Who Improved Most from May, 2015, to May, 2016? 3A Girls


A blistering 4x800 set the stage for a solid state meet for Peak to Peak. Photo by Alan Versaw.

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 3A 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                    
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1) Eaton High School 61 2) Moffat County High Schoo 36
3) Sterling High School 35 4) Faith Christian Academy 34
5) James Irwin Charter High 34 6) Estes Park High School 33
7) Platte Valley High Schoo 33 8) Salida High School 29
9) Manitou Springs High Sch 29 10) Lamar High School 27
11) Coal Ridge High School 22 12) University High School 22
13) Lutheran High School 20 14) Alamosa High School 19
15) Kent Denver School 17 16) Colorado Springs Christi 16
17) SkyView Academy 13 18) Pagosa Springs High Scho 10
19) Buena Vista High School 10 20) Peak to Peak Charter Sch 8


And now we compare and contrast that with the actual state meet scoring from this spring (once again showing the top 20 teams):

                 Women - 3A - Team Rankings - 19 Events Scored
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    1) Eaton                      107.50     2) Moffat County              88   
    3) Peak to Peak                70        4) Sterling                   50.50
    5) University                  47        6) Coal Ridge                 46   
    7) Platte Valley               45        8) Faith Christian            42   
    9) Lutheran                    34       10) Estes Park                 33   
   11) James Irwin                 32       12) Colorado Springs Christia  28   
   13) Lamar                       26       14) Alamosa                    25   
   15) Manitou Springs             23       15) Kent Denver                23   
   17) Bayfield                    17       18) Buena Vista                16   
   19) Grand Valley                15       20) Salida                     13   

It's pretty difficult to make a case here for anyone other than Peak to Peak. Peak to Peak went from a projected 20th to an actual third in 3A Girls. Of course, that seismic bump in standing came almost entirely by way of an exceptional class of freshmen. And, Tiana Bradfield, Quinn McConnell, and Anna Shults figure to be giving 3A fits for the next three years. At this point, it's not clear that anyone has the antidote--at least not at 800 meters and up. But, Peak to Peak will also likely have to find points outside of the distance events in order to bring a state title home to Lafayette. Tessa Anderson provided some throws points this year, but she is now off to Western State.