ROCKINGHAM — Local sports fans will have to wait until at least early next week before high school sports return.
The potential for winter weather across the Sandhills already changed Friday’s athletic schedules, but Richmond County Schools announced on Thursday that all after-school activities, including athletic events, were canceled or postponed.
On Wednesday, the first-place Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams had their games against Southern Lee moved from Friday to Thursday.
Now with the latest schedule change less than 24 hours later, those Sandhills Athletic Conference games will be made up on Feb. 3, according to athletic director Rob Ransom.
Two other programs were supposed to compete on Thursday — the Richmond boys’ and girls bowling teams in Laurinburg and the Raider wrestling team at Pinecrest.
No official make-up dates have been decided at the time of publication.
The district’s announcement also postponed middle school basketball games across the county and the Raider football team’s annual banquet has been pushed back to a later date.
The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for central North Carolina that will take effect at 7 p.m. Thursday and will remain in effect until 7 a.m. Saturday.
According to the NWS forecast, sleet will be likely before 3 p.m. on Friday before turning into a mix of snow and sleet from 3-4 p.m. then transitioning to snow.
The heaviest snow, 1-2 inches, is expected to fall east of U.S. 1, according to the NWS. Areas west of the highway are predicted to receive less than an inch. Up to 1/10 of an inch of ice is also expected.
Any other updates on schedule changes concerning local athletics will be published as they’re made available.
