2026 Way Too Early 5A Rankings 1-3

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2025 was one of the best years we have had in Oklahoma. The hard work and determination was apparent in the amount of college commits we had this past year. We will not officially know who is in what class until early August, so we will use a few assumptions. Such as, Most schools will mimic the football ADM released this past spring and that the private school bump up rule in fact does stay in place. That being said, lets take a look at our top 3 picks for the 2026 season in class 5A and some of the players that could make an impact for their program.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>#3 Claremore Zebras:</strong> Claremore is coming off one of the best seasons in school history at 30-8. They graduated only two seniors but they were two good ones. They have a very experienced senior group that will be looking to do something that's never been done in school history. <br>Players: [player_tooltip player_id='285769' first='Grace' last='Baughman'], [player_tooltip player_id='666302' first='Addison' last='Doyle'], [player_tooltip player_id='736675' first='Madison' last='Godding'], [player_tooltip player_id='734803' first='Bella' last='Hoisington'] and [player_tooltip player_id='741599' first='Ava' last='Tanner'] are seniors who saw significant playing time last year. [player_tooltip player_id='774418' first='Maise' last='Stagner-Speer'], [player_tooltip player_id='839118' first='Tayvn' last='Smith'] and [player_tooltip player_id='800278' first='Alivia' last='Payne'] all will add depth to the roster. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>#2 Altus Bulldogs:</strong> Altus is coming off a record setting season on multiple fronts. They finished 34-3 on the year, which was a school record. They only lost to one team from Oklahoma and that was in the state quarterfinals against BTW. They will return almost their entire lineup that will be VERY hungry to take the program a step further. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Players: They will be led by a plethora of upperclassmen such as [player_tooltip player_id='757040' first='Kaprie' last='Craddock'], who has a solid club season thus far, Evyn Bull and Jaylee Carmen. They all played significant minutes and added tremendous value to the team. This is going to a very exciting team to watch play this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>#1 Bishop McGuinness Fighting Irish:</strong> The reining 5A state champs! The fighting Irish were dominate at the state tournament, they only dropped a single set in the championship match. Overall they went 31-4 and thats about their normal. They graduated some really good players but this private school doesn't rebuild, it reloads. They have a new head coach who has shown she has what it takes to grab the torch and keep it going.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Players: Where do we even begin with this team? There is so much talent at each position. None more obvious than at the setter position. They have [player_tooltip player_id='752471' first='Abby' last='Buckelew'] and [player_tooltip player_id='283004' first='Merritt' last='Fuller'] who ar both championship type players. [player_tooltip player_id='748672' first='Arielle' last='Yapi'] could very well be their main gun when it comes to kills but dont sleep on [player_tooltip player_id='760406' first='Maggie' last='LoPorto'] in the middle. [player_tooltip player_id='800090' first='Christina' last='Kunnath'] had a really solid showing at the state tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There is a reason these are Way Too Early. Rules could change, players can transfer and ADM will not be confirmed till August. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->