CHAPEL HILL — The first state championship events of the winter sports season for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association are scheduled for this week with the state 1-A/2-A swimming and diving championships.

The 1-A/2-A swimming competition will be held on Saturday at the Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center adjacent to Carmichael Gym on the campus of North Carolina State University.

Preliminaries in swimming will begin at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, with the finals scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

The Koury Natatorium on the campus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will be the site of the diving portion of the championships, scheduled for Thursday. Diving competition will begin at 11:15 a.m. for both men and women.

This is the 56th year of state high school swimming championships in the state, although only the 15th year in which those championships have been classified. Three classes compete in swimming, and this is the fifth annual championship for the separate 1-A/2-A class.

There will definitely be a new team champion in this classification. Charlotte Catholic won both the men’s and women’s team titles in 2005, but has moved up to 3-A in the new realignment.

Wendy’s and the Carolina Ford Dealers are the presenting sponsors of the NCHSAA sports program.