New coaches/media rankings for the new year, and there's at least 2 new ranked teams that haven't been in the top 5 in quite some time.

The top ranked 4A team at the end of 2017, is nowhere to be found in the top 5 to start 2018. Laramie has been booted out by the voters because of their recent results. Cheyenne East moves back up to the top spot. Like the ThunderBirds, Sheridan and Campbell County each move up 1 spot as a result of recent activity. Green River starts the 2018 calendar year ranked #4. We researched as far back as we could, and we're not sure when was the last time the Wolves were ranked. All we know is that it was sometime before the start of the 2010-2011 season. Evanston rounds out the top 5 at the #5 spot.

There's a new team on top of the 3A rankings. Buffalo not only won the Big Horn Basin Shootout Tournament this past weekend, they beat 2 #1's in the process (3A Cody and 2A Wind River). Rawlins holds steady at #2 this week, and Cody drops at couple of spots to #3. Riverton is ranked #4, while undefeated Newcastle is in at #5. The Dogies will get a huge challenge this weekend, when they visit Buffalo on Friday.

A lot of things happened during the winter break in 2A, but some of the results cancelled out each other. The top 3 are unchanged from the last rankings...Wind River, Pine Bluffs, and Rocky Mountain. R.M. beat W.R. just before the Christmas Holiday, but the Cougars returned the favor this past weekend. Lovell and Wyoming Indian trade places at #4 and #5, thanks to the Bulldogs recent win vs. the Chiefs. R.M. visits Ethete on Saturday.

1A had an extremely low voter turnout. 4 votes total (2 coaches, 2 media), and based on the outcome, we think some didn't pay attention to last week's results. Encampment moves up from #5, to #1 ahead of Burlington. That will raise some eyebrows, because the Tigers lost last week. Little Snake River holds #3 to themselves. Saratoga (who beat Encampment last week), is in the top 5 at #4, but have to share that spot with Farson-Eden. This is the first time in awhile that the Panthers have been ranked, and perhaps the first since they dropped from 2A to 1A.

Disclaimer: The rankings have no official say on post-season positioning, and are only to be used as a measuring stick on the regular season. Please don't read too much into the rankings.

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