Green Hope is currently the top Tri-Nine team in boys soccer, volleyball and girls golf standings. The Falcons are also considered the best girls cross country team and second-best boys cross country team in the conference by nc.milesplit.com.

Yes, it's kind of easy being "Green" as of late.

ESPN Rise has a lot to say about the Falcons as well, ranking three of their athletic programs among the nation's top 50 this week.

Volleyball: Green Hope is unbeaten and ranked 43rd nationally by ESPN Rise. The only other North Carolina team in the ranking is nearby Cardinal Gibbons, which is one spot higher at 42nd.

The Falcons will get their biggest test of the regular season this Thursday when they host Apex.

Green Hope came from down 0-2 to defeat the Cougars 3-2 last month in the season's first meeting.

Cross country: Green Hope girls cross country is ninth in the nation according to the DyeStat/ESPN Rise rankings.

The two-time defending 4A state champions actually finished second to two-time 2A state champion Carrboro in last weekend's Greensboro Invitational, but there's one big caveat - the Falcons were without six of their top seven runners.

That was still good enough to beat 22 of the 23 other teams who also ran.

The lone top Falcons runner who did participate, Maura McDonnell, won the event with a 18:54.

Boys soccer: Green Hope has the highest-ranked of four North Carolina boys soccer teams in the ESPN Rise top 50.

The unbeaten and untied Falcons are ranked 12th.

Green Hope was previously scheduled to play No. 31 (Asheville) T.C. Roberson in The Brittany tournament earlier in the year, but it was canceled due to Hurricane Irene.

That cancellation allowed Green Hope to schedule another nonconference game later in the year, and it just so happened the Falcons - ranked as the state's No. 1 4A team - picked up a game with the state's No. 1 3A team in Cardinal Gibbons.

Gibbons is ranked No. 45 in ESPN Rise and will host Green Hope Friday at 6:30 p.m. in an alternative Friday night "futbol" game to the more traditional Friday night football action.