The idea of this article is to take a look at how a virtual meet of returning athletes from the 2015 season compares with the state meet results of the 2016 season.
All sorts of things factor into this. This is about improvement, but it's not only about improvement. Besides improvement, things that can impact a team's standing from one year to the next are move-ins, move-outs, injuries, incoming freshmen (a bigger factor with girls than with boys), and athletes who decide not to come out the next year.
Still, it's interesting to take a look at how things shift from one year to the next. The first table you see below lists the top 20 2A Girls teams at the end of 2015 based on a virtual meet of top marks. Note that this virtual meet only scores eight deep and does not include relays. As such it's not going to provide a perfect comparison to the 2016 state meet results, but it does provide a window:
Girls - Team Rankings - 14 Events Scored
===============================================================================
1) Paonia High School 76 2) Wray High School 41
3) Wiggins High School 38 4) Lyons High School 36
5) Burlington High School 31 6) Hoehne High School 27
7) Calhan High School 26 8) Cedaredge High School 25
9) Yuma High School 24 10) Caliche High School 23
11) Soroco High School 22 12) Kiowa High School 18
13) Hotchkiss High School 17 14) Custer County High Schoo 16
15) Limon High School 16 16) Telluride High School 15
17) Highland High School 14 18) Akron High School 13
19) Vail Christian High Scho 10 20) Swallows Charter Academy 7
And now we compare and contrast that with the actual state meet scoring from this spring (once again showing the top 20 teams):
Women - 2A - Team Rankings - 19 Events Scored
===============================================================================
1) Paonia 139 2) Wray 76
3) Cedaredge 62 4) Telluride 57
5) Lyons 45.50 6) Caliche 43
7) Yuma 41 8) Highland 40
9) Wiggins 39 10) Hotchkiss 34
11) Soroco 33 12) Calhan 25
13) Hoehne 24 13) Burlington 24
15) Del Norte 19 16) Custer County 17
17) Meeker 16 18) Kiowa 13
19) Dayspring Christian 11 20) Cripple Creek-Victor 10
20) Vail Christian 10 20) Haxtun 10
20) Dolores 10 20) Swallows Charter Academy 10
Note that Western Slope programs at Cedaredge and Telluride made very strong moves upward from May of 2015 to May of 2016. Closer to the Front Range, Highland showed particularly well in actual state meet results versus rankings of returning athletes at the end of 2015.
If you're trying to pick a most improved team in 2A Girls, though, you're probably going to land on Telluride. The Miners went from a projected 16th to an actual fourth. That's the kind of upward mobility that can put a smile on a coach's face.
