HS: Spring FAB 50 rankings, May 7

by Sheldon Shealer

May 7, 2019

The revolving door for the FAB 50 spring girls No. 1 ranking has kept the girls game featured in these weekly updates.

This week, it's Michigan's turn -- again.

Marian (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) ascends to No. 1 for the first time following a loss by former No. 1 St. Charles North (St. Charles, Ill.).

Marian is riding a 57-match undefeated streak (56-0-1) over the past three seasons, and this team has progressed over the years to this ranking. The youthful program secured its first FAB 50 final Top 25 ranking with a No. 21 finish in 2017. Last year's undefeated team ended at No. 9. This year's team, led by Virginia-bound Jansen Eichenlaub, was ranked No. 9 in the preseason and has slowly climbed the rankings each week, landing at the top spot.

The really interesting point for this week, is another Michigan program -- Novi -- checks in at No. 2.

While it might seem odd to have teams from the same state at Nos. 1 and 2, it happens quite often as part of the "churn" in high school rankings. Michigan is one of the last states to start spring play, so while others are deep into the season -- even in the playoffs -- and have had plenty of matches to take losses, teams such as Marian and Novi are not even at the halfway point. How that applies is rather simple. Three current Top 10 teams have a chance to finish out undefeated seasons with state titles this weekend. The higher-ranked Michigan programs, however, have upward of 15 matches remaining in which they will have to win them all to remain ranked ahead in the FAB 50. And for Novi in Division I and Marian in Division II, winning another 15 in a row will not be an easy task considering the number of potential showdowns remaining with other FAB 50-ranked teams.

On the boys side, play has been rather predictable so far. Dalton (Ga.) is a clear No. 1 team and will stay there with a state title. Forty-eight of last week's FAB 50 remain in the rankings with only James River (Midlothian, Va.) and [Booker T Washington ok-m] (Okla.) joining the group at Nos. 48 and 50, respectively.

Now, on with the rest of the rankings ...

BIG MOVERS: BOYS: Brentwood (Tenn.). Beating a state Top 10 opponent 8-0 is sure to open some eyes. That's exactly what happened for Brentwood last week, and the one-sided win moved this team from No. 19 to No. 10 in this week's FAB 50, making it the highest-ranked Tennessee program. ... GIRLS: St. Pius X (Atlanta, Ga.). By process of other teams losing, St. Pius advanced eight spots to No. 37 this week. Same was true for the five teams that followed at Nos. 38, 29, 40, 41 and 41.

NEWCOMERS: BOYS: No. 48 James River (Midlothian, Va.) and No. 50 [Booker T Washington ok-m] (Tulsa, Okla.). ... GIRLS: No. 43 Colorado Academy (Denver, Colo.), No. 44 Troy Athens (Troy, Mich.), No. 46 Grandview (Aurora, Colo.), No. 47 Lane Tech (Chicago, Ill.), No. 48 Shawnee Mission East (Prairie Village, Kan.), No. 49 Columbus (Ga.) and No. 50 Loudoun County (Leesburg, Va.).