Highlanders fall short

The East Chapel Hill Highlander rugby club suffered a rare loss, 14-12, against the South High School Blue Jays last week. The Highlanders had started the day by methodically putting away the South Carolina Vikings' challenge, but ran into a stiff challenge from the five-time defending Louisiana state champions.

The Jesuit school struck first, but Drew Zabor converted an interception for a score and Graham Joseph's extra point knotted the contest at 7-7. Zabor would later be penalized, and the short-handed Highlanders would up trailing 14-7 at halftime.

Joseph's second-half dish to Kieran Kepler brought the Highlanders within two, but the North Carolina champions could get no closer.

On track to Greensboro

Lindsey Fuller of Cedar Ridge heads to this weekend's NCHSAA 2-A championship track and field meet as the favorite in the 100 meters. Her time of 12.64 is tops so far this year among the state's 2-A runner. That helps the Red Wolves' relay team to also head into Greensboro as a favorite; leadoff Olivia Capers, Kylie Miller, Molly Harkavy and Fuller on the anchor leg have the state's fastest 4x200 time at 1:46.60 (albeit, just .07 better than Hibriten,) and the best 4x100 so far (50.83).

Carrboro is sending its girls 4x800 relay team of Molly Scanga, Josie Hollingsworth, Lauren Flewellin, Kristina Witcher, and Elizabeth Marshall (alternate). Carrboro's Robert Pahel-Short qualified for the boys' 3,200 meters.

Five CHHS athletes qualified for Saturday's 4-A State Championship with their top-four finishes at last weekend's regionals: Champagne Bell (first in the 400 meters with a CHHS record of 58.17); defending state champion Taylor Gilland in the 3,200 meters (first at the regionals in 9:36); Grace Krafte (800 meters); Kaiya Robinson (discus) and Jack Marshall (1,600).

"Overall, the kids had a very good day in the hardest regional in the state," said coach Ron Olsen.

He noted that girls 4x200 relay (Bell, Barbara Parks, Arianna Mader, Sarah Reedy) time of 1:45.92 was also a school record and would have qualified for states out of other regions. And Will Bunch ran a 9:55.17 in the 3,200 for sixth place, breaking the CHHS freshman record formerly held by Jack Bolas (10:00.1).

East Chapel Hill, coming off its best season in recent memory, also is sending five athletes to Saturday's 4-A state championships: Elsbeth Grant and Ben Jones (1,600 meters); Jane Williams (800), Garret Hollingsworth, (pole vault) and Clara Martin (discus). Grant and Jones both are seeded amonf the top five in their event.

Fox Day draws crowd

More than 700 children and 45 teams showed up for the Danny Fox Memorial Lacrosse Day at UNC last weekend. Fusion Lacrosse hosted the event, organized to honor a contributor to the explosion in lacrosse's popularity in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area.

Danny Fox was longtime fixture of Chapel Hill and Carolina lacrosse who died prematurely in 2002, at age 55. he was the first coach of the first middle school lacrosse program in Chapel Hill. All of the profits from the event goes to the Tony Cullen Memorial Scholarship fund, which goes to help deserving N.C. high school seniors who will play lacrosse in college.