Northeast Guilford is joining WHAT conference???
You'll have to forgive Northeast Guilford AD John Primm if he is visibly confused when you bring up the subject of high school realignment for 2009-13. The NCHSAA released its preliminary proposal for new conferences when the next four-year realignment kicks in, and while the association does a fairly admirable job of matching schools in nearest proximity at their classification level, Northeast has gotten a weird assignment twice in the past eight years. Weird seems to be the right word, anyway.
Based on the proposed conferences released Thursday, Northeast would join a six-team 3-A league with far-flung road trips to such places as North Forsyth, Ledford and Southwestern Randolph. Even the one fellow Guilford school, Southern, is about a 35-minute drive for the Rams. And that'll be the shortest trip for Northeast's sports teams.
Primm has put his own push-pins in the map and notes that Eastern Guilford and Northern Guilford are within 15 minutes of McLeansville, and the three Rockingham County schools that would join those two in a re-worked Triad 3-A network of eight schools are all within 35 minutes. Western Alamance is right down the road to the east.
Did anyone notice gas prices are over $3 now?
"I have very mixed emotions," Primm said Friday. "We are the epicenter of one conference that we're not in. And they've connected us to the periphery of this other conference."
His emotions are mixed because -- and not that Primm would say this himself at the risk of offending other schools -- Dudley and Western Alamance no longer would be conference rivals, which, by and large could mean more league titles in football for Northeast. In fact, the new league could be beneficial from a competitive standpoint in several sports.
As former N&R preps editor Charlie Atkinson notes, realignment generally sticks to this preliminary plan rather closely. But Northeast was an exception in 2001 and will likely be counterproposing a different plan for itself again when the NCHSAA opens the floor to alternate plans. In that initial '01 proposal, the NCHSAA managed to stick Northeast in a group with East Chapel Hill, Bartlett Yancey, Southern Durham and Oxford Webb. To avoid those nightmare road trips, Primm proposed the Rams join Dudley, Carver, Parkland, Glenn -- a difficult league, but closer to home -- and that was accepted.
Here are a few of my other observations, most of which appeared in today's News & Record:
* Guilford County will go from four 4-A schools to 10. Who knew the county was loaded with so many hugely-attended high schools? ... Dudley will move back up to the class of largest schools for the first time since 1997, and Southeast will be back after a four-year stint in 3-A. Growth at Ragsdale, Southwest and Western Guilford will push those schools to the 4-A level for the first time. The Hornets have changed classfications in each realignment since 1993.
* The five Greensboro city schools would be together in one conference along with Southeast Guilford and Southern Alamance. That's a lot of convenient, short drives. Well, except to the outskirts of Saxapahaw.
* High Point Central, Northwest Guilford and East Forsyth would join a conference with 4-A newcomers Ragsdale, Southwest, Glenn and Parkland. ... I think we could call this the PTI 4-A Conference because the airport seems to be at the epicenter of the proposed league.
* Randolph County will open two new 2-A high schools -- Providence Grove and Wheatmore -- that would cause four of its five existing county high schools to drop from 3-A size to 2-A. Asheboro would be the only school to remain at 3-A. Eastern Randolph would join Cummings in a conference, making for some interesting football matchups.
* Reidsville would find itself in a potentially tougher 2-A football conference with Andrews and Carver.
* Thomasville's run of athletics success in 1-A would come to an end if the Bulldogs return to 2-A for the first time since 1997.
The NCHSAA will hold regional meetings in January to let schools react to this proposal. After that, the association could come up with alternate proposals, then hear appeals and approve a final realignment plan in May