Rumors of print’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

Back in the day, perhaps the hottest piece of sports content was a newspaper publishing an all-state/all-area team. Parents clipped the articles.

Photos were matted and framed. Keepsakes were had by all.

We most definitely live in a digital world these days and while those same all-area and all-state teams can be found, there is an element that has been missing for a long time.

We’re trying to fill that hole.

Colorado Preps is proud to announce the inaugural Colorado Preps Elite Magazine.

This is a collection of our all-state teams for every classification in every sport.

Simply put, it’s a celebration of those student-athletes who put together competitive efforts throughout the year that are worthy of a year-end designation.

The magazine features 3,000 all-state selections from 327 schools, all from the 2025-26 sports year. Colorado Preps awarded players First Team, Second Team and Honorable Mention designations. Honorable Mention spots were capped a certain amount in each sport.

For the selection process, Claude AI was used to identify then foundation of the all-state teams, but then the CP editorial staff vetted the selections, ultimately constructing the teams that appear in the magazine.

THE MAGAZINE CAN BE PURCHASED ONLINE HERE.

Below is a quick breakdown over how the teams were selected.

TEAM SPORTS
Softball, Flag Football, Field Hockey, Boys Soccer, Girls Volleyball, Football, Hockey, Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Boys Volleyball, Girls Lacrosse, Boys Lacrosse, Girls Soccer, Baseball

All-State teams were to be constructed to mimic on-field rosters for each team. So for example, football would have one quarterback for first and second team, basketball would have a center, two forwards and two guards and so on.

Claude was asked to identify First Team athletes based on a balance of individual statistics and combining them with team success. Claude helped build the foundation of these teams, but editorial research and decisions finalized them for each sport. There was no criteria to fish out nominees (such as all-league status) and every athlete at every level was eligible for this process.

The same process was repeated for a Second Team and then the honorable mention spots were filled by the best performing athletes available (regardless of position).

INDIVIDUAL SPORTS WITH BRACKET POSTSEASONS
Boys Tennis, Boys Wrestling, Girls Wrestling, Girls Tennis

State champions are First Team All-State and runners-up are Second Team All-State.

INDIVIDUAL SPORTS WITH MULTIPLE-EVENT POSTSEASONS
Girls Swimming, Boys Swimming, Girls Track and Field, Girls Track and Field

A win in any event makes an athlete First Team All-State. A runner-up finish makes an athlete Second Team All-State.

INDIVIDUAL SPORTS WITH ONE CULIMNATING EVENT/TOURNAMENT
Boys Golf, Boys Cross Country, Girls Cross Country, Girls Golf

Claude evaluated both regular season and state championship performances. Regular season success was weighted 55% of these selections while a performance at state made up 45% of the evaluation.

The purpose was to identify the best competitors through the course of the entire season rather than build an all-state team on a single event that could have wide-ranging variables that could affect performance.

Note: While we acknowledge AI was helpful in the process, we fully declare that the Colorado Preps All-State teams are ultimately published on the editorial decisions of Dan Mohrmann and staff.