Which teams are the early favorites for HSNI bids?
March 31, 2026 by Charlie Eisenhood in Rankings
Welcome to the third edition of the 2026 High School Power Rankings! The rankings can be permanently found on our Youth Rankings page.
Because many youth teams have not played yet this season, these rankings should be considered preliminary and will change during the course of the spring. The rankings will eventually be used to determine invitations to the 2026 High School National Invite; currently, we plan to use the rankings published the week of May 18th as the final rankings before final bids are sent out (many bids will be sent out on a rolling basis).
If you have additional information about tournaments or team strength that you would like to be considered for the High School Power Rankings, please email [email protected].
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Without further ado, here are the Top 25 teams in the Boys’ and Girls’ High School Divisions!
High School Boys Power Rankings:
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropped from rankings: River’s Edge Christian Academy (TN) (9), Edwardsville (IL) (20), East Chapel Hill (NC) (23), Four Rivers (MA) (25) | |||
| 1 | Albany (CA) | - | 1 |
| 2 | Lakeside (GA) | - | 2 |
| 3 | Middleton (WI) | +1 | 4 |
| 4 | South Eugene (OR) | +1 | 5 |
| 5 | Lexington (MA) | +1 | 6 |
| 6 | Green Canyon (UT) | +1 | 7 |
| 7 | Lincoln (WA) | +1 | 8 |
| 8 | Brooklyn Tech (NY) | +2 | 10 |
| 9 | Chapel Hill (NC) | +2 | 11 |
| 10 | Roosevelt (WA) | +2 | 12 |
| 11 | Jackson-Reed (DC) | +2 | 13 |
| 12 | Washburn (MN) | +2 | 14 |
| 13 | El Cerrito (CA) | - | |
| 14 | South (MN) | +2 | 16 |
| 15 | Midtown (GA) | - | |
| 16 | Haverford (PA) | +1 | 17 |
| 17 | Columbia (NJ) | +1 | 18 |
| 18 | Franklin (OR) | +1 | 19 |
| 19 | Jordan (NC) | +3 | 22 |
| 20 | Lone Peak (UT) | -5 | 15 |
| 21 | West Jessamine (KY) | - | 21 |
| 22 | Edina (MN) | -19 | 3 |
| 23 | Carrboro (NC) | - | |
| 24 | LASA (TX) | - | |
| 25 | Science Leadership Academy (PA) | -1 | 24 |
Notes
- Lakeside (GA) cemented their HSNI bid with a win at the River Campus Classic! They defeated Middleton (WI) and Midtown (GA) to maintain their #2 ranking in the top 25.
- Middleton (WI), with no losses to any teams from the Midwest, has done enough to earn an early strength bid to HSNI. They have just one loss on the season, 9-7 to Lakeside in the semis at RCC.
- Welcome to the rankings El Cerrito (CA)! With strong play early in the California league and the strength of #1 Albany already well established, they re-rated higher after being considered a possible top 25 contender in the preseason rankings.
- A couple of drops from RCC: RECA (TN) isn’t matching their performance from last year, and Edina (MN) is clearly in rebuilding/development mode. (And they have the luxury of already having an HSNI bid for making the finals last year). Don’t be surprised if Edina still ends up on top in Minnesota, but they’ve got to develop new stars.
- Midtown (GA) did well enough this weekend that they had to get into the top 25. They do have a loss to Jordan, but they beat a lot of Midwest top teams and lost by just one to Lakeside after losing to them by 5 in early March.
High School Girls Power Rankings:
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropped from rankings: Fairview (CO) (13), Provo (UT) (20) | |||
| 1 | South Eugene (OR) | - | 1 |
| 2 | Washburn (MN) | +1 | 3 |
| 3 | Holy Family Catholic (OH) | +6 | 9 |
| 4 | El Cerrito (CA) | - | 4 |
| 5 | Paideia (GA) | +1 | 6 |
| 6 | Nathan Hale (WA) | +10 | 16 |
| 7 | Lincoln (WA) | - | 7 |
| 8 | HB Woodlawn (VA) | - | 8 |
| 9 | Ingraham (WA) | +1 | 10 |
| 10 | Roosevelt (WA) | -5 | 5 |
| 11 | Jordan (NC) | - | 11 |
| 12 | Garfield (WA) | -10 | 2 |
| 13 | Amherst (MA) | -1 | 12 |
| 14 | Madison (VA) | - | 14 |
| 15 | Springfield (PA) | - | 15 |
| 16 | Four Rivers (MA) | +2 | 18 |
| 17 | East High School – Halo (CO) | +4 | 21 |
| 18 | Eastside Prep (WA) | +5 | 23 |
| 19 | Green Canyon (UT) | - | |
| 20 | Oakland Tech (CA) | +2 | 22 |
| 21 | West (UT) | -4 | 17 |
| 22 | Jackson-Reed (DC) | +2 | 24 |
| 23 | Hopkins (MN) | +2 | 25 |
| 24 | Edina (MN) | -5 | 19 |
| 25 | Ballard (WA) | - | |
Notes
- One thing is clear: South Eugene (OR) is back to being the prohibitive favorite to win HSNI. It took an absolutely stacked Roosevelt team led by Chloe Hakimi to take them down last year, but South Eugene showed at Seattle Invite that they are playing at another level. They already had a bid, so second place finished Paideia (GA) got an invitation to HSNI.
- How do we make sense of what’s going on in Seattle? The top Washington teams all seem capable of winning on any given Sunday — there were all kinds of inconsistent results. Nathan Hale (WA) finished the highest among WA teams in third place, but they lost to Garfield on Saturday before beating Lincoln in quarters. Garfield lost to Roosevelt. Roosevelt lost to Ingraham. Lincoln beat Paideia by four on Saturday but then lost to Roosevelt and Hale. Eastside Prep beat Lincoln in consolation! Garfield loses their top spot amongst Washington teams, at least for now, and Lincoln, who beat Roosevelt in league play recently, jumps to the top of the group. But expect more changes as the season moves along.
- Holy Family Catholic (OH) looked fantastic at RCC and were actually under-ranked last week after beating Paideia at Terminus early in March. They jump up to #3 in the rankings and earn a bid to HSNI.
- Green Canyon (UT) took down the Lone Peak Invite, topping West (UT) in the finals.
Looking Ahead
League play will be the main focus of the next month of high school competition, though smaller tournaments will help develop the rankings as well. Spring Fling is in a couple of weeks, and Amherst Invite is always a key early May tournament.
The Boys Division of HSNI is now half full! More girls division play is concentrated in the spring, so fewer bids have gone out yet, but expect bids to start rolling out more over the coming weeks. There are three HSNI qualifiers left: Spaghetti Westerns, Hopkins Hustle, and Pioneer Valley Invitational, all in May.
HSNI Bids Accepted So Far
Boys
- Albany (CA) [Seattle Invite Champion]
- Edina (MN) [2025 HSNI Finalist]
- Lincoln (WA) [Washington State Champion]
- Roosevelt (WA) [Strength Bid]
- South Eugene (OR) [Strength Bid]
- Lexington (MA) [2026 YULA Invite Champion]
- Lakeside (GA) [2026 River Campus Classic Champion]
- Middleton (WI) [Strength Bid]
Girls
- Roosevelt (WA) [2025 HSNI Champion]
- South Eugene (OR) [2025 HSNI Finalist, 2026 Seattle Invite Champion]
- HB Woodlawn (VA) [2026 YULA Invite Champion]
HSNI Invites Pending
Boys
- Arlington (MA) [2025 HSNI Champion]
Girls
- Paideia (GA) [Strength Bid]
- Holy Family Catholic [2026 River Campus Classic Champion]
