With the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Indoor Track & Field Championships only two weeks away, several Hillsborough athletes will be included in the festivities.

After qualifying for the NCHSAA 3A Outdoor Track & Field Championships last year, Cedar Ridge sophomore Caroline Fowlkes has qualified for the Indoor State Championships in the pole vault. In the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #1 on December 3, Fowlkes clear nine feet. The NCHSAA standard is 8’6″ to qualify for the state championships.

Since then, Fowlkes has reestablished for career-high with an attempt of 9’6″ in the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #2 on December 18. On Tuesday, Fowlkes peaked at nine feet, once again, at the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #3, which concluded the Red Wolves regular season.

Joining Fowlkes in the indoor state championships will be Cedar Ridge sprinter Elijah Horne. In the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #1, Horne qualified for the 500 meters after he finished first with a time of 1:07.81. The NCHSAA state qualifying standard is 1:08.5.

In the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #2, Horne won the 300 meters and barely missed qualifying for the state championships. He crossed the finish line at 37.85 seconds, just behind the state mandate of 36.4 seconds.

Meanwhile, Orange’s Keanu Mims attained a goal he had been shooting for throughout the winter: qualifying for the 300 meter state championships. Last Saturday at East Chapel Hill High School inside Dave Thaden Stadium, Mims finally qualified by winning the East Polar Bear #5. Mims competed the race in 35.94 seconds, finishing first.

The previous weekend at the East Polar Bear #4, Mims finished at 37.24 on the same track.

Mims narrowly missed qualifying in the 55 meter dash last Saturday. He finished fifth at 6.84 seconds, below the state mandate of 6.4 seconds.

Fowlkes’ has been a pole vaulter since the sixth grade. She started her career in Mobile, AL, where she was allowed to pole vault in middle school. Her mother and father were also pole vaulters at Tolland High School in Alabama. Her father went on to compete at the University of South Alabama, while her mother competed at the University of Florida.

Mims qualified for Orange’s 4×400 relay team in the state Outdoor Championships last May. In the final event of the day at North Carolina A&T’s Belk Track in Greensboro, Mims, Thomas Kaltenbach, Jose Torres and Cameron Michalski completed the race with a time of 3:28.63. They finished tenth in the state.

Running individually last outdoor season, Mims won two meets in the 100 meter dash. On March 7, 2019 he set a new personal best of 11.39 seconds in a meet against East Chapel Hill. He also finished first in a tri-meet against Chapel Hill and Southern Durham on March 14, 2019.

Last weekend at Eastern Alamance, Cedar Ridge’s Sarah Tucker won the women’s 1000 meter race, finishing at 3.24.60. Tucker, who ran cross country and outdoor track for the Red Wolves, just missed qualifying for the state championships.

The Red Wolves’ Kennedy Kelsey won the 55 meters hurdles at 10.47 seconds. The state mandate is 9.1 seconds.

Orange’s Erin Mink won the high jump at East Chapel Hill with a jump of 4’8″. Mink has captured the high jump in back-to-back weekends at East.

The 3A State Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held at JDL Fast Track indoor facility in Winston-Salem on February 14 and 15.

Orange’s Korbin Nevius won his first individual championship at the varsity level on Saturday. Nevius claimed the 160-pound championship in the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High School in Durham. He pinned Cary’s Jake Wolfram in the championship match in 1:53. In the semifinals, Nevius defeated Matthew Leathers of Voyager Academy 6-4. Nevius started the day by defeating Northern Durhams Cameron Curry via pinfall in 1:52. Nevius started wrestling at Stanford Middle School. Nevius is in his second year on the varsity team. He is 23-9 with ten pins. Last year, Caleb Brimmer and the now-graduated Avery Jenkins wrestled at 160 pounds. Nevius aims to become part of a conference champion this week. Orange will travel to Northern Durham on Wednesday, then host Chapel Hill on Thursday with the Big 8 Championship on the line. Orange is going for its 17th consecutive conference title.

Icez Barnett: The 2019 Orange graduate was the first player off the bench for the Division II Chowan women’s basketball team in its 81-55 win over Southern Wesleyan at the Helms Center in Murfreesboro on Saturday. Barnett scored a career-high ten points as the Hawks defeated the Warriors 81-55. Barnett also played 14 minutes, her longest sting since November 30 against UNC Pembroke. The Hawks are 4-14 overall, 4-10 in Conference Carolinas. They host #25 Belmont Abbey in the Helms Center tonight (Tuesday).

Kaylen Campbell: The Division III Trinity women’s basketball team is on a five-game winning streak. On Sunday, the Bantams defeated MCLA 43-31 in Hartford, CT. It was the second-fewest amount of points the Bantams have allowed this season. Campbell played eight minutes and grabbed three rebounds and made a steal. Trinity is now 14-4 overall, 3-1 in the New England Small Conference Athletic Conference. On Saturday, Trinity rallied to defeat Connecticut College 60-57 in Posting Gymnasium in Hartford. Campbell came off the bench to play six minutes. She finished with two points and one rebound. Trinity travels to Middlebury on Friday.

Lauren Cates: The Wake Tech Community College women’s basketball team has won nine of its last ten games. On Saturday, the Eagles defeated Southwest Virginia 73-50 in Raleigh. Cates scored four points off 2-of-6 shooting from the field. She also had three rebounds and a steal. The Eagles are 14-4 overall, 7-3 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association. On Thursday, the Eagles defeated Spartanburg Methodist 63-62. Cates finished with eight points off 3-of-5 shooting from the field. Cates finished 2-of-4 from 3-point range. The Wake Tech school record for wins in a season is 18.

Jamar Davis: A week after he clinched a spot in the ACC Track & Field Indoor Championships, Davis won his first indoor meet of the 2020 season on Saturday. Davis won the long jump with a leap of 7.43 meters to take the championship of the Hokie Invitational at Rector Field House in Blacksburg, VA. Davis also won the triple jump championship with a jump of 15.67, which was three inches better than North Carolina’s Jaren Holmes. On Friday and Saturday, the Wolfpack men’s and women’s teams will journey to Lubbock, TX to compete in the Texas Tech Invitational. Davis qualified for the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships during the Gamecock Opener at the University of South Carolina on January 17 & 18.

Marvin Jones: The North Carolina Central junior finished 2nd in the high jump in the Liberty Kickoff indoor track & field event in Lynchburg, VA on Saturday. Jones had a jump of 2.05 meters. Tequann Claitt of Indiana Tech finished first with a jump of 2.21 meters. Jones’ performance was one of five top-5 finishes for the Eagles last weekend. Central will continue its indoor season on Friday and Saturday in the Camel City Invitational. The meet will take place at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.

Braden Homsey: Washington & Lee defeated the Division III Ferrum wrestling team 21-18 on Saturday in the W&L Student Activities Pavilion in Lexington, VA. Homsey scored a major decision for Ferrum. Wrestling at 197 pounds, Homsey defeated Brad Basham 12-1. It’s been a solid sophomore season for Homsey, who is now 19-7 with one pin.

On January 24, Nick Stevens of HighSchoolOT.com released a report stating that the North Carolina High School Athletic Association has distributed ballots to all 418 member schools for two proposed changes to its by-laws.

Principals are designated voters on behalf of each member school and each school receives a singular vote. Any school who fails to submit a ballot will be counted as a “no” vote. In order to pass these amendments, each issue will require a three-fourths vote in the affirmative of the full membership to pass — 314 of the 418 member schools. 

Principals have until January 27 to submit their ballots and the results will be announced at the NCHSAA Annual Meeting at the Dean E. Smith Center on April 30. The new realignment cycle is slated to begin at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.

Proposal #1 would allow the NCHSAA Board of Directors to change the number of classifications from four to any number of classifications, which could have many ramifications. The ballot mentions five or six classifications, with the possibility of dropping back to three or four classifications in subsequent years if the board feels it is necessary.

For voting considerations on this amendment proposal, the Association is urging schools to consider a number of factors. Among them, the Association cites a new playoff system could possibly allow all teams participating in a sport to qualify for the playoffs and be seeded based on a ranking system. If this amendment were adopted, this action would effectively eliminate the regular season from consideration when it comes to the playoffs.

The NCHSAA also infers that changing to five or six classifications could result in significant increases in travel, which could also impact the amount of missed classroom time for student-athletes.

My take on this first proposal: What is the point of a regular season and a state championship if everyone is allowed to participate? The emphasis on regular season play is to determine who the best teams are and to weed out the inferior ones. 

As I’ve stated in previous editions, no team with a sub-.500 record should be playing in a state tournament, unless they win their conference championship outright in the regular season, by regular season tiebreaker, or by tournament championship. Allowing all teams to compete for the state championship will virtually cause the state playoff system to lose meaning and purpose. The entire emphasis of regular season play is to determine who the better teams are and to separate them from those that didn’t have good seasons. 

In previous editions, I’ve made the claim that engorging the state playoff system is a ploy to allow the Association to increase revenue. If this proposal passes, this will be confirmed. More teams means more games, and more games means more money. 

The NCHSAA has needed to expand to 5A for approximately 10 to 15 years as the statewide boom of school construction continues. The expansion would allow the playoff system to return to more reasonable levels while featuring the best teams. To liberally expand or contract the classification system like an accordion, will do more damage than it will do for good.

The Association claims that an expansion to 5A (or even larger to 6A) will cause an increase in travel time, and cause student-athletes will miss additional class time. For state playoff purposes, this could be true as the number of class-specific schools will be more concentrated to certain locations. However, in normal, regular-season scenarios, not much class time will be missed or travel times will be affected, as many teams play within reasonable distances from their schools.

Another option the Association may wish to consider is staggering games in opposite locations. For example, junior varsity football is played on Thursday evenings in one location varsity football is played the next night in the opposite location. For basketball purposes, schools might wish to play girls basketball in one location while on the same night, boys will be in the opposite. The same rationale could be to play junior varsity in one location and varsity in the opposition. For spring sports, most games are in one location (Example, Cedar Ridge at Northern Durham / Orange at Vance County) for baseball, softball, and lacrosse (or women’s soccer). Under the same rationale, baseball and lacrosse could be in one location, while softball and women’s soccer could be at the opposite.

This suggestion would significantly decrease the amount of student-athletes participating in away games on school nights. Many schools in our area already do this – most notably, East Chapel Hill. I definitely see the point of the Wildcats to have only one or two games per night, and exiting the school at a reasonable hour, as opposed to playing three or four games in an evening and leaving at near midnight.

Proposal #2 would require the NCHSAA to realign on an annual basis for the state playoffs. This could result in schools having teams in different classifications in each sport, each year. It also means conferences and the regular season could be less dependent on school classification.

For this proposal, I have a mixed opinion. 

First, schools should be designated as 1A, 2A, 3A, or 4A (5A or 6A, if implemented) on the basis of average daily membership (ADM) in ALL sports. This means if a school is 3A in football, they are 3A in every other sport. To reclassify a school per sport and per playoff is completely ridiculous and has no basis for implementation as it would create an undue amount of confusion on the part of the NCHSAA and the member schools.

Second, if a school has a significant increase or decrease in its ADM and needs to be reclassified, then yes, I would support this. This season, Hillside was promoted from 3A to 4A on the basis of an increased ADM, as was Vance County, who was promoted from 2A to 3A. As I previously reported about Waynesville Tuscola, a 3A team in western North Carolina, the Mountaineers were denied an appeal to be reclassified as a 2A team citing a drastic, ten percent reduction in ADM. 17 other schools had a higher ADM including their cross-town rival, Pisgah.

Prior to my arrival in Hillsborough, I announced for Christian schools participating in the North Carolina Christian School Association. As the enrolments of these schools can fluctuate year after year, the NCCSA evaluates each school’s enrolment yearly to determine which classification they will participate in. In addition, the evaluation also determines the district (the NCCSA version of a conference) the school will play in.

In essence, if schools are going to be realigned yearly, they need to be judged on the basis of ADM and participate (season and playoffs) in the assigned class. 

While I am not Cedar Ridge principal Mitchell Stensland or Orange High principal Anne Purcell, but if I were, I would vote NO to both proposals as they are written. The first will not alleviate the bloated mess of four classifications while the second will cause an immense amount of confusion for all member schools.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior heavyweight wrestler Juan Navarro. On Saturday, Navarro won the heavyweight championship of the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High School in Durham. He defeated Person’s Noah Harris 2-1 in the championship match. It was Navarro’s 30th win of the season and the 69th of his career. He has 17 pins this season. Navarro started eleven games at right guard for the Orange football team the past two seasons. Navarro is focused on qualifying for the 3A State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum next month. Last year, he missed qualifying by one point. This year, the Mideast Regionals will take place at Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville. Navarro went 38-11 with 18 pins in his first full season as a starter. This is his third year as a varsity grappler.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore swimmer Olivia Aitkin. Last week in the Big 8 Swimming championships at Taisean Aquatics Center at Duke University, Aitkin finished 7th in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 6:14.94. Aitkin also finished 13th in the 50 yard freestyle at 27.53 seconds. Aitkin joined Sydney Reavely, Abbygale Pearce and Sydney Lanier in the 200 yard freestyle relay where they finished in the top 10. This could very well be a year where Aitkin makes All-Big 8 Conference in three different sports. Last fall, Aitkin was named to the All-Big 8 Conference in women’s golf. Now, she’s preparing for softball season, which is her top sport.Aitkin was a member of the 2019 Big 8 Champions, where she hit .462 with 15 runs scores. She also earned a win as a pitcher. In the circle, Aitkin threw 25.2 innings and struck out 24 batters.

The youngest Orange wrestling team in recent memory may be finding its stride at the right time.

After finishing 4th in the DASH Tournament in Willow Springs last weekend, the Panthers won the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High School in Durham on Saturday. The Panthers had five individual champions, four of whom won titles for the first-time in their varsity careers.

Orange captured the team championship with 212.5 points, it’s first team tournament championship this season. Cary finished 2nd at 154 points. Person finished third at 132.5 points.

Senior heavyweight Juan Navarro, who finished 2nd last year at Riverside, won the first individual championship of his career. For the third time this season, Navarro faced a challenger from Person in a tournament. This time, it was Noah Harris, who replaced starter Marcus Vincent due to illness. Navarro defeated Harris 3-1, his 30th win of the season and the 69th of his Orange.

Panther freshman Dillon Heffernan won the 106-pound title. Heffernan, who won two Orange-Person Athletic Conference championships at Stanford Middle School, quite literally held on to defeat Cary’s Aki Hason 4-3 in the championship match.

At 113 pounds, Orange’s Joshua Dunn pinned Cary’s Ezra Jack at 3:19 in the final. Dunn pinned Wakefield’s Luke DiGiuseppe in 1:37 in the semifinals.

Tayton Alvis earned his 20th win of the season in the 145-pound championship match, where he defeated Wakefield’s Terry Edwards 4-1.

At 160 pounds, Korbin Nevius pinned Cary’s Jake Wolfram in 1:53 to win the championship. Nevius is now 23-9 with ten pins this season.

Navarro, who narrowly missed qualifying for the 3A State Championships last year, had a scoreless first period against Harris. Early on, Harris grabbed Navarro’s leg in a single-leg attempt, but Navarro stood on one leg long enough to regain his balance.

In the second period, Harris scored the initial escape point, but Navarro got Harris’ back for the only takedown of the match. Navarro fended off Harris’ takedown attempts in the third period.

In the 106 pound match, Hason led 3-2 at the end of the second period. Starting from the bottom in the third period, Heffernan scored a reversal to take a 4-3 lead 19 seconding the frame. After two restarts, Heffernan held on to an arm bar and Hason looked for an escape to even the match, but ultimately couldn’t find a way out.

At 113 pounds, Jack led Dunn 2-1 at the end of the first period after a reversal. In the second period, Dunn worked from the bottom to gain Jack’s back, then clamped on a half-nelson to force Jack’s right shoulder down for the pin at 3:18.

Brandon Worsham nearly became the sixth Panther to win a championship on the afternoon. He finished runner-up at 182 pounds, narrowly falling to Wesley Sharpe of Voyager Academy 2-1. Worsham battled for an escape point in the final seconds that could have sent the match to overtime.

This week, Orange looks to complete another undefeated run through the Big 8 Conference. The Panthers, with a 23-2 overall record, 5-0 in the Big 8, will travel to Northern Durham on Wednesday night. On Thursday, the Panthers host Chapel Hill for Senior Night. If Orange defeats the Tigers, the Panthers will clinch its 17th consecutive conference championship.

On the same day, Orange wrestling Tayton Alvis earned his 20th victory of the season and his first individual championship at the varsity level. Alvis won the 145-pound title at the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High School in Durham. Alvis scored a takedown in the opening period and held on to defeat Terry Edwards of Wakefield 4-2 in the championship match on Saturday afternoon. In the semifinals, Alvis pinned Dawson Owen of Person in 51 seconds. Alvis is 20-12 with 13 pins this season. Last season, as a sophomore, Alvis wrestled at 138 pounds. He finished 27-14 with 19 pins as Orange won the Big 8 Championship and advanced to the 2nd round of the 3A State Dual regional tournament after beating Morehead in the opening round. Orange has already clinched a birth for the State Dual Playoffs for this season, and will go for the Big 8 Conference Championship this week with a road trip to Northern Durham and a home match against Chapel Hill on Thursday in Hillsborough.

Orange wrestling had five individual champions at the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High School in Durham on Saturday. It was Orange’s first individual tournament championship of the season. Joshua Dunn won the 113-pound title with three pins. He defeated Cary’s Ezra Jacks in 3:19. In the semifinals, Dunn pinned Luke DiGiuseppe of Wakefield in 1:37. He is now 27-9 this season with 19 pins. This week, Orange will go for its 17th consecutive conference championship when they face Northern Durham on Wednesday in Durham. The Panthers will host Chapel Hill for Senior Night on Thursday. Dunn helped put Orange in position for another conference title by beating Alden Vigus of Northwood in 1:01 on January 8. Orange goes into the Northern match with an overall record of 23-2. Dunn is also preparing for the 3A Mideast Regionals, which will take place at Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville on February 14 and 15.