Top 5 Best College Programs

Women

Oregon

Villanova

Stanford

Florida State

Georgetown

Men

Oregon

Arkansas

Wisconsin

Stanford

Indiana

Other teams to consider

BYU (m)

Michigan (w)

Duke (m,w)

virginia (m,w)

NC STate (m, laura hoer)

UNC (m,w)

Tulsa (m)

UCLA

USC

Texas

Stanford

Cal

you don't know what u r talking about. I don't even think USC has a track program, and ucla is barely competitive in the PAC10 go read a football magazine.

IAAF WC/Oly Medal counter wrote:

UCLA

USC

Texas

Stanford

Cal

I've always been impressed with what William and Mary is able to accomplish without top-tier recruits

Perennial:

Men: Stanford, Colorado, Oregon, Wisconsin, Arkansas HM: Iona, Villanova, BYU

Women: Stanford, Villanova, FSU, Colorado, Texas Tech HM: Oregon, Georgetown, Providence

Right Now:

Men: Stanford, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Oregon HM: Iona, NAU, BYU, New Mexico, FSU

Women: Oregon, Villanova, FSU, Georgetown, Stanford HM: Texas Tech, Washington, Stony Brook, Iowa State, Arizona

Since the best T&F programs have student-athletes and alums that win the most majors medals you should add Cal Poly to the list.

UCLA

USC

Texas

Stanford

Cal

bump

Right now:

Mens:

Stanford - They're dominating the leaderboards in track lately, and have been the favorites in cross the last couple years for good reason.

Oregon - They can out recruit anyone, and as a result, always have a stacked barn. They produce when it counts, other than Indoors 2011.

Indiana - You can't deny that even though they've not generally stuck it to the big boys on a big stage, they're sitting on a lot of talent and it happens to be putting up some smoking times. Solid showings in XC and Track at NCAAs as of late.

Wisco - Great XC team that doesn't always have the horses to shine on the track in the same numbers as the previous three, but is perennial a top 5 XC team and has a laundry list of big time alums from the last decade. Never seems to have a bad XC season.

OK State - How could they not be in the top 5 with the talent they have and the sole distance focus? In my mind, they have some tradition building left to do, and in reality, should be going toe to toe with the top 4 here in track every year to move up. German's shoe is weighing in my mind against their rank.

HM (In no particular order):

Arizona - Limited tradition and limited depth, but the ability of Li to recruit Africans better than anyone else probably puts him in front of my honorable mentions at this point. If he can fill out his team with guys like the ones he has now, it could be a UTEPesque team that drubs the rest of the NCAA in the future.

Iona - Didn't make the top 5 due to the lack of numbers putting up on the track, but a great program and great XC team.

BYU - Miles Batty brought it last week, but this isn't a top 5 program, even with the bonus years afforded its runners.

Duke - Needs a couple studs to garner some publicity to propel this very good squad to household name.

Portland - Need to get more out of what they have considering they're an XC only program, but obviously a perennial power

William & Mary - Flashes of brilliance in XC and in the Cali track meets, but they aren't consistent enough or generate enough press to be higher.

Others that are solid: 'Bama, FSU, Syracuse, Arkansas, NM, Colorado, NAU

USC has more Olympics/Wc golds than UCLA. But UCLA has the most NCAA team champs. Congrats to Cal for winning another team champ this weekend.

Toshihiko Seko went to USC and won 9 major marathons which makes him the greatest marathoner who has ever in history.

Lafayette College. They made this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f25Jkz8Qzd8

OlderGentleman wrote:

Lafayette College. They made this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f25Jkz8Qzd8

I literally LOVE you for posting this.

As a side note... Lafayette rescheduled our dual meet with them for the day Wiz Khalifa comes to Lehigh. Good god.

Perennials expanded:

Stanford - has history from late 90s early 2000s, currently top notch talent, and potential, just needs to put it together

Wisconsin - probably has the most tradition young runners have never heard of - 3 xc titles in the 80s (Look up Steve Lacy and Tim Hacker) Plus the whole Schumacher years. New Coach Byrne still keeping Wisc at top

Oregon - Has the most history and the most fans so they get the most attention and hype. There team has only been good the last 5 years after a while of mediocrity. Lananna doing great job and gonna keep it going

Colorado - Good since Wetmore got there in the mid 90s. Known over achieving at NCAA XC, also for doing more with less talent (not really true though)

Arkansas - Was the powerhouse of xc and track and field for 20 years. But after John Mcdonnell retired a fews ago they are going down hill. Soon will lose their perennial status.

Honorable Mention

Iona

NAU

Syracuse (only last two years, but will continue to improve)

Indiana (also only recently)

NC State

Alabama ( AKA the Kenyan team)

Oklahoma State ( will replace Arkansas as a perennial)

The top college programs are those with student-athletes and alums who have won the most Olympics medals and IAAF Outdoor Worlds medals, and Major Road Races placers. Wins at international competitions such as WIC, Fukuoka Marathon, WXC, Diamond League, Berlin Marathon, and World team members add to the reputation of the programs. UCLA and USC are arguably the number one or number two college programs in the USA. UT Austin is number three, followed by Stanford, Cal Poly, California, ...

Doesn't CU have the most olympians?

SC and UCLA had the best D-1 programs about 20 or 30 years ago. That was before current collegians were born, so they really don't get any'spect from here. SC, especially did well when they could get a lot of PED drugs from the street. Are they a player today? Not hardly. Stanford, Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida St are the powers and the cool teams.

L.A. has been the undisputed Track and Field Capitol of the World for 100 years it seems. The sun, surf, beaches, all year great weather. The achievements of UCLA and USC sprinters and hurdlers mark the times of our lives. Two Olympics have been held in L.A. both hosted by USC. The Los Angeles mayor, a UCLA track man, brought businesses together to invent the world's first global TV sports extravaganza, the 1984 Summer Olympics. The format saved the Modern Olympics and serves today as the model for IAAF Worlds and hundreds of other international sporting events.

Colorado is about done till Wetmore retires, Wetmore's shackup honey is screwing things up.

The best TOTAL overall programs, Florida, Oregon, Texas A&M, Arkansas, and LSU. I know that wasnt the question, but thought I would throw that in there. All of these schools do have some pretty darn good distance coaches.

Do not sleep on the SEC schools

There are some schools that have good XC programs,,, but what happens come outdoor? Not a damn thing.