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The volleyball state championship has eluded D.H. Conley for years now. The Vikings were swept in the final by Marvin Ridge in 2018, so many of the athletes on this year's state championship team knew what defeat felt like. That includes MVP Maddy May.
Kyle Morton has the story of how D.H. Conley battled through the season of COVID-19 to finally capture the 3A state championship.
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FINAL CROSS COUNTRY RANKINGS
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For the first time ever, HighSchoolOT is publishing cross country rankings this year. These rankings are statewide and not split between regions like many other sports. The cross country rankings are born out of an inexact science, as we attempted to project out team scores in a hypothetical statewide race based on past results.
Chapel Hill's boys cross country team finished No. 1 in the rankings with a ranking score of 140, followed by North Lincoln, Weddington, Hoggard, and Providence Day.
On the girls side, Cuthbertson dominated the field to take the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The Cavs were followed by Weddington, Marvin Ridge, Hoggard, and Panther Creek.
You can see the full rankings here.
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CHARLOTTE SPORTS WILL RETURN
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Earlier this month, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools announced it was shutting down high school sports until mid-February. Those plans have changed though.
This week, CMS said it has revised its plan for high school sports, and sports will be allowed to resume sooner. Swimming & diving will resume next week, just in time for the regional competition. Other in-season sports will resume the following weeks (basketball, cheerleading, lacrosse, and boys soccer).
Here are all the details around the latest CMS decision.
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The Realignment Committee met (virtually) this week to hear appeals from a number of different schools -- in the dozens. They were separated into different sessions as many of the appeals related to one another. There were four sessions in the East and four sessions in the West.
We don't know the results of the appeals yet -- the Realignment Committee will meet next week to discuss the appeals and make any changes it sees fit. A new draft will be released on Thursday.
We do know one thing though, Bryan Hanks reported on Thursday morning that Kinston won its appeal to remain in the 2A classification. I have since confirmed that report with the NCHSAA. Kinston was slated to move down to the 1A class, and that put the Vikings in a conference that spanned many counties and many miles. Now, Kinston may get to stay with its in-county rivals (at least that's their hope). We'll find out on Thursday when the third draft is released.
Download the HighSchoolOT app and we'll alert you when the new draft is out.
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BASKETBALL SEASON HEATING UP
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It's hard to believe, but after this week, there are only three weeks left in the high school basketball regular season. That means things are really starting to heat up down the stretch.
We've covered a lot of basketball already, but there will be a lot of important games over the next few weeks.
Earlier this week, Joel Bryant published a story looking at all of the undefeated basketball teams remaining. There may be a few changes to this list since we published it, but most of it remains true.
Kyle Morton, Joel Bryant, and Zack Adams sat down this week for a HSOT Round Table to discuss the basketball season so far. They break down rankings, big games they've covered, and the 3A race.
Also from this week, here are our latest boys basketball rankings and girls basketball rankings. There are new No. 1 teams across the board.
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MILLBROOK WR OFFERED BY DUKE, WAKE FOREST
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Millbrook High School junior wide receiver Wesley Grimes picked up two ACC scholarship offers this week -- one from Duke, another from Wake Forest.
At 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds, Grimes caught 32 passes of 374 yards and two touchdowns as a sophomore.
I spoke with Grimes last year after Tennessee was the first to offer him. Since then, he's also picked up offers from Coastal Carolina and Yale.
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| Three seniors combined for 48 points as Asheboro upset No. 11 Randleman in girls basketball this week. |
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| Led by Bobby Pettiford's 19 points, South Granville took out rival Granville Central in convincing fashion this week. |
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| Kenny Noland and Gabe Proctor combined for 45 points for Apex Friendship as the Patriots defeated South Garner, 68-62. |
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As I mentioned earlier, basketball season is reaching its peak, and that means it's time for playoff projections. I'm working on getting playoff projections setup for boys and girls basketball. My hope is to get the first round of projections published this weekend. I'll send out an alert on the HighSchoolOT app when they're ready.
I should note, the 4A West will be tricky. With CMS not playing the last few weeks, it's going to make it hard to project that region. We'll do our best though.
Coming up this week...
- Realignment Committee meets on Wednesday
- Third draft of the realignment proposal comes out on Thursday
- Swimming & Diving regionals begin on Thursday and run through Saturday
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Nick
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Thank you for reading the HighSchoolOT Newsletter this week. Do you have suggestions, comments, or concerns? You can email me any time at nstevens@wral.com.
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