After unusually good post-seasons in cross-country football and soccer, it came as little surprise last week that Carrboro and East Chapel Hill led their respective leagues in the Wells Fargo Conference Cup Standings.

Chapel Hill was a close second in its conference behind Cardinal Gibbons.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association announced the standings after computing the results upon completion of the fall championships.

“You gauge your success by the post-season,” Carrboro Athletics Director April Ross said. “We had a tremendous effort in the fall by everybody. Every team made the state playoffs.”

Carrboro won a fourth straight NCHSAA state championship in women’s cross-country, led by medalist Grace Moreen, and also reached the state championship finals in both football and men’s soccer.

The Conference Cups are companions to the Wells Fargo Cup (formerly the Wachovia Cup), which recognize schools with the best overall interscholastic athletic performances.

In most conferences, points are awarded based on participation and standings in conference play in NCHSAA sports. East Chapel Hill’s lead in the Piedmont Athletic Conference and Carrboro’s in the Carolina-12 would be even larger were the leagues to count field hockey in their standings; East won a fifth straight N.C. high school championship in field hockey this fall; Carrboro finished third in the state.

Here are the local conference results.

Carolina1-A/2-A: Carrboro was in sole possession of first after the fall season, finishing first in football and second in men’s soccer. Carrboro (48.5 points) also shared the conference women’s tennis title with Cedar Ridge, which is in third after the fall season.

The N. C. School of Science and Math (41.5) captured a championship in men’s soccer and was in second place, just ahead of Cedar Ridge (40). Northwood (33.5) is fourth, followed by Raleigh Charter (33.5), Franklin Academy (27), Durham School of the Arts (26), S. Granville (26), Voyager Academy (21), Roxboro Community (15), Granville Central (14), River Mill (7).

Carolina 3-A : Firsts in women’s tennis, men’s soccer, football, and women’s cross country propelled Cardinal Gibbons to the top spot in the conference with 34.5 points. Chapel Hill split the conference volleyball title with Gibbons and won the Carolina-6 men’s cross-country title to earn 30.5 points – good for second place in the fall standings. Orange, which finished second in football, was third with 22 points, followed by Oxford Webb (13.5), S. Vance (13.5) and N. Vance 10.

PAC-6 4-A: East Chapel Hill finished the fall in first place after winning conference titles in women’s tennis and both men’s and women’s cross country. The Wildcats also had their best finish ever in football, beating Jordan, Riverside and Person for fourth place. With 36 points, East had a four-point lead over Jordan (30), which finished first in volleyball and second in both women’s cross country and women’s tennis. Durham Riverside, conference runner-up in volleyball, was third with 27 points, followed by Northern Durham (22), Durham Hillside (16), Person (15,) and Southern Durham (12).

W.E. Warnock