Outstanding high school athletes are plentiful in this day and age.

What isn’t so plentiful is the opportunity for those athletes to compete at the collegiate level.

Figures released by the NCAA indicate that more than 460,000 college athletes competed in 24 sports this year, more than ever before.

But consider the percentages.

Of all high school football players in the United States, only 6.9 percent of them go on to play college ball. In basketball, that figure drops to 3.4 percent.

Only 7.1 percent of high school baseball players go on to play in college while 7 percent of high school swimmers compete at the next level.

The high school sport carrying the highest percentage of college participants? Lacrosse, at 12.4 percent.

So how many of those precious few go on to compete in their respective sport in college while producing high-quality academic performance? If we’re talking about the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, we’re talking plenty.

The PSAC set a conference record in 2017-18 with 3,054 student-athletes from its 18 member schools producing a grade point average of 3.25 or higher. Mercyhurst had the most with 308.

Slippery Rock University is one of six PSAC schools with more than 200 such scholar-athletes. The Rock had 204.

That league total of 3,054 represents 42 percent of the PSAC’s student-athlete population. That’s a pretty amazing figure when one thinks about it.

So much is required of collegiate athletes today. Let alone the in-season practice, game and travel schedule, there are off-season workouts and camps that demand their time.

A number of Butler County area athletes help comprise that total of 3,054. Just to name a few, there’s Moniteau graduate Austin Blauser, Knoch grad Jeremy Frazier, Karns City grad Maverick Kelsea and Freeport grad Rebecca Dudek at Clarion.

How about Slippery Rock High graduate Marissa Siebka, Moniteau grads Kennedy and Kristina DeMatteis, Grove City grad Foster Reznor at Gannon, Seneca Valley grad Mollie Gallagher at Indiana, SV grad Jessica Neill at Seton Hill, Butler grad Tim Vernick, SV grad Steve Gaviglia and Grove City grad Matt Gordon at Slippery Rock?

And there are plenty of others.

So much credit should go to these kids, who have learned how to thrive academically and athletically in a challenging environment.

These 3,000-plus athletes have gone beyond that small percentage of high school competitors to reach college. Their performance in college demonstates how they got there in the first place.

The names listed above didn’t have to strive far from home to lay the groundwork for their future careers.

Wise decisions, indeed.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle