West Stanly named Wells Fargo Conference Cup champion

The Colts earned the honor for a fifth straight year

OAKBORO — West Stanly claimed its fifth straight Wells Fargo Conference Cup title Tuesday after being named the 2020-21 Rocky River Conference 2A/3A champion by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.  

While two other Stanly County teams — Gray Stone Day and South Stanly — claimed a championship tie for the Yadkin Valley Conference 1A standings last year, the conference declined to participate in the Conference Cup this season due to COVID-19. 

The annual championships awarded by the NCHSAA are given to the top school in each North Carolina conference in terms of total athletic performance in each conference. Beginning in 1980, Wells Fargo (formerly Wachovia) has sponsored the program where points are awarded based on standings and participation in conference play.   

For this year’s edition of the cup, the final standings were generated while taking into account the shortened seasons that some of the athletic programs faced.   

In the Rocky River Conference, the Colts were able to overtake runner-up Mount Pleasant by an 85.5-79.5-point count with the assistance of six conference championships this year: boys’ cross-country, girls’ cross-country, girls’ tennis, volleyball, baseball and softball. West Stanly also shared a co-championship in boys’ basketball with Forest Hills.  

Central Academy (68), Forest Hills (47), Montgomery Central (44), and Anson (33) rounded out the rest of the RRC standings.   

“In a year like none before, high school athletics managed to complete regular seasons and award conference championships, providing student-athletes across the state valuable opportunities to compete, grow and learn in an education-based setting,” the NCHSAA said in a release. “There were numerous schools that excelled across many sports in their conference competitions, and they have won the Wells Fargo Conference Cup award for their respective conferences.” 

The winners of the 2020-2021 Wells Fargo State Cup — a companion award to the Conference Cup — will be announced soon. Those awards are delegated to each of the state’s four classifications and recognize overall athletic performance with an added emphasis on postseason play. Last year’s winners were Lincoln Charter (1A), Carrboro (2A), Weddington (3A) and Cardinal Gibbons (4A).