LEXINGTON — The Kentucky High School Athletic Association announced final counts for its “Triple Threat Award” and “Academic All-State” recognition programs for the 2018-19 academic year. In its second year of existence, the Triple Threat Award was presented to a total of 1,878 student-athletes for 2018-19, while 151 KHSAA member schools recognized a total of 10,046 students as First Team Academic All-State and 5,772 students as Academic All-State Honorable Mention.
“We are very pleased with the participation level of our membership with the Triple Threat and Academic All-State programs,” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “Both of those processes have been automated to help our membership and make the recognition more readily available to our great student-athletes.”
Created by the Commissioner’s office in May of 2018 as a way to continue the national emphasis and the KHSAA’s own efforts to de-emphasize sports specialization in the athletic culture, the Triple Threat Award recognizes those students who participate in high school athletics (sport or sport-activity) at the varsity level year round (fall/winter/spring).
“In these days where some people erroneously believe that a student needs to participate in only one activity year round to succeed, the Triple Threat Award allows us to counter that myth with nearly 1,900 great examples of kids that represent their school all year long as multi-sport student-athletes,” added Tackett. “Every study published continues to prove that much more damage is done by sport specialization than benefit is gained, and we will continue to emphasize that point.”
Todd County Central High School had three students earn the honor:
Tanner Farmer: Soccer, Basketball, Baseball
Bryce Nolan: Football, Basketball, Baseball
Austin Rager: Golf, Basketball, Baseball