North Henderson High School
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North Henderson High School is a public high school located in Hendersonville, North Carolina. It is one of four public high schools located in Henderson County. North Henderson was founded in 1993, as the majority of students were moved from the now closed Edneyville High School. North is located adjacent to Apple Valley Middle school which inherited the vast majority of their students from Edneyville Junior High. As of 2016, North Henderson had 1,023 students enrolled and 64 teachers on staff.[1] The school mascot is a Knight, and the school colors are purple and gold.
History
The opening of North Henderson High School and Apple Valley Middle School in 1993 marked the beginning on an era for Henderson County schools. In this year, the Hendersonville City School System merged with the Henderson County Schools to form the Henderson County School System.[2] North Henderson is located approximately 5 miles closer to the city center on Highway 64. Many alumni of Edneyville fought to keep the name and mascot of the school in the new facility to no avail. The current site of Edneyville High School is now the home of the Justice Academy, a North Carolina law enforcement training center. While the Edneyville Yellow Jackets name only remains with the community elementary school, the awards, banners, and trophies from the high school are on display at North Henderson.
In 2013, the Henderson County Education History Initiative held a fundraiser to raise funds to memorialize the former Edneyville High School site. The Edneyville Initiative was spearheaded by former Edneyville and North Henderson teachers Rosemary Pace and Nancy Edwards.[3]
North Henderson's first, and longest tenured, principal was Charles Thomas. The school held a student body vote for the school mascot, with the Knights winning the tally. Thomas drove to Lightfoot, Virginia to haul in an enormous Knight that still sits in the school's Commons Area.
Athletics
North Henderson is a member of the Western North Carolina Athletic Conference. As of 2016, North Henderson competes as a 3-A school in the statewide competition.
North Henderson currently sponsors the varsity competition for men and women in soccer, tennis, golf, cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field, and basketball. Varsity men's sports offered are football, wrestling, and baseball. Varsity women's sports offered are volleyball and softball.
The following teams won team state championships, sponsored by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association:
- Cross Country (men): 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002
- Cross Country (women): 1997, 2000
- Track & Field (men): 1999, 2001, 2002
- Wrestling: 1994
The Knights play home football games at Glenn C. Marlow Stadium, and host basketball, volleyball, and wrestling at Tom Pryor Gymnasium, named in honor of legendary Edneyville High School Women's Basketball Coach. Pryor died in 2010, and he holds the record for most wins in state history in Women's Basketball.
North Henderson was known as a standout Track & Field and Cross Country school from the mid-1990s up until 2002, as they won 10 combined team state championships. Individually, North Henderson accumulated a wide range of state championships in this time period as well. On the men's side in Track & Field NHHS claimed individual championships in the following: Jason Stepp (Discus, 2001), Daniel Smith (High Jump, 2003), Tim Thomas (Pole Vault, 1995/1996), Ben Pierson (2002), Jason Green (100 meter dash, 1998/1999 and 200 meter dash, 1999), Aaron Keller (800 meter run, 1997, 1600 meter run, 1996/1997, and 3200 meter run, 1996), Robbie Weast (800 meter run, 1999), Aaron Grant (800 meter run, 2001/2003), Shiloh Mielke (1600 meter run, 1999 and 3200 meter run, 1997/1998/1999), and John Henderson (1600 meter run, 2000 and 3200 meter run, 2000/2001). In women's Track & Field, North won the following individual championships: Jessica Durrant (800-meter run, 2001), Diana Henderson (3200-meter run, 1998/1999), Shiyrah Mielke (3200-meter run, 2002), and Felisha Garren (400-meter run, 2008). North also claimed relay championships in the men's 3200-meter relay (2001, 2002, 2003), the women's 3200-meter relay (2002), and the women's 1600 meter relay (2006). Many of these state champions were offered Division I scholarships and continued their athletic careers at a higher level, with John Henderson, Diana Henderson, and Jessica Durrant competing at NC State. Jason Green was highly recruited and began his career as a collegiate sprinter at Kansas State before transferring to Appalachian State and having a very successful career.
Equally impressive, North claimed several individual titles in addition to the schools seven state cross country championships. Aaron Keller (1996), Shiloh Mielke (1997, 1998), and John Henderson (2000) all won state individual titles in addition to their track and field accolades. Diana Henderson (1998), Jessica Durrant (2001), and Catie Byrd (2009) were individual champions in women's cross country.
North Henderson's wrestling program has been highly successful since the school's inception under the direction of Coach Barry Bonnett and has continued under current coach Heang Uy. Brothers James and Steven Short both claimed state championships, along with Brandon Nibert among others. In 2016, Josh Blatt won North's most recent individual championship and in his final match wore an Edneyville singlet in honor of the former high school.
North Henderson men's basketball had a stretch of prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, that was revitalized in 2015-16 with a team consistently in the top 10 of state rankings. In 1999, the Knights made their deepest run in the playoffs losing in the final four to West Caldwell. In 2002, North again advanced to the regionals before losing to eventual state champions Burlington Cummings. In 2017, North made a spirited run in the playoffs led by Austin Nelson, who became the first North Henderson men's basketball player to earn a Division I scholarship as he will attend USC Upstate in the Fall.
Under Coach Scott Rhodes, North Henderson baseball had multiple successful seasons in the 2000s developing many college prospects. Most notably, Seth Williams played his collegiate baseball at the University of North Carolina and was a starting outfielder on back to back College World Series teams. Another North standout was also offered a scholarship at UNC, as current infielder Zack Gahagan began his collegiate career in 2015 for the Tar Heels.
Football during the early years of North Henderson was defined by former Coach Mac Cumbo, who was inducted into the NCHSAA hall of fame in 2015. Cumbo led the North Henderson program from 1993-2001. After Cumbo, the football program fell into years of mediocrity and was generally not an athletic priority at North Henderson until the hiring of Principal John Shepard in 2015 who vowed to make it an athletic priority for North Henderson and the community that supports it. This priority culminated in the hiring of Zack Wilkins(son of NC Hall of Fame Coach, Danny Wilkins-Asheville High School) to lead the program in the 2017 season. Wilkins has a deep coaching history in Western North Carolina as the son of former Asheville High School and North Carolina Hall of Fame Coach Danny Wilkins. Zach Wilkins coached at Enka High School and assisted his father at Asheville High School helping to lead a powerful Cougar football program steeped in tradition. With the support of Principal Shepard, Coach Wilkins has secured the most talented group of assistant coaches to ever coach at North Henderson as the Knights prepare to enter the Mountain Athletic Conference for the 2017 season. The offense will be led and coordinated by former Asheville High School coach, Zach Gibson. Assistants on offense will include Zack Wilkins, Miles Christian and longtime North assistant Dan Jystad who was a former assistant at Forest Hills High School. Jystad is also the Men's head track coach at North Henderson. The defense will be led by longtime South Carolina football coach, Brad Thomas who coached at 2A powerhouse Bamberg-Ehrhardt, Summerville's Ashley Ridge High School and Charleston's West Ashley High School under SC Hall of Fame coach, Bobby Marion. Thomas has also coached in Mississippi and Georgia. Jason Steiner(former Fairmont High School-Wilmington, NC coach) will coach the defensive line. Chuck Bratu will coach the Knights' outside linebackers and Stanley Brigman (North Alumni and former Western Carolina player) will coach the inside linebackers while serving as the Knights Special Teams Coordinator.