"It's all about sacrifice for me and that's what my coach always says. He's always like, Erin, if you want to be tops in anything you have to sacrifice."
And that is the secret to success for Newark Valley's Erin Cawley.
The senior is a four-time cross country section champ and a two-time state runner-up.
She's also in the national honor society, plays in two bands and is secretary of the student council.
Throw in hours of training and that's a pretty full schedule.
A schedule that leaves little time for other, more normal, teenage activities.
Erin says, "If that's hanging out with friends or going out on the weekends and stuff, I'll sacrifice that to be good in running."
Coach Brian Trippany says, "She likes ice cream and she likes, you know, like any kid would like but she won't eat those during the season."
Sacrifice and discipline are also key words for Erin in the classroom.
She's ranked sixth in her class of 109 with a 96 grade point average and has schools such as Columbia and Syracuse knocking on her door.
"I'm not going to lie, it's hard keeping your grades up when you have sports and I really love running, like that's my passion, and so I always want, if I had to choose between homework or run, it tears me, but I end up doing both."
Cawley's used to setting the standard in her races.
She just won the section meet by 90 seconds.
But more importantly, she sets the standard for the rest of her Cardinal teammates.
"They see Erin and it's sort of like, I want to be like Mike, well, they want to be like Erin so it's wonderful."
Other runners dream for just one day they could be that way, but there's only one Erin Cawley, this week's academic all star.
Justin Horowitz, Action Sports.