THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260425
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 82 lines
North Carolina's high school athletic programs have been placed into conferences for the 1997-98 academic year, and Manteo joins a new conference with an Albemarle-area school that is not happy about the arrangement.
The High School Conference Realignment Committee set the conferences earlier this month. Most schools fit neatly into new alignments, but officials at Gates County High School are still fretting about their placement in a unique conference - the newly formed 1A-2A-3A Northeastern Conference.
Split conferences are not uncommon, but never in the state have three classifications played in the same league. The nine-team Northeastern Conference will combine five 1A schools (Perquimans County, Williamston, Northside, Roanoke, Gates County), three 2A schools (Currituck County, Edenton-Holmes, Plymouth) and one 3A school (Manteo).
Two of the schools, Manteo and Gates County, looked as though they were going in separate directions when alignment talks began. Manteo, growing and newly classified as a 3A school, was facing a move to the Big Eight Conference, which would have meant heavy travel. Gates County, which remained a 1A school, wanted no part of the 1A-2A split. Both are in the new conference. Manteo is happy. Gates is not.
Manteo basketball coach Bud Hendrix said he thinks the realignment committee made the best decision for his school.
``There will be a lot of good, high-interest games and we won't have our kids on the road all night long,'' Hendrix said.
Hendrix said Manteo has been told by the committee that the Redskins will have an opportunity to play in the state 3A playoffs every year but how that will be determined is still up in the air. In most cases, when a larger school ``plays down'' in a smaller conference, it is not allowed to play in the state playoffs every year.
``They assured us that we will have an opportunity to make the playoffs each year. I think we'll have that,'' Hendrix said. ``They were going to allow us in the playoffs every other year despite our record, but we told them we would earn it like everyone else. The nightmare we're trying to avoid is having a great team and not being eligible to go anywhere.''
Hendrix credited Superintendent Leon Holloman, Athletic Director Algie Campbell and Principal Everett Walterhouse for working hard during the realignment process.
``They have done a lot of hard work. I think they are reaching a solution that's going to satisfy everyone,'' Hendrix said.
Gates County, on the other hand, is ready to appeal the decision of the realignment committee. Officials at Gates County High School made it clear that they didn't want to play in a split conference. The Red Barons nearly ended up in the newly formed 1A Piedmont Conference and formally requested to be placed in the Tobacco Belt Conference, but the committee thought it geographically better to place Gates in the Northeastern Conference.
``We will follow the process for appeal again based on procedure,'' said Clark Harrell, athletic director, football coach and boys basketball coach at Gates. ``We don't think the procedure was handled right. We wrote a letter of appeal which said we clearly did not want to be put in a split conference. Nobody stood up and said, `This is what Gates County wants.' We weren't represented.''
Although Gates already plays larger schools like Manteo and Edenton-Holmes on its nonconference schedule, Harrell said that is the school's choice. In the split conference, those games would be mandatory.
``We didn't want to ride by the front door of one school to play another school that was larger than us,'' Harrell said. ``We have to ride by Camden High School to play Currituck, then we have to go 60 more miles to play Manteo, a 3A school.
``How can you justify riding 120 miles to play a 3A school in your conference when you go past a school that you have played for 23 years that's in your classification?''
Harrell said Gates has to wait until Oct. 15 for a final appeal.
``We're a small rural school and in the past that's been taken into consideration. I mean, are we in it for the kids, or are we just trying to find a way to win. We're not looking for someone we can dominate.
We're 1A and we want to play 1A.
If you're not going to let schools play in their classifications, why even have them?''
Other schools in northeastern North Carolina had a much easier time choosing a conference. Northeastern will remain in the 4A Big East Conference.
Bertie County and Hertford County are staying in the 3A Big Eight Conference. Columbia and Cape Hatteras are staying in the 1A Tobacco Belt Conference and will be joined by Camden County.
Northampton East and Northampton West will play in the newly formed 1A Piedmont Conference. by CNB