This Triangle high school’s mascot was voted the best in the country. See who won.
Cary High School has something to celebrate.
After two months of voting and ascending in an NCAA-style tournament for the best high school mascot in the country, the Cary Imps are the champions.
The tournament featured 66 team mascots from high schools in the Midwest, South, West and East.
In the final round, the Imps were up against the Rhinelander High School Hodags of Wisconsin after beating the Camas County High School Mushers mascot of Idaho. Their mascot looks like a Siberian Husky.
Voting closed just before midnight June 19; in the end, the Imps got 62,821 votes. The Hodags got 39,768. The Hodag mascot comes from lumberjack lore and resembles a fearsome monster with bullhorns and spikes down its back.
The Imp, a small green devil, has represented the school since 1935 and was created by Albert H. Werner, the football and baseball coach at the time, as a nod to his alma mater, Duke University, the home of the Blue Devils.
The current mascot was designed in the late 1960s by Lee Mauney, a student who later served as the athletic director for Cary High in the 1980s and 1990s.
A part of the Cary High School family
Founded in 1896, Cary High became the first public high school in the state in 1907 and is one of the six in Cary. The school has had a long history of renovations, new buildings, and leadership. In 1963, six African-American girls integrated the school.
Currently, the school has about 2,000 students.
“The Imp, because it’s so unique and stands out so much, it kind of represents us as a whole,” said Ryan Rodgers, the school’s athletic director. “That’s why it means so much to everybody. A lot of people have been through here and we’ve got those strong ties, and people are so proud of their experiences.
Several alumni and Cary residents have been showing their school spirit and “impish behavior” to encourage others to vote for their beloved mascot on social media for weeks.
“We have the best community and it was so exciting to see everyone so genuinely interested in us taking home this title,” wrote Cary resident Jill B. Cole in a Facebook post.
Fans could vote multiple times for their mascot in the tournament.
The Imps were in the tournament in the fall but only got 42 votes. They started in the spring tournament as the 11th seed but took the title in just six rounds, according to ScoreBook Live, the tournament host and sports outlet that tracks high school sports.
“Cary is a big place now, but it still has a lot of that hometown feel,” Rodgers said. “If you went to Cary High School, you are part of that family and you’ll forever be part of that family.”
This story was originally published June 20, 2023 at 4:34 PM.