By james art 
The destinations for North Carolina’s state championship-bound winter high school teams were confirmed after the NCHSAA released sites and dates for those sports Friday morning.
Winter sports in the state include basketball, wrestling, swimming and diving, and boys and girls indoor track and field.
For the second year in a row and after receiving positive feedback from attendees last season, Wake Forest University Veterans Memorial in Winston-Salem will host both the regional finals and state championships for boys and girls basketball as these races are held from these races held from races March 10-15.
The regional finals will be held in Winston-Salem from March 10-13, and the state championship games will be played on March 14 and 15. Winners of regional finals from March 10-11 will advance to play again on March 14 and teams that win regional finals from March 12-13 will compete for state titles on March 15.
Game times and information on which classifications will play on which days will be announced at a later date, the NCHSAA said.
Burke County basketball fans got a taste of the Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum experience during its debut last winter, as the East Burke girls basketball team won in the NCHSAA 2A West regional finals at the site before falling to the the 2A state championship there.
According to the NCHSAA, while the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial is only in its second season hosting basketball, the city of Winston-Salem has hosted the events numerous times. The first occasion was for the Class B boys title in 1945 as Mineral Springs defeated Sanford 41-30. All three NCHSAA boys classifications played in Winston-Salem in 1953, the 3A boys title game was played there in 1954, and the 1A boys championship contest returned to the city in 1959.
After that stint, the 2A boys championship game was held in Winston-Salem every season from 1960-80. Last year marked the first time girls title games were played in the city.
The NCHSAA said ticket information will be available on the basketball championship page of its website, NCHSAA.org, at a later date.
For wrestling, the state championships will be held at two adjacent locations in Greensboro.
On Feb. 8, the boys dual team state championships will be contested at Greensboro’s Coliseum Fieldhouse, the same venue that has hosted the 2018 events, after the NCHSAA stopped rotating state championship sites between the regional titleholders of East and West every season.
The 1A and 3A dual-team games will be played at noon, and the 2A and 4A games are scheduled for 3 p.m. after the dual-team playoffs are out on January 30.
The boys and girls individual state wrestling championships will once again be held at the Greensboro Coliseum from February 20-22.
The state swimming and diving championships will be held Feb. 5-8 at Cary Triangle Aquatic Center (swimming) and Raleigh Aquatic Center (diving).
The swimming championships will begin with 4A on February 6th, followed by 3A on February 7th and ending with 1A/2A on February 8th.
As for diving, 4A will be held on February 5th, 3A on February 6th and 1A/2A on February 7th.
The indoor and outdoor state championships will be contested at Winston-Salem’s JDL Fast Track, the same venue that has played host since 2013.
The 1A/2A event will take place on February 14th, 3A is scheduled for the morning of February 15th and 4A is scheduled for the afternoon of February 15th.
In addition to those attending the state track and field championships in person, the NCHSAA says all state championship events will be available for live streaming on the NFHS Network.