Another five sports begin today in the N.C. High School Athletic Association: boys golf, girls golf, boys tennis, softball, and girls soccer.
Below, HighSchoolOT will preview all five seasons with preseason rankings for three of those five sports, and abbreviated watch lists for all of them. The Watch List doesn’t have any effect on our end-of-season all-state teams.
Girls Golf (watch list)
Girls golf is usually played in the fall, and it was in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association. But the NCHSAA moved it to run at the same time as the boys golf season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There are no preseason HighSchoolOT rankings in girls golf, but there will be an inaugural final rankings once the NCHSAA championships have concluded.
Here are 10 girls golfers to watch this year as part of our HSOT Watch List:
- Maria Atwood, Holly Springs (junior)
- Gabriela Cruz, Wesleyan Christian (senior)*
- McKenzie Daffin, Jack Britt (senior)
- Morgan Ketchum, Reagan (junior)
- Alexsandra Lapple, O’Neal School (sophomore)*
- Elizabeth Lohbauer, Cox Mill (junior)
- Emily Mathews, Eastern Alamance (sophomore)
- Megan Morris, Panther Creek (senior)
- Amanda Sambach, Cannon School (senior)*
- Katherine Schuster, First Flight (senior)
*-already completed season in the fall
Boys Golf (watch list)
As stated above, there are no preseason HighSchoolOT rankings in boys golf, but there will be an inaugural final rankings once the NCHSAA championships have concluded.
The NCISAA season is also in the spring.
Here are 20 boys golfers to watch this year as part of our HSOT Watchlist:
- Collin Adams, Charlotte Latin (senior)
- Davis Adams, St. David’s (junior)
- Jackson Brimfield, Durham Academy (senior)
- Tyler Dechellis, Clayton (senior)
- Luke Edwards, Cary Christian (senior)
- Michael LaSasso, St. David’s (junior)
- Ben Jordan, Greensboro Day (junior)
- Andrew Plate, Page (senior)
- Caleb Surratt, Union Academy (junior)
- Jackson Van Paris, O’Neal School (senior)
Boys Tennis (rankings, watch list)
The NCISAA boys tennis season is already underway and now the NCHSAA joins in. Last season was stopped after two weeks due to the pandemic.
HighSchoolOT typically does an East & West top 25 in boys tennis, but we do not plan on doing one at this time for NCHSAA teams as there is not a dual-team tennis title scheduled. We will instead do statewide NCISAA rankings: preseason, midseason, end-of-regular-season, and final rankings.
The NCHSAA will only have an individual tournament at the end of the year, and there will be a team champion crowned for that, but our rankings are specifically dual-team rankings.
Here are 10 boys tennis players to watch this year as part of our HSOT Watch List:
- Wyatt Cannon, Sanderson (junior)
- Aidan Chung, Carrboro (junior)
- Foster Evans, Clayton (senior)
- Chris Hartzell, Ledford (senior)
- Aryan Malhotra, South Iredell (senior)
- Aathreya Mahesh, Charlotte Latin (junior)
- Dennis Perumov, Chapel Hill (senior)
- Tyler Ramanata, Pine Lake Prep (junior)
- Joe Wayand, Cardinal Gibbons (senior)
- Ryan Xiao, Green Hope (senior)
And now here’s the preseason top 25 for the NCISAA.
- Charlotte Country Day
- Greensboro Day
- Charlotte Latin
- Durham Academy
- Cary Academy
- Cape Fear Academy
- Carmel Christian
- Ravenscroft
- Forsyth Country Day
- Rocky Mount Academy
- Gaston Day
- Arendell Parrott
- North Raleigh Christian
- Wesleyan Christian
- Carolina Day
- Providence Day
- Covenant Day
- O’Neal School
- Epiphany School
- Cannon School
- Wayne Country Day
- Cary Christian
- Gaston Christian
- Trinity School of Durham & Chapel Hill
- Wake Christian
Softball (rankings, watch list)
The NCISAA softball season is already underway and now the NCHSAA joins in. Last season was stopped after two weeks due to the pandemic. We will be doing preseason, midseason, end-of-regular-season, and final rankings for the East and West.
Here are the preseason rankings
West
- Central Cabarrus
- South Caldwell
- Eastern Randolph
- North Davidson
- West Stanly
- West Rowan
- Mooresville
- Alexander Central
- Forbush
- Providence Grove
- Hickory Ridge
- North Stokes
- Parkwood
- Crest
- Rockingham County
- Forbush
- Central Davidson
- South Stanly
- Mount Pleasant
- Lake Norman
- North Lincoln
- Providence
- Marvin Ridge
- A.L. Brown (Kannapolis)
- Myers Park
East
- Eastern Alamance
- Topsail
- D.H. Conley
- Fuquay-Varina
- Heritage
- Holly Springs
- Cleveland
- Western Alamance
- South Granville
- Richmond
- Cape Fear
- Gray’s Creek
- Southern Alamance
- Clayton
- Camden County
- Middle Creek
- Southern Nash
- Jack Britt
- Purnell Swett
- South Johnston
- Person
- Clayton
- North Johnston
- Rocky Mount Academy
- Richmond
And now here are 20 softball players to watch this year as part of our HSOT Watch List:
- Savannah Beaver, Eastern Randolph (senior)
- Brooke Bowling, South Granville (junior)
- Kenna Raye Dark, Eastern Alamance (junior)
- Alanna Deal, South Columbus (senior)
- Jasmine Fong, Enloe (senior)
- Sydney Hartgrove, Topsail (senior)
- Chloe Hatzopoulos, Mountain Island Charter (senior)
- Mackenzie Hayes, Crest (senior)
- Kalyn Kyle, Clayton (junior)
- Kamryn Nash, Camden County (junior)
- Brantleigh Parrott, Central Cabarrus (junior)
- Jaden Pone, Gray’s Creek (senior)
- Kaitlyn Rackard, Union Grove Christian (senior)
- Emma Rogers, R-S Central (senior)
- Anna Sawyer, D.H. Conley (junior)
- Carleigh Simmons, Camden County (senior)
- Regan Weisner, South Caldwell (senior)
- Lauren Wiles, D.H. Conley (senior)
- Emily Winstead, Rocky Mount Academy (junior)
- Ellen Yang, Salisbury (senior)
Girls Soccer
The NCISAA girls soccer season is already underway and now the NCHSAA joins in. Last season was stopped after two weeks due to the pandemic. We will be doing preseason, midseason, end-of-regular-season, and final rankings for the East and West.
Here are the preseason rankings:
West
- Providence Day
- Hough
- Page
- Cox Mill
- West Forsyth
- Northern Guilford
- Providence
- Northwest Guilford
- Cuthbertson
- Myers Park
- Marvin Ridge
- South Mecklenburg
- Reagan
- Weddington
- Cannon School
- Union Academy
- Charlotte Latin
- Hickory Ridge
- Southwest Guilford
- Sun Valley
- Lake Norman Charter
- Forbush
- East Forsyth
- South Iredell
- South Point
East
- Heritage
- Carrboro
- Chapel Hill
- Holly Springs
- Hoggard
- Leesville Road
- Apex Friendship
- Jordan
- Broughton
- Cardinal Gibbons
- Apex
- Pinecrest
- Millbrook
- Union Pines
- Ashley
- Terry Sanford
- Enloe
- Laney
- Panther Creek
- Wakefield
- Franklin Academy
- Clayton
- Wake Forest
- Roanoke Rapids
- Eastern Alamance
And now here are 20 girls soccer players to watch this year as part of our HSOT Watch List:
- Maddy Baucom, Marvin Ridge (senior)
- Emily Bowbliss, Union Pines (senior)
- Braelyn Francher, Heritage (senior)
- Mary Gale Godwin, Charlotte Latin (senior)
- Anna Hammer, Asheville (senior)
- Dalia Hernandez, Forest Hills (senior)
- Emily Hitt, Ravenscroft (senior)
- Caroline Hunt, Page (senior)
- Maddie Luckett, T.C. Roberson (senior)
- Lilly Frances Lobos, Washington (senior)
- Catherine MacNichol, Roanoke Rapids (senior)
- Lucy McDaniels, Carrboro (senior)
- Lauren Montgomery, First Flight (senior)
- Navia Mosley, Carrboro (senior)
- Ainsley Norr, Hoggard (senior)
- Kelly Poole, Cuthbertson (senior)
- Addie Porter, A.C. Reynolds (senior)
- Lillie Rusher, Salisbury (senior)
- Zoe Susi, Wilkes Central (junior)
- Skyler Walk, Providence (senior)