So my friend is a sophomore and tested out of high school. He'll be attending college this Summer, and tells me he won't be running because he's only 16 and doesn't believe he's allowed to. He hasn't verified, so I wanted to ask you guys if this is true? He'll be at a JC if that changes anything.
Just have him tell them he is from Kenya, doesn't have a birth certificate, and that he is 19, oh, wait...
A 16-year-old can certainly run in college. His/her parents will probably have to sign a consent slip, however.
In any case, I don't think colleges (JCs or four-year) have summer competition--you said he's attending this summer, right?
his parents have to sign consent forms for a bunch of stuff but he can certainly do it.
Is he fast enough as a 16 year old to make the team though?
I don't think there is a minimum age to compete in the NCAA, I'm not up on the JC rules. A prospect would need to have met the standards for the number of core courses completed in high school to be classified as a full qualifier (eligible for varsity intercollegiate competition and athletic based financial aid), which could potentially trip up someone who took an accelerated path through high school.
In my 12 years coaching I've had a number of 17 year olds run on our team. About the only difference we deal with is their parents have to sign the NCAA compliance forms.
Amobi Okoye played DI football for Louisville in 2003 when he was 16.
We had two 17 year old freshman one year, and they could run, but they had to get their legal guardians to sign all the paperwork. I don't see a reason why being 1 year younger should make a difference.
My kid graduated high school by 16 and then was able to run freshman year in college. I had to sign the forms along with them but other than that they were treated no different. There was I believe a blanket consent form so that they could use medical etc without me there.