CHAPEL HILL — Gov. Roy Cooper’s announcement to cease all in-person learning in public schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year brought with it a number of questions regarding the state of high school athletics.
Even before Cooper’s announcement on April 25, coaches, athletic directors and student-athletes grew weary of the possibility of spring sports being canceled. This didn’t make the blow any easier when it finally came since athletes were only able to complete 10 days of games, matches and meets.
It was a different story for the 16 basketball teams that were set to compete for N.C. High School Athletic Association state championships. Unlike spring sports that only competed for two weeks, the basketball title games signified the end of winter sports. Most teams competing for a championship had already competed in 30 or more games.
Also, the basketball championships were less than 48 hours away when the call was made to suspend all athletics on March 12.
“As much as we would like this opportunity for our student-athletes, coaches, and their communities, we know that ultimately any decision we make must err on the side of caution,” NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said on March 12.
Tucker, a former high school coach and college assistant coach, remained hopeful that champions would be declared at some point. However, the NCHSAA regretfully informed its member schools on April 24 that it wouldn’t be possible. The association also announced it would decide the fate of the East and West Regional Basketball Champions at the annual board of directors meeting on April 28 and 29.
Following the meeting, the board came to the conclusion that the best way to honor each team was to name co-state champions for the 2019-2020 season.
In a Zoom call with the media after the meeting, Board President Brad Craddock said the following:
“We actually took a vote on it and we felt like, in this crazy time in which we’re in, that crowing an East region and West Region did not do either side justice and we felt like the co-champions was the best we could do to honor all the work those student-athletes put into it.”
This marks the first instance in the 100+ year history of the NCHSAA that the basketball championships haven’t taken place.
There is a precedent set in football. During the flu epidemic of 1918, no football state championships were held. Additionally, the NCHSAA crowned regional champions instead of one state champion in different classifications from 1961-71.
The Association decided not to go that route as the expectations going into this season was that a championship was to be held between the champions of each region.
“In those instances where games were not played or were not scheduled to be played then obviously the boards at those times did not name co-champions,” Tucker said. “In this scenario, what you have to remember is that we did have an East Champion and a West Champion and we were [two days] away from actually playing the game. So, the game was planned. It was scheduled, and that makes that a little bit different than what we have looked at historically.”
Below are the teams that have been declared co-champions for their respective divisions:
1A Girls
East: Weldon (27-1)
West: Murphy (30-0)
1A Boys
East: Henderson Collegiate (26-10)
West: Winston-Salem Prep (22-8)
2A Girls
East: Farmville Central (25-3)
West: Newton-Conover (29-2)
2A Boys
East: Farmville Central (25-3)
West: Shelby (26-3)
3A Girls
East: E.E. Smith (31-1)
West: Southeast Guilford (30-1)
3A Boys
East: Westover (30-0)
West: Freedom (29-1)
4A Girls
East: Southeast Raleigh (27-1)
West: Vance (26-5)
4A Boys
East: Lumberton (26-5)
West: North Mecklenburg (30-1)
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Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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