I know this is a loaded question, not easily answered. Because we all have varied experience on this, I wanted to get a more well round answer for the kids (and mostly their parents) I work with. If you were going to give some target times for the DI, DII, DIII levels to a 8th grade/freshman male distance runner what would they be? I would appreciate any help, thanks.
That's a pretty broad question and pretty far in advance relative to when colleges start looking at runners, especially males who have the tendency to develop slower.
That being said I can tell you my experiences.
When I was a freshman in hs I ran 2:01/2 for the 800, 4:45 for the 1600, 10:05(?) for the 3200, and was strong in XC. I went to a DI school on scholarship, but it needs to be noted that I also ran a 4:18 1600 and 15:11 for a 5k xc (so take it with a grain of salt) my senior year. 4:19 1600 and 9:23 for the 3200 my junior year. In essence, between freshman and senior year a lot can happen/change.
Quite frankly I wouldn't give any target times to freshman regarding college scholarship times (current goal times are way different) because at that time they mean almost nothing. There might be a slight trend among the significantly faster times going to college on scholarship but that doesn't take into account other sports/burnout/too much mileage/etc. I know guys than could run a 4:30 1600 as a sophomore only to never come close to that time again and basically fizzle out in his senior year. I also know guys who could barely break 5:10 in a 1600 or 11 flat in a 3200 only to run 4:25 and 9:14 his senior year.
Furthermore, it depends on the school as well as the level (DI,etc). Some schools focus on 800 runners, some xc guys, some look for long-term potential, some look for those who can come in and immediately score.
Basically there is no good answer. Just tell the kids to run and enjoy it and tell the parents to back off and just let things be, after all they're only 13-14 years old.
If you can run about 40 seconds in the 400, 1:30 in the 800 and 3:20 in the mile, you will have not only a scholarship, well, you'll be able to go anywhere you want. Dream big.
Thanks. I tend to agree. I like to wait for the athletes to come to me and to wanting to set targets; then we develop those targets based on communication with coaches and schools they are interested in.
Timing is part of it too. One year I asked a coach what my athlete would have to run in the 2 mile to get into his highly competitive school and he said "he needs to jump 6'10 in the high jump." Other times I have seen 4:20 milers get big money in April because the coach didn't get many distance recruits and he felt the kid had potential.
I don't think there are set times to shoot for. So much depends on what the program needs that year, the level of competition in the conference and the coach's gut feeling how he thinks the recruit will develop. A 4:25 miler who only started running his junior year from a school with no previous distance success who is running 25 miles a week will probably get more money from a kid doing 70 miles a week who has run for 6 years and has run a 4:17.
My buddy got a full-ride to a top 15 NCAA D1 XC school with 4:10 1600m, 9:01 3200m, 14:57 track 5k. I'd say that if you ran 1:53, 4:16, 9:07, 15:05 as a junior, you would get a scholarship to a decent school. Anybody know what kind of times for a steeplechase would get a scholarship? 9:20ish??
Don't forget about NAIA. They have better competition than DIII but can also offer athletic scholarship.
A lot of scholarship is more than just PRs. Being charismatic is huge because it makes the coach want you. Plus, if you have been a captain, the coach can see leadership potential.
But, since times do matter, sub 10 in the 3200 can get you some money in NAIA, DII, or DIII as well as sub 4:40, sub 2:02
Hello I’m a junior at Redlands High School California and I never run so today I decided to actually run the mile and I got a 4:50 I really felt like it wasn’t my best what can you say and if I should join the track team my number :9096455026
That's a pretty broad question and pretty far in advance relative to when colleges start looking at runners, especially males who have the tendency to develop slower.
That being said I can tell you my experiences.
When I was a freshman in hs I ran 2:01/2 for the 800, 4:45 for the 1600, 10:05(?) for the 3200, and was strong in XC. I went to a DI school on scholarship, but it needs to be noted that I also ran a 4:18 1600 and 15:11 for a 5k xc (so take it with a grain of salt) my senior year. 4:19 1600 and 9:23 for the 3200 my junior year. In essence, between freshman and senior year a lot can happen/change.
Quite frankly I wouldn't give any target times to freshman regarding college scholarship times (current goal times are way different) because at that time they mean almost nothing. There might be a slight trend among the significantly faster times going to college on scholarship but that doesn't take into account other sports/burnout/too much mileage/etc. I know guys than could run a 4:30 1600 as a sophomore only to never come close to that time again and basically fizzle out in his senior year. I also know guys who could barely break 5:10 in a 1600 or 11 flat in a 3200 only to run 4:25 and 9:14 his senior year.
Furthermore, it depends on the school as well as the level (DI,etc). Some schools focus on 800 runners, some xc guys, some look for long-term potential, some look for those who can come in and immediately score.
Basically there is no good answer. Just tell the kids to run and enjoy it and tell the parents to back off and just let things be, after all they're only 13-14 years old.
Many of the anecdotal stories I see on LR are hard to believe. 11:00 as a freshman is really slow but you claim that such a runner improved to 9:11. When I was in HS, all of the top guys in the 2-mile ran 10:00 or faster as freshman.
It really depends on the school and division level. A lot of schools prioritize distance so there are more scholarships there, but some schools might have very little money in distance. Most D1 schools are around 4:25/9:30 to get on the team. If you run sub 4:20/9:20, you could probably get some money at a mid-major. 4:10/9:00 guys will almost always get a lot of money. If you want to go D2, those 4:25/9:30 times to walk on to a D1 school could turn into getting money at a D2. There’s really no set number, especially when you consider that there are NAIA schools and some really bad D2s that could throw money at pretty much anyone decent.
That's a pretty broad question and pretty far in advance relative to when colleges start looking at runners, especially males who have the tendency to develop slower.
That being said I can tell you my experiences.
When I was a freshman in hs I ran 2:01/2 for the 800, 4:45 for the 1600, 10:05(?) for the 3200, and was strong in XC. I went to a DI school on scholarship, but it needs to be noted that I also ran a 4:18 1600 and 15:11 for a 5k xc (so take it with a grain of salt) my senior year. 4:19 1600 and 9:23 for the 3200 my junior year. In essence, between freshman and senior year a lot can happen/change.
Quite frankly I wouldn't give any target times to freshman regarding college scholarship times (current goal times are way different) because at that time they mean almost nothing. There might be a slight trend among the significantly faster times going to college on scholarship but that doesn't take into account other sports/burnout/too much mileage/etc. I know guys than could run a 4:30 1600 as a sophomore only to never come close to that time again and basically fizzle out in his senior year. I also know guys who could barely break 5:10 in a 1600 or 11 flat in a 3200 only to run 4:25 and 9:14 his senior year.
Furthermore, it depends on the school as well as the level (DI,etc). Some schools focus on 800 runners, some xc guys, some look for long-term potential, some look for those who can come in and immediately score.
Basically there is no good answer. Just tell the kids to run and enjoy it and tell the parents to back off and just let things be, after all they're only 13-14 years old.
Many of the anecdotal stories I see on LR are hard to believe. 11:00 as a freshman is really slow but you claim that such a runner improved to 9:11. When I was in HS, all of the top guys in the 2-mile ran 10:00 or faster as freshman.
Ohio High School great Scott Fry ran 10:45 as a freshman PR and then got down to 8:48 and multi-time national champion by the time he was a senior, and he even ran 9:06 as a junior.