Prep notebook: stunt competition hits 3rd round

Stunt, Wake County Schools’ newest sport, plays its third round of competition Thursday night at Cary, Green Hope and East Wake.

Apex and Garner will join Green Hope while Heritage and Sanderson join East Wake. Panther Creek and Athens Drive will compete with Cary. Matches begin at 5 p.m.

Stunt combines elements of competitive cheerleading, gymnastics and diving. Teams are required to do established routines or stunts. The competitors are required to do them a specific way, similar to performing a specific dive.

The competition is divided into four quarters – partners, pyramids and tosses, group jumps and tumbles, and team performance.

Apex and Garner are 2-0 and share the lead in the Southern Conference while Millbrook is 3-0 and leads the Northern Conference.

The conference championships are scheduled for April 30 and the overall championship is set for May 7.

Ledford death: Veteran South View coach Randy Ledford died suddenly on Tuesday afternoon. He was found unconscious in the yard of his home by a neighbor and then taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

Ledford coached South View to the N.C. High School Athletic Association baseball title in 1991.

NCHSAA honors: Knightdale’s Jamie Brown won the NCHSAA Performance of the Week award last week by winning the high jump and the long jump in the Wake County Invitational track and field championships. Brown cleared 6-foot, 2 inches in the high jump and jumped 23 feet, two inches in the long jump.

Brock switch: Larry Brock, the head football coach at Western Harnett, has resigned after four years and a 14-31 record. Athletic director Russell Taylor said Brock resigned to accept another coaching position. Taylor (919-499-5113) said the school is taking applications for the position.

Jewelry: The National Federation of State High School Associations will allow swimmers to wear jewelry. Jewelry had been banned as a safety precaution. The Federation has been examing the rules for all sports to determine if the rules are pertinent.

“We’ve been working for the past 10 years on the role of prohibiting jewelry, and we finally came to the conclusion that prohibition presented little concern for injury,” said Becky Oakes, NFHS director of sports and liaison to the Swimming and Diving Rules Committee.

Northwood standout: Northwood’s 5-foot-5 senior point guard Shontai Totten signed with Pfeiffer on Wednesday. Totten was a four-year starter who scored 1,308 points and made 318 assists in her career. He career average was 15.2 points and 3.9 assists.

Golden whistle: N.C. High School Athletic Association officials Wiley Barrett of Southern Pines, Charles A. Carriker of Winston-Salem, Harry Helmer of Elm City and Larry Honeycutt of Wilmington were as recipients of the ninth annual Golden Whistle Merit Award.

The award is given for demonstrating leadership, performance, service and training for the betterment of officiating, possessing officiating abilities emulated by fellow officials, being regarded as a person of integrity and character, and a minimum of 10 years of experience as an active official.

Barrett has officiated nearly 5,000 football and basketball games. Carriker has officiated football for 44 years. Helmer has 41 years as a football official. Honeycutt, who was the quarterback on Broughton’s 1961 state championship team, has officiated 47 years and has officiated NCHSAA football, soccer and basketball games.

This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: stunt competition hits 3rd round."