Shelby Davidson (Cocoa Beach) and Devin McDermott (Lakewood Ranch) pose at the Awards Banquet last week.
All photos courtesy of Shelby Davidson and family.
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Does running make you smarter?
The Florida High School Athletic Association’s list of Florida’s top-scholar athletes has evidence that could suggest it might.
Last week the FHSAA held a celebration for this year’s top Florida scholar-athletes at the Academic All-State Awards Banquet, which took place on June 18th. The banquet brings together 12 male and 12 female athletes from around Florida, honoring and recognizing them for their exemplary academic achievements, commendable service to their community and dedication towards athletic excellence.
“It’s a matter of focusing on what you need to get done and genuinely wanting to succeed,” said Devin McDermott, a top scholar-athlete from Lakewood Ranch High School.
This year, track and cross country runners accounted for twenty-two of the twenty-four members of the Academic All-State Team; 91.6% of this year’s FHSAA top scholar athletes were runners.
“All athletes, especially runners, have this drive that we want to do well and we will do anything to get there,” McDermott said. “It’s a lot of hard work and we sacrifice a lot.”
We always knew that runners were the intelligent athletes!
Science to the Rescue
Researchers from Boston University recently found that physical fitness can actually strengthen the brain’s memory power. The study tested 28 subjects who tracked their exercise habits for a week and were later given various tests examining their cognition and visual perception.
Results showed that the more aerobically fit subjects were able to recall images with greater confidence. The explanation behind this is that extreme aerobic exercise--such as running--fosters the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, a component of the brain which essentially acts as “a small but essential warehouse of memories in the brain.”
Running does more than simply improving your cardiovascular fitness and overall physique; this aerobic exercise strengthens your recollection abilities and sharpens your memory.
Lily Williams (Chiles) and Shelby Davidson (Cocoa Beach)
“There’s really nothing like the feeling after completing a really good workout,” said Lily Williams of Lawton Chiles High School. “Everything just seems clearer and your perceptions seem kind of heightened, which could explain a ‘runner’s high.’”
“It definitely feels like my thinking is much sharper after a run,” Williams added.
However, the BU researchers weren’t the only ones to identify a link between running and intelligence. FHSAA’s top scholar-athletes made their own discoveries in terms of their athletic performance and their academics.
“To be a successful runner, you have to be extremely intrinsically and self-motivated,” said Williams. “I think that I was a motivated athlete before I was a motivated student, and the characteristics transferred over when I started to get serious about both.”
“Running is such a motivating and demanding sport. You don’t want to take days off as a runner, and you want to be pushing yourself,” McDermott said. “That translates to our school work; we don’t want to fall back and fail.”
If you’re not taking days off as an athlete, then you shouldn’t be taking days off as a scholar. Next time that you have an important exam to prepare for, grab your running shoes and hit the trails, in addition to hitting the books.
FHSAA Academic All-State Team
Members of the Academic All-State Team included the following track and cross country stars:
- Alexander Carames, St. Joseph Academy
- Andrea Esinhart, Chamberlain High School
- Apurv Suman, Oak Hall School
- Caroline Coleman, Boone High School
- Christa Bergquist, Evangelical Christian School
- Collin Myrick, Freeport High School
- Denzel Paige, North Broward Preparatory School
- Devin McDermott, Lakewood Ranch High School
- James Briggs, St. Petersburg Catholic High School
- James Davis, Eastside High School
- Kali Nordquist, Ida S. Baker High School
- Katherine Stone, Fort Walton Beach High School
- Lily Williams, Lawton Chiles High School
- Marina Kay Wiatt, Marathon High School
- Mark Mutz, Lakeland Christian School
- Neil MacInnes, Chamberlain High School
- Nicholas Rougraff, Barrion G. Collier High School
- Rachel Gilbert, The Pine School Hobe Sound
- Samuel Jones, Seven Rivers Christian School
- Shelby Davidson, Cocoa Beach High School
- Stephen Gibbs, Lake Brantley High School
- Taylor Cogsil, The Benjamin School