Highlands Ranch, the girls basketball power, is the preseason favorite the Class 5A.
The Falcons, who lost in last season’s semifinals, graduated a star in Michaela Neuhaus but return plenty of scoring punch in junior Ciera Morgan and senior Kelsey Wainright.
They are followed in the Denver Post coaches poll by another traditional power: ThunderRidge. The Grizzlies return its top two scorers from a Great 8 team last season in Taylor Williams and Reana Kaminsky, and graduated just one senior.
Grandview is third in the 5A poll, and is followed by Regis Jesuit, Horizon and Chaparral. Ranked Nos. 7-10 are Palmer, Denver East, Monarch and Arapahoe.
Defending champion Legacy is not ranked.
Pueblo South heads the preseason 4A poll, and is followed by Broomfield, Pueblo West, Sand Creek and D’Evelyn. Air Academy, last season’s champion, is just outside the top ten.
Denver Science & Tech is the preseason favorite in 3A, defending champion Akron heads the 2A poll and Caliche is on top of 1A to start the season.
Complete rankings for all classes are below.
Denver Post coaches poll
<!–Powered by .–> First place votes in parentheses.
<!–
| Class 5A | |||||
| RK | TEAM | REC | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Doherty (7) | 14-0 | 70 | 1 | 1-0 |
| 2 | Cherry Creek | 13-1 | 63 | 2 | 2-0 |
| 3 | Chaparral | 13-2 | 54 | 4 | 2-0 |
| 4 | Eaglecrest | 10-3 | 47 | 3 | 1-1 |
| 5 | Grandview | 10-4 | 38 | 8 | 2-0 |
| 6 | Mountain Vista | 11-4 | 32 | 9 | 2-0 |
| 7 | Highlands Ranch | 11-4 | 24 | 5 | 1-1 |
| 8 | Heritage | 11-4 | 20 | 7 | 1-1 |
| 9 | Cherokee Trail | 13-5 | 17 | 6 | 1-1 |
| 10 | Legend | 9-4 | 8 | – | 2-0 |
| Others receiving votes | |||||
| Pine Creek 5, Chatfield 3, Fossil Ridge 2, Lakewood 2. | |||||
| Dropped from ranking | |||||
| (10) Bear Creek. | |||||
–>
| Class 5A | |||||
| RK | TEAM | REC | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Highlands Ranch (3) | 0-0 | 52 | – | – |
| 2 | ThunderRidge (1) | 0-0 | 47 | – | – |
| 3 | Grandview (2) | 0-0 | 44 | – | – |
| 4 | Regis Jesuit | 0-0 | 37 | – | – |
| 5 | Horizon | 0-0 | 30 | – | – |
| 6 | Chaparral | 0-0 | 21 | – | – |
| 7 | Palmer | 0-0 | 19 | – | – |
| 8 | Denver East | 0-0 | 16 | – | – |
| 9 | Monarch | 0-0 | 15 | – | – |
| 10 | Arapahoe | 0-0 | 14 | – | – |
| Others receiving votes | |||||
| Doherty 7, Ralston Valley 7, Rock Canyon 7, Legacy 6, Poudre 4, Fossil Ridge 3, Rampart 1. | |||||
| Dropped from ranking | |||||
| None. | |||||
| Class 4A | |||||
| RK | TEAM | REC | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Pueblo South (3) | 0-0 | 78 | – | – |
| 2 | Broomfield (2) | 0-0 | 74 | – | – |
| 3 | Pueblo West (2) | 0-0 | 68 | – | – |
| 4 | Sand Creek (1) | 0-0 | 50 | – | – |
| 5 | D’Evelyn | 0-0 | 49 | – | – |
| 6 | Mesa Ridge (1) | 0-0 | 38 | – | – |
| 7 | Centaurus | 0-0 | 23 | – | – |
| 8 | Silver Creek | 0-0 | 19 | – | – |
| 9 | Palmer Ridge | 0-0 | 17 | – | – |
| 10 | Windsor | 0-0 | 16 | – | – |
| Others receiving votes | |||||
| Elizabeth 11, Air Academy 10, Delta 10, Golden 9, Longmont 8, Glenwood Springs 6, Valor Christian 6, Montrose 3, Pueblo County 1. | |||||
| Dropped from ranking | |||||
| None. | |||||
| Class 3A | |||||
| RK | TEAM | REC | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Denver Science & Tech (6) | 0-0 | 84 | – | – |
| 2 | St. Mary’s | 0-0 | 59 | – | – |
| 3 | Holy Family (1) | 0-0 | 52 | – | – |
| 4 | Eaton | 0-0 | 47 | – | – |
| 5 | Centauri | 0-0 | 41 | – | – |
| 6 | Bishop Machebeuf (1) | 0-0 | 39 | – | – |
| 7 | Pagosa Springs | 0-0 | 34 | – | – |
| 8 | Brush | 0-0 | 24 | – | – |
| 9 | Moffat County (1) | 0-0 | 23 | – | – |
| 10 | Valley | 0-0 | 18 | – | – |
| Others receiving votes | |||||
| Olathe 14, Trinidad 14, Faith Christian 11, Bayfield 10, Buena Vista 7, Coal Ridge 6, Manitou Springs 6, Kent Denver 4, Lamar 1, Sterling 1. | |||||
| Dropped from ranking | |||||
| None. | |||||
| Class 2A | |||||
| RK | TEAM | REC | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Akron (5) | 0-0 | 50 | – | – |
| 2 | Paonia | 0-0 | 39 | – | – |
| 3 | The Vanguard | 0-0 | 38 | – | – |
| 4 | Lutheran | 0-0 | 35 | – | – |
| 5 | Simla | 0-0 | 25 | – | – |
| 6 | Evangelical Christian | 0-0 | 22 | – | – |
| 7 | Las Animas | 0-0 | 16 | – | – |
| 8 | Peyton | 0-0 | 15 | – | – |
| 9 | Rye | 0-0 | 9 | – | – |
| 10 | Yuma | 0-0 | 7 | – | – |
| Others receiving votes | |||||
| Del Norte 4, Resurrection Christian 4, Limon 3, Meeker 2, Sanford 2, Sargent 2, Ignacio 1, Rangely 1. | |||||
| Dropped from ranking | |||||
| None. | |||||
| Class 1A | |||||||
| RK | TEAM | REC | PTS | PVS | LW | ||
| 1 | Caliche (3) | 0-0 | 39 | – | – | ||
| 2 | Norwood (1) | 0-0 | 37 | – | – | ||
| 3 | Hi-Plains | 0-0 | 32 | – | – | ||
| 4 | Eads | 0-0 | 28 | – | – | ||
| 5 | Kit Carson | 0-0 | 23 | – | – | ||
| 6 | Pawnee | 0-0 | 18 | – | – | ||
| 7 | Elbert | 0-0 | 14 | – | – | ||
| 8 | Kim | 0-0 | 10 | – | – | ||
| 9 | Wiley | 0-0 | 8 | – | – | ||
| 10 | Flagler | 0-0 | 5 | – | – | ||
| Others receiving votes | |||||||
| Otis 3, McClave 2, Stratton 1. | |||||||
| Dropped from ranking | |||||||
| None. | |||||||
