By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
All seven high schools in the Alamance-Burlington School System will be in the same conference based on the third edition of the proposed conference realignment within the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
Cummings and Graham had been listed in a conference that included schools from three other counties.
In last week’s release from the NCHSAA realignment committee, they’ll be part of an eight-school league that also includes Roxboro Person.
If this version sticks, it will involve schools from three different classifications. The NCHSAA is moving from four classifications to eight beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
Cummings and Graham will be Class 4-A in the new arrangement; with Eastern Alamance, Southeast Alamance, Western Alamance, and Roxboro Person in Class 5-A; and Southern Alamance and Williams in Class 6-A.
“I think I’m in favor of it,” said Williams girls’ basketball coach Jason Cheek, who previously coached at Graham. “I think it’s going to be interesting to see how that might play out.”
Schools can still appeal the realignments, but those would go directly to the NCHSAA board rather than the realignment committee. The board is expected to hold a special session to consider approving the new conference alignments.
Todd Davis, athletics director for ABSS, said he likes the idea of all the schools in the district in the same conference despite the disparity in enrollments.
Cummings officials had pushed for inclusion with other schools in the county, citing concerns about the distance to Winston-Salem based on previous proposals.
The move involving Cummings and Graham was essentially a 2-for-1 switch based on earlier conference proposals, which had Rockingham County in a league with the larger Alamance County schools. Rockingham County, which often has been clustered with schools from Alamance County, is now listed with the group that had included Cummings and Graham.
In addition to Rockingham County, which is the lone Class 5-A school in the mix, that league is set to include Bartlett Yancey (3-A), Eden Morehead (4-A), McMichael (3-A), Reidsville (4-A), Walkertown (3-A) and Winston-Salem Carver (4-A).
Graham and Cummings have been in the same conference as Southeast Alamance, which is in its second year of existence. Southeast officials knew their school would be clustered with larger area schools in the next cycle.
“That makes for some great matchups,” Southeast girls’ basketball coach Amy Sarratt said, though pointing out that the latest version that includes Cummings and Graham was surprising.
There were also more changes involving Clover Garden and River Mill. They’re tagged for Class 1A in the new classification set-up.
They’re listed in a seven-team conference with Ascend Leadership, Central Carolina Academy, Chatham Charter, Southern Wake Academy and Woods Charter. The previous version had those two Alamance County schools as part of a 10-school circuit.
Those schools don’t compete in football.
