TRINITY – Wheatmore has set a standard in recent years for overall excellence in its athletics department.
Now with a slightly different mix of conference membership, the Warriors want to keep it going.
“We’ve been fortunate enough,” athletics director Rick Halo said. “You know this goes in peaks and valleys. When one program is down a little bit, there’s another that comes along and moves up.”
Wheatmore was the past school year’s Wells Fargo Conference Cup winner for the PAC-7. It marked the fifth year in a row that the school was atop the Conference Cup standings for its league.
“I think it’s a combination of good coaches and good players,” Halo said. “We’ve won five years in a row and we’re very proud of that. It’s pretty much a judgement on your overall program.”
During the 2020-21 school year, the Warriors won league championships in boys’ golf, boys’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ soccer, girls’ swimming and diving and volleyball.
So in the final Conference Cup standings, that helped Wheatmore to 98.5 points, with Providence Gove next at 85. The list also included Randleman (69), Trinity (67.5), Jordan-Matthews (60.5), Eastern Randolph (41) and High Point Andrews (27.5).
With new conference alignments in place, the Piedmont Athletic Conference now includes Southwestern Randolph and Uwharrie Charter Academy. Gone are Jordan-Matthews and High Point Andrews.
“It’s definitely tougher,” Halo said of the league additions. “They’ll be better than the two we lost.”
There are a few coaching changes for the Warriors for this school year. Michelle Hinson becomes the swimming and diving coach, while Trey Byrd will be the baseball coach. There’s also a vacancy for a wrestling coach, with Philip Yarbrough stepping aside. Yarbrough remains the school’s football coach.
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