The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Five Hornets Academic All-State
Saline boys' track team one of state's best in the classroom
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: July 24, 2008
Ask any coach you like at Saline High School and they'll you that their athletes' academic success is even more important to them than their athletic success.
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The latest evidence that that's not just lip service came last week when the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches' Association named five different Hornet boys to the MITCA Academic All-State team.
"Far more kids make All-State athletically than make the All-Academic team," said Saline boys' track assistant coach Carl Spina. "It's a prestigious honor. It shows how much our kids excel both academically and athletically."
To be considered, athletes must both be named All-State at the MHSAA state track finals and hold at least a 3.5 grade point average at the end of the spring semester. From the pool of athletes under consideration, only the top 25 as ranked by their GPA (with state meet placement used as the tiebreaker) are honored as Academic All-State by MITCA.
Making the grade for Saline were the graduated Blake Johnson and Brian Hernandez, as well as rising seniors Luke Dishnow, Quinn Dawson and Tommy Hunt.
Johnson, Hunt, Hernandez and Dishnow each ran as part of Saline third-place 3,200-meter relay team and qualified with GPAs of 3.883, 3.959, 3.905 and 3.750, respectively. Dawson placed second in the discus and posted a GPA of 3.728.
No other boys' programs in Division 1, 2 or 3 matched Saline's total of five representatives, with only one girls' school (Division 1 Rockford) over those three divisions having as many as five.
"Our guys aren't just athletes, but they're also not just geniuses," Spina said. "To have five of them make Academic All-State shows that they've been able to balance their athletics and academics with a lot of success. It's good to see."
The honor is hardly for the first for the likes of Johnson or Hernandez. Both have received multiple academic honors for both track and cross country before moving on to run for Marquette University and Hope College, respectively.
"It seems like this is four or five times for those guys," Spina said. "It's just another feather in their cap. And the more feathers they get, the better our cap looks, too."
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