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nchsaa releases new realignment proposal

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The N.C. High School Athletic Association has released the Realignment Committee's proposal for the 2009-10 conferences. Significant changes were made to the first proposal made the NCHSAA Board of Directors.

One of the biggest issues in the first proposal was the addition of Greenville Rose to the current Greater Neuse River Conference. In the newest proposal, Rose was dropped from the Greater Neuse. Instead, Rose will be placed in an all 4-A conference with the Wilmington schools and New Bern.

The current Greater Neuse will remain the same as it is today with one exception. Holly Springs will be dropped from the Greater Neuse and added to the current Tri-Eight Conference, and Harnett Central will take the Golden Hawks' place.

The original proposal called for Athens Drive to move into the current Cap-Seven conference, making it the Cap-Eight. However, under the new proposal, Athens Drive would stay in the Tri-Eight conference, and Holly Springs will join, making it the Tri-Nine. A nine team conference will make scheduling difficult for many sports, including football. Teams in the new conference will only be able to have three non-conference football games.

The current Cap-Seven conference has been left alone. The same seven schools will remain together in their own conference with no additions under this proposal.

Chapel Hill High School will drop down to a 3-A school in 2009, meaning the PAC-Six Conference will lose one team. No other teams will be placed into the conference, leaving them with a seven team conference.

The Cape Fear region will undergo several changes in 2009.

The 4-A schools in Cumberland County will be in a conference togehter. Pine Forest, Cape Fear, South View, Jack Britt, Seventy-First, Terry Sanford, and E.E. Smith will join together to make a seven team conference.

Lumberton, Purnell Swett, Scotland, Richmond, Hoke, and Pinecrest will fill up the other 4-A conference in the Cape Fear region.

Some Cumberland County schools will drop from 4-A to 3-A in 2009. Those schools will be placed in a seven team conference that is made up of Southern Lee, Western Harnett, Overhills, Union Pines, Douglas Byrd, Gray's Creek, and Westover.

Cardinal Gibbons will move up from 2-A to 3-A, and they will be in a conference with Northern Vance, Southern Vance, Chapel Hill, Orange, and Oxford Webb.

This is the first realignment draft from the Realignment Committee. The initial draft was put together by the NCHSAA Board of Directors. This proposal is not final, but this does give us an idea of what the committee is looking at.

Schools were required to attend either the East or West realginment meetings in January. This draft will be distributed to schools for review, and the Realignment Committee will meet again this month to review alternate proposals.

The Committee will meet and finalize the conferences in March, and schools will have until April 1 to make appeals. The NCHSAA Board of Directors will finalize the new conferences in May.

The new conferences will not go into place until August 2009.

Stay with WRAL.com throughout the Realignment process for the best coverage.