by Phil Blackwell

sports editor

Whatever takes place on the field in high school sports is secondary to what is accomplished in the classroom. Excelling at both is an ideal everyone shoots for, but rarely achieves.

Manlius-Pebble Hill School has pulled it off, though. Last week, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association recognized MPH as a “School of Distinction” for 2017-18, the highest honor a school can earn.

To receive this, MPH required to have each of its 15 varsity sports teams in the fall, winter and spring earn NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete team awards, given to those teams who have at least 75 percent of its roster maintaining a grade average of 90 or higher.

In all, 30 schools earned the “School of Distinction” prize, just three of them in Section III, with MPH joined by Living Word Academy (four varsity teams) and Cazenovia (24 varsity teams).

The 30 schools chosen in 2017-18 was a steep increase from the 19 chosen in 2016-17, with 111 other schools receiving “School of Excellence” citations having 75 percent of their teams get NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete designations.

“The increase in the number of schools receiving both awards shows what fantastic student-athletes we have here in New York State,” said NYPHSAA executive director Robert Zayas. “This is evidence that schools, administration, coaches and student-athletes focus on excellence in the classroom as well as the playing fields.”