<p>hello, i have been hearing about all american and all academic awards, and i am curious how you would “become” those things. i run track and cross country in high school by the way.
thanks</p>
<p>“All American” is sort of an arbitrary distinction. In HS basketball and football different companies or publications will award the title to the best players in the country. There are collegiate All-Americans in T&F awarded by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association based on performance at NCAA champs. For HS track and field, I believe the top 6 place finishers at New Balance Nats (formerly Nike Nats) earn an “All-American” status. As I recall you’re a mid-distance guy, 6th place in the 800m at NB was 1:50.88.</p>
<p>If you can make the qualifying standard to compete in the meet, (1:53 in the 800, 4:13 mile), New Balance is a great place to be seen and to have on your recruiting resume.</p>
<p>thanks! those sound like very fast times. hopefully i’ll be approaching those times. do you know what “all-academic” is and how you would become that/who awards that?</p>
<p>Cross Country Junior Olympics National Championships which run in December each year also award top 20 All American. There are many age groups, each spanning two years and All Americans are designated for each group. To be honest, I think most XC followers consider Footlocker and NXN to be more competitive, and attract the top runners in the nation during high school, but JOs are often fun for pre-high schoolers who want to run in a big race. If you can only afford to run one big race a year, and want to train toward the most important one, choose the Footlocker regional/national series.</p>
<p>[USATF</a> - Events - 2011 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships](<a href=“http://www.usatf.org/events/2011/USATFJuniorOlympicXCChampionships/]USATF”>http://www.usatf.org/events/2011/USATFJuniorOlympicXCChampionships/)</p>
<p>[Foot</a> Locker Cross Country Championships](<a href=“http://www.footlockercc.com/]Foot”>http://www.footlockercc.com/)</p>
<p>In swimming, you can be ‘All American’ by finishing in the Top 16 at, for example, YMCA Nationals. However, there is also an Academic All American distinction for which you have to apply. My daughter didn’t know about it in time, so although she had the qualifying time and the grades, she didn’t get recognized. So in that case, I think it’s not a fair distinction! Not sure if that can happen in other sports as well.</p>
<p>In our area, the top athletes in a conference are named “All-Conference” Players. Those All-Conference players are then considered for “All-State” – and the “All-State” players are considered for “All-American” honors. This is lacrosse, by the way. </p>
<p>Each state is given a certain number of slots for All American – so that the AA honors are distributed geographically. Every year there are complaints from the hotbeds that too many of their stars got dissed in favor of players from the hinterlands that just aren’t that good. (Tough noogies IMO!)</p>
<p>Teddy- all academic means maintaining a certain GPA/ grades for that year/season.</p>