The North Central Athletic Conference has by far the most boys' talent in 1A, while another conference boasts the best girls.
We compiled these rankings by going through the NCHSAA 1A Returning Team Rankings, and then scoring points for each conference according to where the teams rank (1 for first, 2 for second, and so on, just like a cross country race). Then, we added the boys' and girls' points for each conference that had enough teams ranked. Those totals gave us the top 5 listed below. It's interesting to note that, for the boys' 1A teams, all but 2 of the top 20 returning teams are in the top 4 conferences. The talent among girls teams is much more spread out, with 9 conferences hosting at least 1 top-20 team.
Top 5 Overall NCHSAA 1A Conferences
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Southern Piedmont: has 3 top-10 girls teams, and a solid group on the boys' side.
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North Central Athletic: the reverse of the above, with 3 highly-ranked boys' teams and two in the girls' top 10.
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Yadkin Valley: a balanced conference, with one top-5 boys and girls team and then a drop-off to the next group.
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Northwest: lack of depth among the girls' teams hurts, but the strength among the boys' teams is good.
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Smoky Mountain: looks like a possible down year for boys' teams, but there are several strong returning girls' teams.