From the student section: Cox Mill's first year comes to an end

Logan Albers is a student at Cox Mill High School and a member of the cross country team. He shares his thoughts on Cox Mill athletics in "From the student section."

Cox Mill sports have come to a close after a great season of hard work and learning.

Cox Mill golf concluded their season at the Western Regional meet at Salisbury after qualifying for the match following an impressive conference run. Eric Baumann, Brandon Cordell and Garett Ray were named all-conference. Austin Albers and Tyler Untz represented the Chargers as well in the regional meet.

Boys' and girls' track concluded their regular season with the conference meet at Mount Pleasant last Tuesday and Wednesday. With the sun blaring and rubber track, the meet was energized and tensions were high. The girl’s 4x400, 4x200, and 4x100 relay teams all finished second. Tori Elliot placed second in the 100 meters.

Congratulations to the Charger softball team on their come from behind victory against Mount Pleasant last Wednesday. The Lady Chargers were behind going into the seventh inning and rallied for three runs to beat the top-seeded Tigers 5-4 on Senior night. It was a great win and a total team effort. On Friday, the girls defeated Hickory Ridge by the score of 7-1 and look forward to Wednesday’s conference tournament.

Cox Mill Baseball fell to Mount Pleasant in the last game of the South Piedmont Conference tournament on May 4 and completed their season with a 5-20 overall record and a 1-13 record in the SPC. The boys worked tremendously hard over the season and have grown and learned together as a whole, fighting many close games down to the wire.

All teams worked impressively hard and saw major improvement in many aspects of play and preparation. All athletes and coaches now look to the 2010-2011 seasons and hope to make the off-season productive and profitable in the long run.

NCHSAA votes to shorten football, basketball seasons

From The Charlotte Observer's Prep Insiders:

CHAPEL HILL-- The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors concluded its two-day spring meeting on Wednesday.
A number of items were discussed by the Board that had been recommended by a sub-committee which has studied travel, length of seasons and cost containment issues. Those items included the following:
--To play 11 regular-season football games in 11 weeks (including the Endowment game, which is optional), rather than the current 11 games in 12-week format. The Endowment game would be dropped for seeding purposes, starting with 2011-2012 academic year
--Reducing length of winter sport season by one week for competition, but still starting winter sports season practice on November 1, starting with 2010-11 academic year
-- To add to the football seeding process the "pod" format, which means schools would be grouped into four different sections (East, Mideast, Midwest, West), effective with 2010-11 academic year, to help reduce some of the longest trips that occur under the current format

--To allow an "opt-out" declaration for schools who wish not to enter NCHSAA playoffs, with a form that would be signed by athletic director, principal and superintendent and must be submitted by an established deadline prior to the release of the brackets in that sport, effective with 2010-11 academic year

Other actions of the Board included:

--Approved wrestling state championships for a three-day event, with one specific classification to wrestle on Thursday night
--Approved additional weekly combination for scheduling of one tri match and one tournament in wrestling
--Approved holding 2010-13 NCHSAA state cross country championships in Kernersville at Beeson Park
-- Recommend approval if school does not pay outstanding fine by two days before the reporting deadline for a sport, it cannot play in playoffs in that sport, to go in effect academic year 2010-11; if a school has any unpaid fines by June 30 following the academic year, its teams will not be able to participate in playoffs in any sport in the next academic year until fine is unpaid
--Eliminate mandatory use of NCHSAA-assigned clock operators for all second round and subsequent rounds of football playoffs; it is still optional for schools to use if they wish
--"Flagrant contact" will be added as a separate category to ejection policy, with the ejection penalty
--Approved move to six-man crews in NCHSAA football championships in 2010 as pilot program, all eight games

--Approved job title changes since the old job titles from the University are not necessarily applicable anymore and the new titles more accurately reflect the work being done, effective June 1, 2010
--Increase the mileage allotment, lodging and meal allowance for schools in championships in a number of different sports
--Adjust revenue shares to return more to schools; for sectional basketball share for NCHSAA, reduce to 15% to parallel other sports and could help eliminate some deficit games; for volleyball championships: 60% to NCHSAA, 40% to schools, makes volleyball consistent with other sports
--Approved new employee policy and procedures manual for NCHSAA with some editorial changes
--Approved of executive director's contract from June 7, 2010 to June of 2013

-- NCHSAA

Concord, Hickory Ridge, Robinson make 3A tennis dual state playoffs

Three South Piedmont Conference tennis squads - Concord, Hickory Ridge and Jay M. Robinson - made this year's state dual team tennis playoffs. The three Cabarrus County teams will start playing tomorrow.

From The Charlotte Observer's Prep Insiders:

Prep tennis rankings and state pairings
DUAL TEAM TENNIS PAIRINGS
4A
First Round Tuesday, May 4th
South View (12-2) at Wilmington Hoggard (14-2)
Southeast Raleigh (11-5) at Pinecrest (14-4)
Scotland (9-2) at Terry Sanford (12-2)
Wilmington New Hanover (14-7) at Clayton (16-0)
Cary (11-6) at East Chapel Hill (16-4)
Raleigh Millbrook (17-2) at Green Hope (17-0)
Jack Britt (12-4) at Raleigh Broughton (20-1)
Apex (15-2) at Durham Jordan (11-3)
Western Guilford (8-5) at Sun Valley (6-6)
Mount Tabor (11-2) at Southwest Guilford (13-1)
Ardrey Kell (9-3) at Winston-Salem R.J. Reynolds (14-2)
Ragsdale (14-4) at Greensboro Grimsley (9-3)
South Mecklenburg (11-4) at Charlotte Myers Park (13-0)
North Mecklenburg (6-4) at Charlotte Olympic (7-6)
Watauga (14-2) at T.C. Roberson (8-6)
Charlotte Providence (8-2) at Hopewell (15-2)
3A
D.H. Conley (12-4) at Currituck County (7-5)
Southern Nash(15-2) at South Brunswick (13-3)
Eastern Wayne (13-2) at Rocky Mount (12-2)
Union Pines (15-1) at South Central (15-3)
Chapel Hill (11-6) at Charles B. Aycock (15-0)
Northern Guilford (14-2) at Ledford (16-3)
Asheboro (13-4) at Western Alamance (14-2)
Southern Lee (9-2) at Cardinal Gibbons (18-4)
Statesville (10-2) at J.M. Robinson (15-0)
North Iredell (8-5) at Charlotte Catholic (9-3)
Hickory Ridge (12-2) at Marvin Ridge (12-2)
Concord (12-7) at West Rowan (14-1)
Freedom (8-5) at Forestview (11-1)
Patton (12-4) at Hickory (12-4)
Crest (9-7) at Asheville (15-1)
North Buncombe (16-2) at Franklin (13-4)
2A
Tarboro (14-5) at First Flight (10-1)
Whiteville (7-5) at Topsail (13-3)
Croatan (11-3) at West Bladen (12-6)
Edenton Holmes (11-5) at Greene Central (13-5)
Durham School of the Arts (9-8) at North Johnston (9-1)
Reidsville (11-1) at Fairmont (13-1)
Northeastern (9-5) at Jordan-Matthews (11-2)
Roanoke Rapids (12-4) at Northwood (11-6)
Cuthbertson (7-2) at Salisbury (15-2)
North Stanly (10-6) at Wheatmore (8-4)
North Lincoln (8-2) at Shelby (13-2)
West Davidson (9-4) at West Stanly (10-4)
Trinity (9-4) at Newton-Conover (21-0)
Owen (10-6) at Wilkes Central (13-2)
Polk County (13-4) at Brevard (14-0)
Maiden (16-3) at West Stokes (11-4)
1A
Williamston (5-5)- BYE
Gates County (7-3)-BYE
Dixon (7-3)-BYE
Bear Grass (6-3) -BYE
Ayden-Grifton (11-3) at North Carolina School of Science and Math (15-0)
West Columbus (1-15) at Pender County (4-6)
Goldsboro (2-4) at South Robeson (2-6)
Raleigh Charter (12-3) at Rosewood (10-1)
East Montgomery (16-0)-BYE
Albemarle (6-4) at Monroe Central Academy (10-6)
Challenger (6-5) at North Moore (7-3)
Monroe (1-8) at Highland Tech (10-4)
Hendersonville (13-0) - BYE
East Wilkes (14-4) at Bishop McGuinness (9-5)
Elkin (15-0)-BYE
Mount Airy (12-2)- BYE
4A COACHES POLL
Rank School Points
1 RJ Reynolds 91
2 Raleigh Millbrook 90
3 Raleigh Broughton 89
4 Myers Park 66
5 Green Hope 58
6 Wilmington Hoggard 55
7 East Chapel Hill 32
8 Wilmington New Hanover 30
9 Charlotte Providence 15
10 Ardrey Kell 11
Also receiving votes: Apex (9), Hopewell (2), Watauga (2)
3A POLL
Rank School Points
1 Cardinal Gibbons 77
2 Charlotte Catholic 68
3 Chapel Hill 66
4 Western Alamance 46
5 Southern Nash 44
6 Asheville 40
7 C.B. Aycock 24
8 Marvin Ridge 22
9 North Buncombe 17
10-T Rocky Mount 13
10-T Union Pines 13
2A POLL
Rank School Points
1 Newton Conover 60
2 Salisbury 50
3 Greene Central 43
4 First Flight 36
5 Topsail 33
6 Maiden 29
7 Shelby 17
8 Edenton Holmes 14
9 Reidsville 13
10 Tarboro 9
1A POLL
Rank School Points
1 Mount Airy 49
2 NC Science and Math 45
3 Hendersonville 40
4 Highland School of Technology 33
5 Elkin 32
6 Raleigh Charter 23
7 East Montogomery 22
8 Bishop McGuinness 15
9 East Wilkes 9
10 Albemarle 3
Other Receiving Votes: Ayden-Grifton (2), Rosewood (1), North Moore (1)
Also receiving votes: Wilkes Central (7), Roanoke Rapids (6), DSA (5), Northwood (4), West Stokes (3), Brevard (1)
Also receiving votes: Northern Guilford (4), Eastern Wayne (3), Patton (2), Hickory (2), South Central (1)