BELLEVUE, Wash. – Bellevue High School's boys lacrosse program has been recognized as one of the top 50 in the U.S. heading into the 2014 season by a leading national scholastic sports magazine. In its annual pre-season “Fab 50” national ranking released Monday, StudentSports.com lists the two-time defending Washington state boys champion as No. 49 in the country.

Coach John Baumann’s Wolverines, which finished the 2013 Washington State Division I campaign 21-2-0, dropping just two games against New York state opponents Wantagh and Long Beach, were among only three West Coast schools to crack the national list voted on by scholastic sports journalists across the U.S.

Other West Coast schools to receive nods include St. Ignatius Prep in San Francisco at No. 39, and Arapahoe of Centennial, Colorado at No. 50.

Washington state high school lacrosse programs receiving votes but not making the top 50 include Mercer Island High School and Issaquah High School.

Bellevue will have an opportunity to move up in the national rankings with a strong start to its season, which gets underway on Friday, March 14 against Bainbridge High School, along with a win over No. 16 St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School. The Wolverines take on St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School on Wednesday, April 9 as a part of a three-game spring-break series against Virginia high schools.

The No. 1 spot in the national pre-season poll went to Baltimore’s Boys’ Latin, which reached the 2013 MIAA state championship game and has 19 NCAA Division I commitments on its roster. Pennsylvania’s Haverford School, defending Inter-Ac Invitational champions with 17 NCAA Division I commitments on its roster, is ranked No. 2.

The top 5 is rounded-out by Indiana’s Culver Academy, along with Maryland’s Georgetown Prep and the St. Paul’s School.

New York state’s St. Anthony’s, Massapequa, and Chaminade along with Pennsylvania’s Malvern Prep and Maryland’s McDonogh round-out the top 10.

New York was the top state with 15 high school programs earning spots while Maryland had 10 on the list, Pennsylvania had 7 and New Jersey 3. Florida, Texas and Virginia all had two schools each in the poll, while California, Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee and Washington all had a single school among the Fab 50.

Among the voters in the StudentSports.com Fab 50 national high school lacrosse poll are Washington state prep sports journalists Paul Danzer of The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash. and Tony Olney, a Washington state lacrosse hall of famer and high school color analyst with The Lacrosse Network.

To view the full list along with summaries of the Top 25 teams visit: 2014 StudnetSports.com Boys Lacrosse Fab 50 (Pre-Season ranking).

2014 StudentSports.com Boys Fab 50 (Pre-Season)

Rank, School, City, Points (First Place Votes)

1. Boys’ Latin (Baltimore, Md.) 300 (6)
2. Haverford School (Haverford, Pa.) 292
3. Culver Academy (Culver, Ind.) 282
4. Georgetown Prep (North Bethesda, Md.) 281
5. St. Paul’s (Brooklandville, Md.) 278
6. St. Anthony’s (South Huntington, N.Y.) 271
7. Massapequa (Massapequa, N.Y.) 270
8. Chaminade (Mineola, N.Y.) 247
9. Malvern Prep (Malvern, Pa.) 243
10. McDonogh (Owings Mills, Md.) 241
11. Calvert Hall (Baltimore, Md.) 237
12. Garden City (Garden City, N.Y.) 230
13. Landon (Bethesda, Md.) 217
14. Smithtown West (Smithtown, N.Y.) 208
15. Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) 197
16. St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes (Alexandria, Va.) 194
17. Manhasset (Manhasset, N.Y.) 194
18. La Salle College (Wyndmoor, Pa.) 188
19. Loyola-Blakefield (Towson Md.) 187
20. Smithtown East (St. James, N.Y.) 184
21. Gilman (Baltimore, Md.) 179
22. Ward Melville (East Setauket, N.Y.) 179
23. Delbarton (Morristown, N.J.) 174
24. Darien (Darien, Conn.) 169
25. Conestoga (Berwyn, Pa.) 155
26. Lake Highland Prep (Orlando, Fla.) 142
27. Niskayuna (Niskayuna, N.Y.) 129
28. Salesianum (Wilmington, Del.) 125
29. Jamesville-DeWitt (DeWitt, N.Y.) 125
30. DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) 120
31. Episcopal Academy (Newton Square, Pa.) 116
32. St Joseph’s Prep (Philadelphia, Pa.) 114
33. Yorktown (Yorktown, N.Y.) 109
34. St. Andrew’s (Boca Raton, Fla.) 91
35. Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) 86
36. St. Augustine Prep (Richland, N.J.) 75
37. Sachem North (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) 73
38. West Islip (West Islip, N.Y.) 63
39. St. Ignatius Prep (San Francisco, Calif.) 62
40. Ridge (Basking Ridge, N.J.) 62
41. McCallie School (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 57
42. Northport (Northport, N.Y.) 53
43. Hereford (Parketon, Md.) 39
44. West Genesee (Camilus, N.Y.) 39
45. Brother Rice (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) 39
46. Episcopal Dallas (Dallas, Texas) 36
47. Avon Grove (West Grove, Pa.) 36
48. Highland Park (Dallas, Texas) 31
49. Bellevue (Bellevue, Wash.) 31
50. Arapahoe (Centennial, Colo.) 25

Others Receiving Votes: Bishop Timon-St. Jude (Buffalo, N.Y.), 32; Mercer Island (Mercer Island, Wash.), 46; Ponte Vedra (Ponte Vedra, Fla.), 17; Bronxville (Bronxville, N.Y.), 30; Dublin Jerome (Dublin, Ohio), 22; Issaquah (Issaquah, Wash.), 28; St. Mary’s (Annapolis, Md.), 16; Lakeridge (Lakeridge, Ore.), 20; Xaverian Brothers (Westwood, Mass.), 12; Garnet Valley (Glen Mills, Pa.), 9; Calverton School (Huntingtown, Md.), 18; Ithaca (Ithaca, N.Y.), 8; Cazenovia Central (Cazenovia, N.Y.) , 4; Webster Thomas (Webster, N.Y.), 3; Kent Denver (Denver, Colo.), 2; Shoreham-Wading River (Shoreham, N.Y.), 1.