OVERVIEW:
The NCHSAA has developed a draft of lacrosse conference from the declarations of intent sent in to the NCHSAA office.
The NCHSAA is looking for feedback on this current proposal, which will split the Tri-Nine Conference lacrosse-playing teams.
In boys lacrosse, the eight-team "conference 2" is listed as having Tri-Nine teams Apex, Cary, Green Hope, Holly Springs, Middle Creek and Panther Creek -- plus Garner and Erwin Triton. However, Athens Drive is listed in the six-team "conference 3" with Broughton, Wakefield, Enloe, Millbrook, Cardinal Gibbons and Southeast Raleigh.
In girls lacrosse, the seven-team "conference 2" features Apex, Cary, Green Hope, Holly Springs, Middle Creek and Carrboro (which is the outlier in this set of data). Athens Drive is once again in "conference 3" with Broughton, Cardinal Gibbons, Enloe, Wakefield, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill and Durham Riverside.
If you have comments or concerns regarding the conferences, please email Mark Dreibelbis at mdreibel@email.unc.edu . The NCHSAA will be soliciting input during the week during the regional meetings as well. After this time, the NCHSAA staff will take the suggestions and comments to finalize these conferences.
J. MIKE'S TAKE:
I'm no logisitcs expert, but shouldn't Athens and Carrboro be switched in the girls' proposal? Athens would be traveling out to Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill for conference games instead of Cary and Apex, while Carrboro would have to leave its own county for every intraconference game. Unless we're going to see girls and boys teams travel together, this change makes sense.
In the boys proposal, I'd trade two-for-one and switch both Garner and Triton into "conference 3" for Athens Drive. That way, each conference would have seven teams and you'd keep alive traditional conference rivalries like Garner versus Southeast Raleigh and Athens Drive versus the-rest-of-the-Tri-Nine.
No matter what conference gets Triton, it's going to be hard on travel. Call it the "Lee County" effect. But Triton (25 miles farther south than Garner) is a straighter shot for Raleigh city limit schools than Cary-area schools, and about equal on time.
