I tend to agree. Athletics, while not academics, is as valid a reason as chess or acting for acceptance into a school. And top D1 athletes in the top tier spo

I tend to agree. Athletics, while not academics, is as valid a reason as chess or acting for acceptance into a school. And top D1 athletes in the top tier sports are generally exceptional at what they do. The unfortunate thing may be that we've conflated college admissions with this notion of "merit", rather than what you can get out of college itself.