Five 2A EvCo teams debut near top of RPI rankings

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association released its first set of RPI rankings Wednesday morning, with six local teams debuting in the top 10 in their classifications.

Five of those teams are from the 2A Evergreen Conference.

The Black Hills girls program (4-1), which placed fifth at the state tournament in Yakima last March, opens as the sixth-ranked team in 2A. The Wolves’ boys program (4-2) is also ranked sixth.

Both the W.F. West boys (4-1) and girls (5-0) are ranked seventh. The girls’ program was the highest local finisher at a state tournament last winter, taking third in 2A, and is an early favorite to win a title this season after retaining much of its roster.

The Centralia girls (3-2) are ranked ninth, while 1A Evergreen Conference program Elma (6-0) is ranked eighth in the girls’ poll.

Rankings will likely shift over the next few weeks as complete game results are entered and when teams enter the bulk of league play.

RPI is determined by a three-part formula which includes a program’s winning percentage (25 percent), opponents’ winning percentage (50), and winning percentage of opponents of a program’s opponents (25).

A team’s RPI ranking is eventually used to determine its seed in the state playoffs.

In the boys’ rankings, Gonzaga Prep (4A), Kelso (3A), Anacortes (2A), Freeman (1A), Morton-White Pass (2B) and Columbia Adventist (1B) opened at No. 1.

For girls, Eastlake (4A), Garfield (3A), Archbishop Murphy (2A), Medical Lake (1A), Asotin (2B) and Neah Bay (1B) are the top-ranked teams.

A full list of initial rankings for locals is below. Records reflect what has been submitted to WIAA.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Five 2A EvCo teams debut near top of RPI rankings."