Ray Hartsfield, the athletics director at East Chapel hill High School, says the search for a replacement for retiring football coach Bill Renner is going well. Hartsfield expects to close the applications next week and to begin interviews within two weeks of that.

Hartsfield said he received 10 applications for the post within 72 hours of Renner’s announcement earlier this month, and more have come in since then.

That’s significant, because East Chapel Hill in the past had to put some effort into finding qualified candidates. Three wins in three years will lower expectations. But Renner’s improvements to the program – in everything from facilities to fund-raising to wins on the field – have made the head football position more appealing.

Hartsfield hasn’t leaked any names, but speculation around the East Chapel Hill weight room has assistant head coach Jon Sherman as a strong candidate.

Y Change? The Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA is planning some improvements to its Martin Luther King Blvd. facility in 2013.

Ralph Yohe, the Interim CEO of the Chapel Hill - Carrboro YMCA, recently sent an email to Y members telling them about feedback the organization had received this year from its members.

“We need more space for stretching and individual exercise, more workout equipment, and the space dedicated to wellness needs to be upgraded,” Yohe wrote.

So the YMCA will respond by increasing the size of the wellness facilities so it can its expanded health and fitness options. The front lobby also will get a makeover.

The toughest call might have been the plan to close the racquetball courts permanently in early spring.

Anyone who’s a regular at the MLK facility knows that more members use that area outside the courts for exercise and stretching than for racquetball. Still, it’ll be hard on racquetball players to see the end of that rare, dedicated space.

To the Y leadership’s credit, they’ve shown their foresight by arranging for Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA members to have access to the racquetball courts at the Lakewood YMCA in Durham.

Architectural renderings of the proposed changes are expected in February, and completion of the work is planned for mid- to late-summer.

Familiar foes: The basketball game between Orange and East Chapel Hill, which the Wildcats won 61-48, featured coaching staffs that know each other very well. East Chapel Hill teacher and assistant football coach Adam Watkins also works with the student athletes at Orange High School as an assistant basketball coach.

Vogue: Hillside basketball players playing against Chapel Hill last week made a fashion statement of sorts. Most of the Hornets wore dark blue leggings that matched their blue uniforms.

Baseball Olympics: East Chapel Hill’s baseball team recently concluded its late-fall workouts with its annual “Olympics.” Wildcat coach Phil Woodell had his players running through events like sandbagging relays, wheelbarrow runs (where one player holds the legs of another player who completes the course on his hands), and tire flips. “It all went very well,” Woodell said.

Lotz in tough battle: Danny Lotz, a member of UNC’s 1957 undefeated basketball champions, battled a dangerous infection all last week. He’s married to Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of Bill Graham, and she reported last week he was suffering with a MRSA infection — a particularly virulent strain of bacteria that’s resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary staph infections.

Lotz routinely has undergone dialysis for years. According to the mayo Clinic, “most MRSA infections occur in people who have been in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers.”

As of press time for today’s Chapel Hill News, Lotz was in isolation without visitors in UNC Hospitals. Anne, who takes steroids, was at great risk if exposed to the infection, as was the whole family. She welcomes the prayers of all of Danny’s friends and well-wishers.