Cristian Ortiz, right, of Asheboro makes a move on Southwestern Randolph’s Richard Dominguez during a boys’ soccer game earlier this season. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
ASHEBORO – The Asheboro volleyball team hoped to be back in action this week after a health-related pause.
The Blue Comets called off two matches last week and another for Monday night. Athletics director Wes Berrier said five team members were hit by COVID-19, so team activities were shut down.
A Mid-Piedmont Conference match with Oak Grove was reset for Thursday at South Asheboro Middle School, which is the team’s temporary home court.
A non-conference match with Providence Grove was moved to Oct. 10, when the Blue Comets should be using North Asheboro Middle School again. Asheboro’s non-league match with Wheatmore won’t be rescheduled.
Blue Comets roll along
Asheboro’s boys’ soccer team has defeated two 2021 state champions in the first month of this season.
The latest conquest came with last week’s 2-1 victory against visiting Christ the King. Cristian Ortiz and Brandon Santos had goals for the Blue Comets, with Edwin Perez and Carlos Castaneda providing assists.
Christ the King, which is in Huntersville, was last season’s Class 1-A state champion. Last month, the Blue Comets topped reigning Class 3-A state champion Western Alamance.
Later in the week, Asheboro improved to 9-0 with a 3-0 victory against Uwharrie Charter Academy behind goals from Diego Bustamonte, Cristian Cruz and Ozmar Martinez. Santos and Ortiz had assists.
Hazelwood wins race
At Dobson, cross country runner Zach Hazelwood of Wheatmore captured first place in last week’s Fisher River Park.
Hazelwood’s time of 18 minutes, 5.71 seconds for the 3.1-mile race gave him nearly a 14-second margin on runner-up Cole Johnson of High Point Central. There were 80 runners in the boys’ race.
Wheatmore’s boys placed sixth out of eight scoring teams. Oak Hill Academy was the team champion.
In the girls’ race, Wheatmore’s Olivia Hildreth was 13th in 25:46.21.
