By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Salisbury High School received the Exemplary School Award from the North Carolina Athletic Association on Thursday.
The award recognizes the top overall school in the state in terms of the total program, including athletic success, scope of athletic opportunities offered, facilities, community interest and involvement and academics.
Salisbury Principal Dr. Windsor Eagle said the school averages about 134 scholar-athletes per year.
Students must have at least a 3.5 GPA for the semester in which he or she competed in order to be considered a scholar-athlete by the state athletic association.
“I keep preaching how important academics are,” Eagle said. “A lot of our kids want to go on and play at the next level, and they have to start early on this or they get too far behind.”
Eagle said students also have to meet specific academic criteria in order to be able to play for the school.
In addition to a trophy and a banner, the school received a $1,000 cash award during the athletic association annual meeting in Chapel Hill.
The school has also been recognized for having 13 of its fall sports teams earn scholar status.
In the team division, a variety of teams earned scholar-athlete recognition by attaining a 3.1 aggregate GPA.
But two of Salisbury’s teams stand out from the rest, earning the top GPAs in the state.
Eagle said the cross-country team had an unweighted GPA of 3.880, while the swimming team earned a 3.930 unweighted GPA.
“We were quite impressed to be the top teams because this goes over all four classifications,” he said. “It’s quite an honor to be the top school academically in a sport in the whole state.”
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.