TOGETHER AGAIN: Appeal approved, Goldsboro, Spring Creek placed in same league

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on April 25, 2016 1:48 PM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

CHAPEL HILL -- It's over.

Wayne County schools Goldsboro and Spring Creek will play in the same conference when the new N.C. High School Athletic Association realignment goes into effect July 1, 2017.

The two schools -- a mere 14 miles apart -- will join Clinton, East Bladen, James Kenan, Midway and Wallace-Rose Hill in a highly-competitive and brutal seven-team 2-A league.

"The only positive I can think is the three counties border and the travel isn't too bad," said SC athletics director Heath Whitfield, who also agreed that the school may suffer financially and struggle to compete across the board in all sports.

The mid-winter proposal had the following options:

• Conference J -- Goldsboro was placed into a league with schools from Johnston, Wilson, Nash, Edgecombe and Pitt counties.

• Conference M -- Spring Creek was merged with the Duplin and Sampson County schools.

Disatisfied with the Association's realignment model, officials from Wayne County Public Schools offered a counter proposal -- twice -- that put Goldsboro and Spring Creek in the same conference with the Lenoir County schools. The Association vetoed the request that appeared sensible from a geographical sense.

WPCS officials met with the Association on Thursday.

County athletics director Dean Sauls and Dr. Michael Dunsmore, superintendent of WCPS, presented the offer to place Goldsboro and Spring Creek in the same conference.

"(I) had to contact all principals, athletic directors and superintendents in Conferences J, K, and M to inform them that WCPS wanted our 2-A schools in the same conference and that we would be appealing to the committee on April 20," Sauls said. "(I) received notices from all schools that they understood the situation and would not object to the appeal."

The Association granted the appeal.

"We now move forward as this is a geographically perfect fit with the counties of Duplin and Sampson bordering Wayne County to the south and west," Sauls said.

Work began on the draft in October and the Association listened to schools voice their concerns thorugh emails, letters, open forum meetings and in-person appeals to design the best alignment plan possible.

There were 408 schools involved in the process.

The Association's Board of Directors will review the final draft during their two-day meeting in early May in Chapel Hill.