Prep notebook: Green Hope relays among nation’s fastest

Many local track and field teams did well at the Dennis Craddock Carolina Relays hosted by UNC-Chapel Hill and held on Irwin Belk Track at Fetzer Field on Saturday.

Green Hope won the 4-by-800 relays in both competitions. The boys’ 4-by-800 time is currently the fastest in the U.S., while the girls are fifth.

Cardinal Gibbons’ Sophie Ebihara won the girls 1,600 while teammate Annie Pierce won the steeplechase.

Apex’s Lawson Benfield won the boys steeplechase and Zoe Early won the girls pole vault.

Panther Creek’s boys won the 4-by-100 and 4-by-200 relay.

J.J. Knox Invite: At the J.J. Knox Invitational hosted by Eastern Alamance, Riverside’s Abira Reddish won the girls 300.

East Chapel Hill’s James Gildard edged Middle Creek’s Jack Cawley by a second in the 1,600. Middle Creek’s Terrell Adams topped Carrboro’s Magnus Herweyer in the shot put and discus.

New Balance Nationals: At the New Balance Nationals on March 12, Cardinal Gibbons’ Connor Lane ran a new N.C. indoor record 14:42.10 in the 5,000.

The Gibbons girls ran 21:03.50 in the 4-by-mile, which is also a new N.C. indoor record. Chapel Hill was close behind at 21:14.79.

Realignment: The NCHSAA realignment process is nearing an end after the third of four drafts was released last week to schools. There were just two local changes from the second draft.

The first involved moving 1A Louisburg and Granville Central into a split 1A/2A conference with Bunn, South Granville, Southern Vance, Northern Vance, J.F. Webb, Warren County and Roanoke Rapids. The schools had appealed to be in a conference with other football-playing schools for scheduling purposes.

They were previously scheduled to join a league with Voyager Academy, Roxboro Community, Franklin Academy, Oxford Prep, Falls Lake Academy and East Wake Academy – none of which have football.

The second change was North Moore leaving Chatham Central, Chatham Charter, Kestrel Heights, Raleigh Charter, Research Triangle, River Mill Academy and Woods Charter to join a league to its west.

It has been the smoothest realignment in the Triangle in the last decade. Most teams saw no change from the first draft and most made no appeal since then.

Only procedural changes – like an incorrect number – will be made in the final draft.

Marathon win: East Chapel Hill needed two days to complete a 13-inning, 11-10 victory against Jordan last week. The game started Tuesday at East, but it was 8-8 in the eighth inning when it was too dark to continue.

Bryse Wilson no-no: Orange’s Bryse Wilson threw a no-hitter against Northern Vance on Tuesday in a 5-0 victory. He struck out 11.

Tennis races: This is shaping up to be the most interesting boys tennis season in at least a decade. Defending conference champions Green Hope, Wakefield and East Chapel Hill have already lost league matches.

Panther Creek and Enloe are respectively leading the Southwest Wake 4A and Cap-8 4A, and neither has won a conference title in the last decade.

This story was originally published March 20, 2016 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: Green Hope relays among nation’s fastest."