Army Prep School

[polevaultpower]

http://www.usma.edu/USMAPS/pages/athlet ... k_home.htm

They compete at college track meets... are they considered a college? I know they feed straight into the military schools, does the NCAA count it against their eligibility? Are the students there all HS grads?

Just trying to figure out how they fit in on athletic.net.

[Marlow]

They, like the Navy post-graduate prep school, are neither fish nor fowl. They are all 5th year seniors in HS, thus ineligible for NFHS sanction. They 'could' be considered pre-collegians, but they are not NCAA or NAIA sanctioned either. They are merely 'open' athletes.

[lonewolf]

I have mentioned this previously but I am told by a business/friend, who lived it that pre and immediately post-WWII, competing for the US Military Academy did not count against collegiate eligibility. He played four years at West Point , commencing 1940, served in WWII, then played four years at University of Texas 1946-49 before playing in the NFL.

[dj]

They, like the Navy post-graduate prep school, are neither fish nor fowl. They are all 5th year seniors in HS, thus ineligible for NFHS sanction. They 'could' be considered pre-collegians, but they are not NCAA or NAIA sanctioned either. They are merely 'open' athletes.

They are not necessarily HS grads. For the most part, these are people who have served in the Army, usually--but not always--after having graduated from high school. At some point during their tour, someone takes notice of them and thinks they might be able to move from serving in the field to going to West Point.

Their ages can be all over the map, but the school most frequently competes against prep schools and whomever else they're lucky enough to find who will have them.

[polevaultpower]

Interesting!

[Marlow]

the school most frequently competes against prep schools and whomever else they're lucky enough to find who will have them.

Most of the elite prep schools in New England allow high school graduates to attend a 5th HS year as post grads and they are fully eligible to compete for the schools, because they are not part of their state's high school federation. At my school, Choate, we usually had up to a dozen and they were all star athletes looking to get into better colleges than they would have out of their own HSs.