Sam Stratton of Chatfield returns top ranked in the 400 meters for 5A boys. Colorado Track XC file photo.
One way of estimating the relative strength of teams coming into the track season is to simulate a meet by taking the best performances of returning athletes from 2009 and placing them into a mock meet. We just did that for 5A boys and, based on those results, Doherty High School of Colorado Springs appears to be the team to beat heading into the season.
Of course, virtual meets contested nearly three full months before state provide no guarantee of anything that happens in May, but they are a decent starting point for a conversation. Here's what the team scores for 5A boys (assuming all individuals stayed with the same school, participate in track this spring, etc.) break down as:
Calculated as of February 27, 2010
These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. No relay events are calculated into team scores due to the difficulties inherent in identifying and "replacing" graduated relay legs. Athletes whose graduation years are unknown were left out of the list.