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Josie Allred at states May2022

Allred jumps to second in state meet

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Southwestern Randolph’s Josie Allred clears the bar in the high jump in the Class 2-A state meet Friday at North Carolina A&T. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)

GREENSBORO – Senior Josie Allred of Southwestern Randolph was the runner-up in the Class 2-A high jump for girls in Friday’s state championships at North Carolina A&T.

Allred cleared the bar at 5 feet, 2 inches – the same height as winner Katarina Kepley of West Davidson along with East Carteret’s Latecyia Johnson and SouthWest Edgecombe’s Jer’Lisha Pridgen.

Based on number of attempts, Kepley was the champion. Johnson and Pridgen shared third place.

Randleman freshman Gracie Beane was seventh at 5-0.

Beane also placed seventh in the triple jump with a bound of 33-5.

Junior Iniyah Mitchell of Randleman was sixth in the shot put at 34-5. Teammate Kylie Vaughn, a senior, was eighth at 33-3.

Mitchell threw the discus 87-6, placing 13th.

On the boys’ side, Southwestern Randolph junior Adam Cole was sixth in the 100-meter dash in 11.50 seconds. That was slightly slower than his time of 11.22 in a preliminary heat.

Senior Chris Gentry of Randleman in the 110 hurdles (17.75) and senior Michael Connelly of Trinity in the 300 hurdles (43.77) failed to advance to the finals.

Class 3-A

Also Friday, Asheboro senior Arianna Lovingood-Smith posted a mark of 36-7 ½ to claim fourth place in the triple jump.

Lovingood-Smith took seventh in the high jump at 5-0.

Class 1-A

On Saturday, junior Brecken Snotherly of Eastern Randolph had place finishes in two girls’ races.

Snotherly took third in the 1,600 in 5:37.73. In the 3,200, she was seventh in 13:22.46.

For the boys, Eastern Randolph sophomore Josh Brady placed eighth in the 110 hurdles in 22.57 after advancing to the finals with a time of 16.67 in the preliminaries. He withdrew from the 300 hurdles.

THSB_15

Randleman girls make it clear; Other races stay tight

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Trinity’s Kaleb Leach, left, blocks the shot as Providence Grove’s Chase Whitaker goes up late in the game during last week’s Piedmont Athletic Conference matchup at Trinity.

Randleman’s girls’ basketball team secured the Piedmont Athletic Conference regular-season championship even before the last week of the regular season.

The Tigers held an 11-0 league mark and a 19-0 overall record with only a home game against last-place Trinity remaining on the conference docket.

It was much tighter on the PAC boys’ side. Three teams had a shot going into the week, each with two conference games left.

Providence Grove led the way with an 8-2 league mark, while Uwharrie Charter and Trinity both stood at 7-3.

The remaining games for the Patriots were set to be against the bottom two teams in the standings – at Eastern Randolph and home vs. Wheatmore.

Providence Grove closed in on a title by trouncing visiting Randleman 68-48 on Friday night for its most-lopsided victory in league play this season.

Trinity kept things interesting earlier in the week by knocking off visiting Providence Grove 64-57 with Trace Moffitt (16 points), Dominic Payne (15) and Aidan Blakely (14) providing balanced scoring.

Mid-Piedmont Conference

This week began with the Asheboro girls and boys sweeping host Montgomery Central on Monday night.

Asheboro’s boys stayed in the hunt for a share of the regular-season title by winning 67-53 as Jerquarius Stanback and DJ Headen both supplied 12 points.

For the girls, Asheboro secured its first Mid-Piedmont Conference victory by stopping Montgomery Central 42-35 behind Kimry Comer’s 13 points, Ellon Long’s nine points and 12 rebounds, and Sion Murrain’s 15 rebounds.

UCA_HC_waddell

UCA gears up for more on mats

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ASHEBORO – The Uwharrie Charter Academy wrestling team produced another stellar regular season, but the Eagles will have to wait in their pursuit of a Class 1-A dual team state title.

Under coach Chris Waddell, UCA has run up a 31-0 record in duals. That includes a 6-0 mark in the Piedmont Athletic Conference.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association postponed the first and second rounds of the dual team tournament until Monday. That decision came after multiple weather-related postponements hit pockets of the state, so this will allow teams to complete more of their regular-season schedules and league tournament action this week.

Teams will be placed on the brackets Friday, pushing the first and second rounds to Monday. The third and fourth rounds will remain on the schedule for Feb. 2. Dual team state championships are set for Feb. 5 at the Fieldhouse at the Greensboro Coliseum complex.

This season’s UCA roster includes 2021 individual state place finishers Byan Lackey, Grayson Roberts and Doug Bowles.

UCA won the dual-team state title in 2019 and was the runner-up in 2020. The Eagles won the team championships in conjunction with the individual state tournaments in 2018 and 2019.

Derrick_isley14

Calling it an honor

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RALEIGH — Derrick Isley had a grand experience at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s football championships and it didn’t even matter who won.

Isley, a Ramseur man, held an officiating assignment for the Class 2-A final between Shelby and Wallace-Rose Hill in Raleigh.

“There’s only a few who get this shot,” Isley said. “I’m very honored with this because I never saw it coming.”

Isley completed his 21st year of officiating. This was the first time it concluded in the state championships.

“That’s 21 years being on the field doing what I love,” he said.

He’s an umpire, meaning he lines up on the defensive side of the ball, usually near the linebackers. That’s often an area where a game official might encounter some contact as it’s a busy part of the field.

But that’s where Isley, 47, said he’s most comfortable.

“I’ve been blessed to have some quick feet,” he said. “I get in there and I just roll with the punches.”

Isley is a 1993 Eastern Randolph graduate. He began officiating in area recreation leagues and worked his way up to the semi-professional level.

He has found his niche at the high school levels. During the regular season, he works throughout the region, often calling games in Alamance, Guilford and Forsyth counties.

“What has made me have a longer career is it makes you have tougher skin,” Isley said, noting verbal jabs often directed toward officials. “I’m just going to call my game and stay focused.”

With the NCHSAA reducing its football classifications back to four instead of eight that had been used for more than a decade, it limited the number of available assignments for the championship weekend.

Isley found out at the beginning of the postseason that he had been selected for one of the spots. The crew for the Class 2-A title game worked together in the Class 4-A West Regional final between Chambers and Hough.

“I think the best part of the experience was meeting the other guys,” Isley said.

He already knew line judge Keith Williams, who had worked the Mount Tabor-Greensboro Page game with him in September.

Isley had logged numerous postseason assignments in previous years. In the reconfigured football season for the 2020-21 school year, he also worked a regional final in the spring.

Yet there was some game-week anxiety prior to the state finals. Just days before the game, reports came out that the Wallace-Rose Hill team was dealing with COVID issues.

“We were all on pins and needles,” Isley said as uncertainty loomed regarding the game.

But it was contested as scheduled at North Carolina State’s Carter-Finley Stadium.

There was other good fortune as well. The rain held off – though precipitation was a big factor for the Class 4-A title game later Saturday night. It was windy earlier in the day, even on the field.

“It felt nice outside,” Isley said.

Shelby won the game, 55-34. Wallace-Rose Hill was reportedly without at least five starters, stemming from illnesses or injuries.

It was a fast-paced game, something that Isley said he expected and embraced. He referred to it as a clean game.

“It was like a track meeting starting out,” he said. “Most of the year I’ve had a bunch of track meets.

By the time Isley returned home after midnight, there was still some game-day adrenalin.

“It took me a little bit to wind down,” he said.

3A GIRLS FINALS

It all came down to Randolph County gyms

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Revisiting 2021 basketball title games held at Providence Grove, Wheatmore

With another high school basketball season ramping up for many schools this week, it comes full circle for a couple of Randolph County schools.

That’s because when North Carolina High School Athletic Association basketball left off from the 2020-21 school year, it concluded at Providence Grove and Wheatmore.

Those were schools selected to hold the NCHSAA championship games as part of the revamped season, which had been shortened because of the pandemic.

So suddenly the goal for teams across the state had been to make it to Randolph County.

“It was a lot of work,” Wheatmore athletics director Rick Halo said. “It was neat to kind of showcase our place to the whole state. Just about everybody in the state knows where Wheatmore High School is now.”

Providence Grove athletics director Calvin Brown said it was good for schools not familiar with Providence Grove to check out the facility. Across the state, Wheatmore and Providence Grove became more identifiable.

“As soon as they asked me, I was all for it,” Brown said. “Just for our school and our community to get some exposure.”

It also became a major undertaking for personnel at the schools.

“I thought it went great,” said Wes Luther, the boys’ basketball coach at Providence Grove. “We had all our coaches involved. There was a lot that went into it.”

Indeed, the schools called upon many of their resources in order to pull it off.

“I had to get a lot of people to help,” Brown said. “People not even involved with basketball were willing to jump right in.”

Randolph County School System superintendent Stephen Gainey said it was a good situation for the schools selected to serve as hosts.

“It was a big deal,” Gainey said. “They didn’t have to ask me twice.”

The NCHSAA made the move to secure high school venues for the 2021 championships, announcing the selection of Providence Grove and Wheatmore in early February. College facilities that normally had been used weren’t available because of COVID-19.

It was the first time since 1980 that high school venues were used for NCHSAA basketball title games.

NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said the goal was to make the “state championships a truly memorable experience for everyone involved.”

The people involved at Providence Grove and Wheatmore were part of that.

“It was crazy to see what went on in that gym in 24 hours,” Luther said. “It was wild.”

Luther said the transformation went from having physical education classes in the gym one day to seeing the facility prepared for the championships. For instance, that meant cables and wiring needed for the games to be televised.

“The toughest thing was meeting all the COVID protocols,” Brown said.

The games – for both boys’ and girls’ basketball — were held March 6. Class 2-A and Class 3-A games were assigned to Providence Grove. The championships for Class 1-A and Class 4-A were contested at Wheatmore.

Providence Grove’s gym seats about 1,500 spectators, but capacity was limited to about one-sixth of that because of the guidelines established. That was the case at Wheatmore, which seats about 1,600, as well.

So even though Asheboro’s girls’ team, which was in the Class 3-A title game, was among the participants at Providence Grove, that factor didn’t generate a huge crowd as it would normally if a team was playing for a state title in its home county. The only benefit for the Blue Comets, who lost to Carson, was that they didn’t have far to travel for the game.

While the game-day route for the Blue Comets was relatively simple, those from other schools probably had to check for directions.

“To have it at little Providence Grove out in the middle of nowhere, that’s a pretty good deal,” Luther said.

Gainey said he was proud that Providence Grove and Wheatmore could be part of providing the championship-level experience.

“It really worked out quite well,” Brown said.

Wheatmore pulled double-duty during the last school year. The school also was the site for the Class 2-A wrestling state tournament in another case of alternate venues being used.

“Hopefully, we get a little breather now,” Halo said.

CrossCountry

Faith Christian girls run to state title

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PLEASANT GARDEN – Faith Christian School twins Karrie Gaines and Kylie Gaines were the top two runners in the North Carolina Christian School Association’s state cross country meet Thursday at Hagan-Stone Park.

The duo led a wave of strong finishes for Faith Christian, which secured the team championship for the second season in a row.

Karrie Gaines posted a time of 20 minutes, 27.81 seconds on the 5-kilometer course to repeat as individual champion. Kylie Gaines was next in 21:42.18.

Faith Christian’s Ruth McLanahan, the 2020 state champion for middle school, was fourth in 23:15.93, Madison Avelino was sixth in 23:43.06, Kassie Gaines placed 12th in 25:40.32, Ellis Joy Mathison was 17th in 26:08.08 and Abby Hicks was 39th in 32:17.43.

“They ran hard and pushed themselves with many of them running their fastest times at this race,” Faith Christian coach Taylor Brunson said.

The top four runners from each team were used for scoring, with Faith Christian posting 11 points. That was good for a comfortable advantage on runner-up Wilson Christian, which had 28.

In the boys’ race, Noah Lester of Faith Christian placed fifth in 19:09.44 seconds. Teammate Shawn Cox was 11th in 19:59.09.

Faith Christian was third in the team standings. Curtis Davis (23rd), Nathan Gardner (43rd). Jonathan Davis (44th), Coy Bertrand (52nd), Luke Brady (53rd) and Cadan Ferguson (54th) rounded out the team’s entries.

The individual winner was Conner Ford of team champion Wilson Christian in 17:57.39.

In the middle school portion of the meet, the Faith Christian boys were the team runner-up in a 4,000-meter run. The team was led by Isaac Harris (17:59.87) in seventh, Gabe Jones (18:01.64) in eighth, Brandon Avelino (19:18.27) in 12th, Joshua Daniel (19:36.78) in 14th, Collin Frye (19:38.43) in 15th and Levi Brown (20:21.79) in 19th.

NCHSAA 

At Kernersville, Jazmin Palma of Uwharrie Charter Academy had the best finish among Randolph County entrants in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s state meet Saturday at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex.

Palma, a freshman, placed 43rd in the Class 1-A race in 23:02.87.

In Class 2-A girls, Providence Grove’s Mia Browder was 45th in 22:12.71.

In Class 2-A boys, the Providence Grove team finished 10th. The Patriots were led by Robert Burton in 65th place in 18:46.12.

Also in Class 2-A boys, Wheatmore’s Zach Hazelwood was 71st in 18:59.03, followed one spot later by Providence Grove’s Logan Stover (19:01.66).