The new Colorado high school sports method for rankings, playoff seeds

Colorado high school sports rankings will look different for at least the 2026-28 school years.

CHSAA's selection and seeding index will now exclusively use MaxPreps ratings and eliminate the RPI half of the formula, beginning with fall sports in 2026.

The CHSAA Board of Directors unanimously approved the formula change during an October 2025 meeting.

CHSAA used the RPI to help rank and seed teams since at least 2015 and then incorporated MaxPreps ratings as the other half of the equation starting in 2022.

RPI calculates team/schedule strength based on your team's winning percentage, your opponent's win percentage and your opponents' opponents records.

Meanwhile, MaxPreps doesn't incorporate winning percentage in its ratings. But the national company's numbers use schedule strength by factoring in scoring margins and results for every team in comparison to others around the state.

According to a 2025 CHSAA news release, the board monitored the seeding index during this past two-year CHSAA cycle and data that showed MaxPreps' rankings to be more accurate in predicting outcomes than the RPI.

“As proven by the data we’ve looked at, this move will provide the most accurate representation of teams in the postseason," CHSAA Board of Directors President Joe Brown said via news release.

Conference champions still automatically qualify for a postseason spot in their respective sports/classifications. MaxPreps' ratings will be used to determine and seed the remaining at-large slots.

CHSAA also officially established margin-of-victory caps for the MaxPreps ratings to curb against teams running up the score or large blowouts skewing the rankings.

Here are the margin-of-victory limits by sport in Colorado:

• Baseball: 10 runs
• Basketball: 20 points
• Field hockey: 5 goals
• Flag football: 28 points
• Football: 28 points
• Ice hockey: 5 goals
• Lacrosse: 10 goals
• Soccer: 5 goals
• Softball: 10 runs
• Volleyball: 3 sets

These Colorado high school sports that will use the MaxPreps ratings going forward:

• Fall: Field hockey, flag football, tackle football, boys soccer, softball and girls volleyball
• Winter: Basketball (boys and girls) and ice hockey
• Spring: Baseball, lacrosse (boys and girls), girls soccer and boys volleyball

These other bracketed Colorado sports will not use the ratings, since MaxPreps does not have rankings formulas for them:

• Tennis
• Wrestling

This CHSAA formula change also does not affect the following sports, which do not use bracketed or tournament qualifying formats:

• Cross-country
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Skiing (nordic and alpine)
• Swimming and diving
• Track and field

The CHSAA rankings update twice per week at chsaanow.com/rankings or can be pulled on-demand, as needed, for CHSAA seeding meetings.

Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: The new Colorado high school sports method for rankings, playoff seeds