It's time to start thinking about who deserves our end-of-year awards.

Only those high school athletes, coaches and teams from the schools we cover (the eight Wake County Tri-Nine Conference schools, Cary Academy, Cary Christian, Wake Christian, Grace Christian of Raleigh) are eligible for recommendation.

Our categories are: male athlete, female athlete, coach, game, team, moment and milestone.

Moment of the year was a new category last year.

We're not adding any new categories unless someone makes a strong case for another one.

Please email your recommendations to tcnsports @nando.com .

Recruiting news

Middle Creek senior point guard Leon Hargrove, the Tri-Nine Conference MVP for the boys basketball 2010-11 season, will play his college basketball at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.

"My decision really came down to me looking at my future and after looking at everything as a whole," Hargrove said in a message. "Sydney was the perfect fit. I'm really looking forward to the experience and I'm going to continue to work hard."

Hargrove was a three-year starter for the Mustangs, which have finished second or higher in the league all three years. This season, Middle Creek swept regular season and conference tournament titles.

Hargrove averaged 14.8 points, 2.4 steals and 4.8 assists per game - top on his team in all three categories. In the Tri-Nine he ranked sixth in scoring and was the leader in steals and assists.

Hargrove was also a second-team all-conference selection in the 2009-10 season and was named to the all-Glaxo team for Shavlik Randolph Foundation bracket.

Two of the Tri-Nine's best wrestlers have also made their college plans known.

Cary's Boomer Boyd, who went 48-2 this year, will be wrestling for the Missouri Tigers next fall after recently signing with the Big 12 program.

Boyd finished third in the state at 125 pounds, but trimmed down to 119 to finish fourth at senior nationals.

He was also a state qualifier in boys golf for Cary. This was his first and last year in Cary after moving from Wilmington last summer.

Next year, Apex's Dan Mitchell will be wrestling at Division III school Wheaton (Ill.) College.

For most of his senior season, Mitchell looked unbeatable. His only loss was in the first round of the state 4-A championships, where he recovered to finish third in the state and 37-1 on the season.

Athens Drive track and field athletes Kelvin Mulebya and Kasey Briggs have signed with schools.

Briggs will run distance events at UNC-Asheville while Mulebya will throw discus and shot put at Lenior-Rhyne University.

Cary boys basketball player Colton Lehman will play at Fayetteville's Methodist University next year. Lehman averaged 9.2 points this year for the Imps, who went 15-10.