AURORA - The Colorado High School Activities Associations’ Board of Directors voted Wednesday at its October board meeting to set the MaxPreps Rankings as the sole component in postseason seeding and at-large selection for certain bracket sports, starting with the 2026-27 season.
The Board voted unanimously to move from the current CHSAA Seeding Index, which combines the MaxPreps Rankings and a Ratings Performance Index (RPI) ranking system, following the conclusion of the current school year. The change coincides with the start of a two-year cycle, with the 2026-28 cycle beginning in fall 2026.
"After much discussion with our districts, leagues and membership as a whole, the board believes that this move is the best decision for each of our sports and postseason play moving forward,” CHSAA Board of Directors President Joe Brown said. “As proven by the data we’ve looked at, this move will provide the most accurate representation of teams in the postseason."
The following sports will change from the CHSAA Seeding Index to MaxPreps Rankings for postseason selection and seeding starting with the 2026-27 school year:
- Fall: Field Hockey, Flag Football, Tackle Football, Boys Soccer, Softball, Girls Volleyball
- Winter: Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Ice Hockey
- Spring: Baseball, Boys Lacrosse, Girls Lacrosse, Girls Soccer, Boys Volleyball
Each of these sports first qualify teams for their brackets via league champions as automatic qualifiers. Then, the remaining available at-large slots in the tournaments will be filled in via the MaxPreps Rankings.
Other bracket sports – boys and girls tennis, and boys and girls wrestling – use separate criteria to select and seed their brackets, as MaxPreps does not have a ranking system for those sports.
The Board, which retains authority over postseason ranking systems, has been studying the CHSAA Seeding Index over the course of the past year. The group dove into a data analysis at their annual retreat in August, which showed that the MaxPreps Rankings were more accurate at predicting match and game outcomes in the postseason when compared to the RPI. The Board then solicited and received feedback from their respective districts and organizations in advance of this vote.
MaxPreps, a longstanding partner of the Colorado High School Activities Association, continues to be a leader in ranking systems nationally. The organization recently committed to further strengthen their rankings with the hiring of a data scientist.
The CHSAA office updates the MaxPreps rankings each Monday and Thursday, and on-demand, as needed, for seeding meetings.
Additionally, CHSAA Commissioner Mike Krueger updated the Board on the building renovation. The Board approved CHSAA's use of the reserve funds for the building renovation while leaving $1 million in the reserve fund, as well as acquisition of the vacant lot adjacent to the current office building.