cedar Ridge team in 2001, is 2nd on the all-time list at 151 wins. Prescod could surpass Collins during a dual event at Montgomery Central High in Troy this Saturday.

Cedar Ridge’s Graylon Collins pinned Kyleaf Kosh to push the Red Wolves lead to 47-12 and secure a Red Wolf victory. Collins is now 22-14 on the season after his eighth pin of the year.

The Red Wolves started the night with a pin from Will Meyer at 175 pounds. Meyer pinned Gavin McMahan to improve to 19-14. It was Meyer’s 17th pin.

After Sawyer Marshall earned a pin for Williams, Oscar Narera pinned Porter Faucette at 215 pounds to put the Red Wolves ahead 12-6. Williams’ Christopher Melton evened the match with a pin at heavyweight.

Cedar Ridge’s Juan Esparza Jaramillo (106) and Favio Esparza Jaramillo (113) both earned forfeit wins. Juan Esparza, who won the 106-pound championship at the Eagle Invitational, is now 26-10 this season. Favio Jaramillo improved to 34-7 with eleven pins.

Jordin Blue of Cedar Ridge pinned Justin Powell at 157 pounds. In the only match of the night to go the distance, Cedar Ridge’s Shea Spiller earned a 9-4 decision over Angler Laxson. Spiller is 22-13.

Senior Ryan Rakouska and sophomore Alejandro Briones both earned forfeit wins for the Red Wolves. Rakouskas is now 35-5 this year. Briones improved to 35-6.