Are Distance Runners the Smartest Runners?

The 2011 NCAA Capital One Academic All-American Men's Track & Field teams were announced yesterday, and 44 track and field athletes were recognized for their superior academic achievements. According to the official press release, to be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, "a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director."

When one examines the list of academic over-achievers, one is struck by the skewed distribution by event. This list of 44 NCAA Division 1 Academic All-Americans is dominated by distance runners. As the list below reveals, fully 26 of the 44 members of the men's Academic All-American team are distance runners. On the other extreme, only 4 of the 44 can be categorized as sprinters (three of these 4 are primarily 400 meter hurdlers, and only one -- Darius Law of the University of Charlotte -- specializes in the flat 200/400 sprints). Interestingly, there are also more combined events athletes among the academic stars than one would expect, given their relative numbers on typical track and field squads.

What might explain this result? Does distance running require a degree of discipline above and beyond that required of runners competing at shorter distances? To make this argument, one would assume that the discipline and hard work required to be an NCAA Division 1 distance runner would translate well to the classroom, resulting in good grades. That argument, however, seems to assume that sprinters are somehow less disciplined and hard-working than distance runners, a perverse variation on the theory that sprinters are somehow "born" while distance runners are "made." Following that logic, one would be forced to argue that the "making" of a quality distance runner lends itself more directly to the "making" of an outstanding student.

Of course, perhaps there is no causal chain involved at all. Perhaps some sort of self-selection process is at work. Could it be that already smart high school kids are somehow more inclined -- should they join the track team -- to opt for the distances than for the sprints? After all, the stereotypical body-type of the nerdy high school geek looks embarrassingly similar in the mind's eye to the typical high school freshman on the boy's cross country team. This tongue-in-cheek suggestion surely has no basis in reality, does it?

In any event, here is the list for consideration:

2011 CAPITAL ONE NCAA DIVISION 1 TRACK & FIELD ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS

First Team
Philip Adam		Rice		Decathlon/Throws
Bjorn Barrefors		Nebraska	Decathlon
Miles Batty		Bringham Young	Middle Distance
Peter Bolgert		Marquette	Distance
Tim Burns		Loyola (Md)	Distance
Nathan Corder		Alabama		Distance
Chris Derrick		Stanford	Distance
Ryan Foster		Penn State	Middle Distance
Elliott Heath		Stanford	Distance
David Klech		Oregon		Decathlon/Hurdles
Darius Law		Charlotte	Sprints/200-400
Chris Lemon		Dayton		Distance
Lee Ellis Moore		Mississippi	Sprints/400H-400
Scott Roth		Washington	Pole Vault
Miles Unterreiner	Stanford	Distance

Second Team
Eric Bailey		Oklahoma	Sprints/400H-400
Will Barry		Texas A&M	Distance
Hillary Bor		Iowa State	Distance
Matt Carey		Rice		Distance
Alex Federinko		Duquesne	Jumps
Nicholas Gordon		Nebraska	Jumps
Kevin Johnson		Massachusetts	Distance
Barnabas Kirui		Mississippi	Distance
Scott Krapf		Illinois State	Distance
Matthew Lemon		Dayton		Distance
Nate Polacek		Nebraska	Pole Vault
Cody Rome		US Naval Acad	Distance
Jamie Sandys		Arizona State	Decathlon/Jumps
Jareb Stallbaumer	Kansas		Jumps
Michael Zajac		South Carolina	Throws

Third Team
Andy Bayer		Indiana		Distance
Ed Bonnevie		Delaware	Distance
Adam Dailey		Nebraska	Sprints/400H-400
Dominic Devaud		Maryland-BC	Decathlon
Ben Engelhardt		Arizona State	Distance
Matthew Gibney		Villanova	Middle Distance/Distance
Tyler Hitchler		Nebraska	Throws
Daniel Howell		Utah State	Distance
Ben Jasinski		South Dakota St	Jumps
Elliott Krause		Wisconsin	Distance
David Moore		Tennessee-Chatt	Distance
Ciaran O'Lionaird	Florida State	Distance
Marvin Reitze		South Carolina	Pole Vault
Dan Sloat		Rice		Middle Distance