It's very early in the process, but the winds of change are beginning to blow across the North Carolina High School Athletic Association landscape.
Though it will be the fall of 2013 before teams shift into new conference homes, it's realignment time yet again, or at least time to begin discussing which teams belong where and with whom.
Locally, the most significant impact is at Lake Norman Charter, currently a 1A school in the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference. Based on the NCHSAA's Average Daily Membership numbers, LNC will be making the jump to the 2A classification next year.
While nothing is official at this point, LNC's attendance of 797 places it squarely in the middle of the 2A field, so the move is all but certain.
LNC athletic director Matt Schlegel says the school was expecting to be moved up.
"We're okay with it," says Schlegel. "Looking at what we did this fall, we held our own with those (SPC 2A) schools."
The NCHSAA last week released a computer-generated realignment draft that even precedes the state's official first draft, which is set to be released Friday. The computer's realignment plan, by software company SAS, included this criteria: teams were to be grouped geographically in six to eight team conferences, none of which were split leagues including teams from different classifications.
LNC was grouped in 2A Conference 3, which also includes Bandys, Bunker Hill, Maiden and Newton-Conover from Catawba County and current SPC members East Lincoln, Lincolnton and West Lincoln.
"Overall, I think it'd be good," says Schlegel. "There would be some travel, but there's not a lot we can do about it. There's not a lot of 2As in Charlotte. We're in 4A-land."
The conference would have no shortage of powerhouses in football. Bandys, East Lincoln, Lincolnton, Maiden and Newton-Conover have combined to make 14 state finals appearances. That includes Lincolnton's 39-36 loss to Tarboro in the 2A final last weekend, the Wolves' fifth championship game.
Lincolnton won state titles in 1993 and 2007, Maiden won in 1977 and Newton-Conover captured the 2008 title.
"A lot of programs that have a lot of history, a lot of success," says Schlegel.
LNC, meanwhile, is still building its program. The Knights were 5-6 and made their first state playoff appearance in their second varsity season this fall.
Timeline
The computer system's realignment is the first of many steps that will culminate with a four-year conference alignment for school years 2013-17.
The NCHSAA's draft released Friday will likely be more indicative of what the final realignment will be. From there, the NCHSAA will hold regional meetings in late January, where member schools can express concerns directly to the realignment committee, which includes, among others, eight school system superintendents and eight region representatives.
Hough High principal Terri Cockerham is the representative from Region 6.
In mid-February, a second realignment draft will be unveiled, taking into consideration alternative proposals from member schools, and the committee will finalize its conferences in mid-March. Appeals will be heard until May, with the new alignment going into effect after next school year.
I-Meck to split?
If the computer-generated realignment is at all indicative of how the process plays out, there will be little shake-up for north Mecklenburg's three 4A high schools.
Hopewell, Hough and North Meck have currently been grouped with fellow I-Meck Conference members Mallard Creek, Mooresville and Vance and current 3As A.L. Brown and J.M. Robinson in 4A Conference 4.
Athletic directors Jamie Billings (Hopewell), Masanori Toguchi (Hough) and Kevin Wilson (North Meck) say their programs have little complaints with the computer's realignment, though Lake Norman and West Charlotte would not be included.
"Losing Lake Norman and West Charlotte would be a loss, of course, but we'd be adding two quality schools that are good in all sports," says Billings.
While the computer grouped West Charlotte with other Charlotte schools in an eight-team league, Lake Norman was not only separated from primary rival Mooresville, but linked with McDowell and T.C. Roberson of the Mountain Athletic Conference and Alexander Central, South Caldwell and Watauga of the Northwestern. If that alignment holds, Lake Norman's closest conference foe would be 40 miles away in Taylorsville. Roberson is located in Skyland, near Asheville, 125 miles from Lake Norman.
Lake Norman athletic director Steve Rankin says the Wildcats have concerns with that grouping and have expressed them to the NCHSAA.
