This is why Dlll does not count

D11 Rocks baby!

This debate does not make sense to me. Very few collegiate XC athletes advance to the pro rankings and very few XC programs generate any significant $ for their colleges. For > 99% of XC athletes then the purpose of running in college should be to have a meaningful experience developing athletic skill and personal character. For many athletes D3 is a better option for this development. Why knock those xc programs that do a pretty damn good job at this? Ignorance perhaps?

The OP was about a basketball player scoring crazy points, then a post about football player rushing for a zillion yards, who said anything about XC? This is Letsrun.com everyone, Let them run, enjoy and compete at all levels! ENOUGH!

As a high school State Champion (NJ, if you care) and DIII All-American, I just don't think it's worth getting upset when faceless internet folks call it Baby Nationals. I wouldn't have been a DI All-American and, more than likely, they wouldn't have been either.

All of the real DI All-American's I've met are too fast, too nice, and too classy to rag on us slow kids. Don't feed the trolls.

I ran at a DI school with a 1:55 800m PR.

Reallynowpeople wrote:

Division two and three are schools have sports so inferior athletes can play.

Division two and three are schools have sports so inferior athletes can play.

*** I thought that D2 & D3 have sports so inferior parents whose children have poor genetics can say that their children played college sports!

Division I (or DI) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States. "D-1" schools are the major collegiate athletic powers, with larger budgets, more elaborate facilities, and higher numbers of athletic scholarships

Division II (or DII) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. It offers an alternative to both the highly competitive (and highly expensive) level of intercollegiate sports offered in NCAA Division I and the non-scholarship, less competitive level of competition offered in Division III.

Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States. The division consists of colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletically related financial aid (i.e. athletic scholarships) to their student-athletes. There are over 420 member institutions, making DIII the largest of the three divisions sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The level of play is good, though (generally) not as high of quality as NCAA Division I (fully scholarshipped) and NCAA Division II (some athletic scholarships).

As usual the LetsRun boards are keeping it classy.

I am a former Division 1 scholarship athlete from one of the very best academic schools to offer athletic scholarships.

Most of my long ago athletic peers are teachers, coaches, athletic company representatives and the like. I think the hard core Division 1 experience for the most part worked out well for them. My career and academic interests diverged significantly from theirs, and I have a somewhat negative view of Division 1 athletics and its quasi-professional status.

All Division 1 athletics really did for me (and my brother, another Division 1 scholarship athlete) was extend my adolescence and delay my entry into a very intellectually challenging professional career which I both enjoy and has been prosperous. OK, perhaps not a big deal, but a Division III experience would have been far more sensible than a Division 1 one was.

My brother and I have some regret over Division 1 athletics, if only because the time and energy invested didn't make any sense in light of our life and development goals.

I recognize that not everyone can matriculate at a top 10 graduate school and do exceedingly well, which, by luck or otherwise, was the case for me. But to denigrate Division III athletics is preposterous. It would have been a very good experience for both me and my brother, especially given the quality of schools we could have attended.

I also understand the perspective of the Euros who post here, and who think all of college athletic back and forth is silly.

To an extent that's got some merit. On the other hand many parents do not want the student athlete to attend a DIII school simply because it is just that DIII. My son went to Northwestern vs My kid went to any DIII school mentality.

Belieber wrote:

I'm choosing D3 over D1 with a 4:19/1:56

You sir are an idiot... One when you go out in the world where jobs and bills exist I can promise you that a bigger named school will open more doors than a D3 school. I am 27 and I was once in your shoes. Being a 4:20 kid walked on at a D1 and found a job right away because of where I went to school. RUNNING DOESN'T LAST FOREVER.

Also keep in mind that you will be traveling to crappy meets in vans wearing unifoms some other guy wore 3 years ago where as at a D1 you take those vans to the airport, stay 2 people in a hotel room instead of 4 and get a bunch of free gear that you get to keep instead of turn in at the end of the year.

IF YOU CAN D1 THEN DO IT!

Learn how to manage your time better then bro. Athletics at a D1 school did a lot of great things for me. Sure did I spend a lot of time focusing on running and I thought "I will never not be running when I get older" but that is apart of being in your adolescents. I Redshirted indoors freshman year, outdoor Jr year, and XC sr year so I had one full year left when I started Graduate School. I have been out of Grad school for 2 years next month and I already making 80k a year (working 60 hours a week for it lol). Athletics at a D1 school did nothing but open up doors for me in the long run of life. I know that when my company interviews people they are more likely to take a graduate from a larger named school because of an affiliation to that school rather than some small D3 school in some small backwoods town that no one has heard of. Sorry that you couldn't grow as an adolescent but that is what going to college is all about. We have our entire lives to be jaded by the world and paying bills and crap. You only have 4 or 5 years to actually be a kid without a care in the world, find beer to drink, girls to chase after, and late nights with buddies. But when that is all over the world will strike you in the throat. I wouldn't have changed a thing about my education and the degrees that hang in my office.

Athletes sacrifice their entire life to make it to the top? Sacrifice? Like working out 2 hours a day and/or watching video and practicing for another 2 or 3? Oh my, 5 hours of hard work. Try working a true 8-10 hours a day and THEN working out....oh wait, that is what the majority of the world does. I suppose you would then say that the athletes have to go study; I am a college professor and I can tell you that the athletes at the D-I institution I teach at are nearly the worst students in the whole school...save the cross country team. I see it everyday.

You want sacrifice? Try competing at a D-3 school (no scholarship) and THEN working so you can pay the bills. Wait...again...isn't that what most of the known world has to do outside those blessed few competing at a D-1 level?

Finally, physical sacrifice in terms of working out is generally a pleasure and not much of a sacrifice for those who do it on a regular basis. Mental sacrifice (i.e., studying) is incredibly difficult; hence, why so few are unwilling to attempt to become doctors/scientists and why athletes are big/fast/strong, but far less-intelligent than the average student. Have you ever been around a med/doctoral student? THEY...have no lives...and I am pretty sure they make a far greater impact than sports considering they have the skill to save your life when you can likely barely put on your own band-aid.

Btw...I was a 3-sport athlete in undergrad, so I am pretty sure I have a perspective that most writing on this board have no clue about. College athletics are an opportunity and a privilege...not a right.

gumpydude4 wrote:

To an extent that's got some merit. On the other hand many parents do not want the student athlete to attend a DIII school simply because it is just that DIII. My son went to Northwestern vs My kid went to any DIII school mentality.

My son went to Alabama vs. my son went to MIT...

Reallynowpeople wrote:

Division two and three are schools have sports so inferior athletes can play.

Grinnell is pretty good academically. Some people go to college to play sports or for social life, some go for an education.

In my pick up league, he would be called a "ball hog" or "gunner". more than likely, some grunt would close line him out of anger.

Sort of like getting beaned in baseball for acting too much on a HR

Flagpole wrote:

LOTS of kids run Division I that would not make the varsity team at my daughter's high school.

Another Flaggy gem.

However, I might give it to you based on the 50 women XC squads composed of basketball players for some odd ball Title IX compliance reason.

Now if you are talking about women on scholarship recruited to run, then I call BS.

get a clue brah wrote:

The OP, while most likely trolling, also simply is unfamiliar with Grinell Basketball and their system. Since this is a running board, I will let it go. 109 points is nothing for Grinell players, in fact last year or the year before they had a guy score over 130 pts. ...

It's the same guy.

Americans - get over yourself wrote:

The rest of the civilized world laughs at how seriously American colleges take themselves. Really, no-one gives a crap about Western Buttfvck State Community College making it to the Northeastern Central Kentucky Division 12 (West) pingpong quarter finals.

F U guy. I care.