I have a son who is now a sophomore in high school, and he is starting to think about colleges. He is a very good student … not “top of the class” good, but pretty bright and he’ll have 7 AP courses under his belt before college. Academic considerations will be at the forefront for him when selecting a college, but he is talking about wanting to run at college as well.
What I’d like help on is thinking through what level might be right for him – D3 or D1. He ran 10:45 for the 3200m as a freshman and 4:55 for the 1600m. As a sophomore he has improved – to 10:02 and 4:42.
I know a lot of this depends on how he improves over the next year and a half. I suspect he’ll get to the 9:30 – 9:40 range, give or take.
I know that is good enough to be a meaningful contributor on most D3 teams – right away for weaker programs and within a couple of years for the better program.
My question is more about D1. It seems to me he is probably not quite talented enough to try for a top program – the ones that make it to XC nationals or come close to making it most years. But, what do you think the experience would be like for him at more of a mid-tier D1 program? I suspect he’d be good enough to do it and fill out a roster, but he’d need to have quite a bit of dedication or improvement to be sniffing at the varsity. I just want to help him by making sure his expectations are realistic.
So, to those of you who ran 9:30 in high school … if you had to do it again, would you go D3 or D1? Is it worth it to go D1 at that sort of talent level?
Thanks!