Prep notebook: girls golf, tennis conference championships start this week

This week kicks off the fall sports postseason, with girls golf and girls tennis conference tournaments.

The Southwest Wake 4A concludes its season with an 18-hole round at Bentwinds Country Club in Fuquay-Varina on Tuesday. The Centreal Carolina, which is a mash-up of teams from the Big 8 3A, PAC-6 4A and Mid-State 2A, will do the same at the Chapel Hill Country Club. The Cap-8 4A’s final match at Hasentree Country Club on Tuesday and the Two Rivers 3A’s conference championship is at Reedy Creek Golf Course in Four Oaks.

In girls tennis, the Southwest Wake concludes its individual tournament Tuesday at the Cary Tennis Center, the Cap-8 does the same Wednesday at Millbrook Exchange Park.

The PAC-6 and Big 8 have one-day tournaments Wednesday at East Chapel Hill and Orange High, respectively. The Two Rivers 3A’s one-day tournament is Monday at Smithfield-Selma.

Cross country: On Saturday, Cardinal Gibbons’ Connor Lane (15.22.15) and Leesville Road’s Nevada Mareno (17:40.28) won championship races at the NCRunners Elite Cross Country Invitational in Kernersville. Mareno was 50 seconds faster than defending 4A state champ, Green Hope’s Elly Henes. Apex’s Ben Savino was third in the boys’ race by a little more than 25 seconds.

Also Saturday, Broughton finished second among 28 teams across the country at the Manhattan Cross Country Invitational in New York. Defending 4A champ Jeremy Brown was second in the 4,000 meter race.

Hillside boys soccer: The Hillside boys soccer team went from JV to varsity this season after a senior joined the team, according to athletics director Ovester Grays. There is confusion among other PAC-6 coaches on whether or not they picked up forfeit wins for varsity games that haven’t been played yet.

Hillside lost to Sanderson 3-0 before the move happened, but the game appears as a varsity contest on each team’s MaxPreps schedule, along with other forfeits.

“Originally, we didn’t have any seniors on the team. We have a new JV coach and he continued to allow kids to try out. During the Northern game (on Sept. 14), he added one player who happened to be a senior and he played in that one game,” Grays said. “There are no rules against playing seniors on JV in Durham Public Schools. But since we have that one senior, we just decided to move up so people wouldn’t complain.”

Broughton players: Broughton volleyball coach Jim Freeman has coached many state championship teams, but this year’s undefeated Broughton squad is his first with two players who have reached the 1,000-kill mark.

Katja Ehlers, a College of Charleston recruit, was the first to reach the mark this year, followed by Kalee Vanderhorst.

Volleyball standings: The volleyball season ends next Wednesday, and many conference races are coming down to the last game.

Cleveland and Corinth Holders are set to collide Thursday, likely for the Two Rivers 3A title, while Panther Creek and Fuquay-Varina will do the same in the Southwest Wake 4A while Broughton and Leesville Road tangle Tuesday for the Cap-8.

Ejection-free: There were 139 ejection-free schools in the NCHSAA in the 2014-15 athletic year. Franklin Academy and Chatham Central were commended for being ejection-free for five consecutive years.

Other local teams who did not have an ejection include: Cary, Chapel Hill, Clayton, Corinth Holders, Durham School of the Arts, East Chapel Hill, Chatham Charter, East Wake, East Wake Academy, Franklinton, Granville Central, Hillside, Holly Springs, Kestrel Heights, Lee County, Louisburg, Middle Creek, Millbrook, N.C. Science & Math, Neuse Charter, North Johnston, Northern Vance, Princeton, Raleigh Charter, Rolesville, Roxboro Community, Smithfield-Selma, Southern Durham, Wake Forest, Warren County and Woods Charter.

Bonitta Best contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: girls golf, tennis conference championships start this week."