wjbarricklow wrote:
My son's in his senior year of high school here in FL, partway through the XC season.
His PR right now on the 5K is 16:03 and improving.
His junior track times last year were 1600- 4:39, 3200- 9:47
His track times aren't all that great, he's more of a long distance runner.
Mom is pushing him to look at colleges, pushing him to look for scholarships. I think she wants him to get a free ride. Is anything like that even possible with those times? I can see him qualifying on a division 2 cross country team.
But a scholarship, even on a division 3 team? I thought you had to be outrageously fast to get a scholarship. Am I too pessimistic?
A couple of thoughts:
1. No. You should not assume your son's going to get a scholarship with those times. At least not to D1 schools. I don't know enough about D2. D3 doesn't offer scholarships.
2. If he wants to run D1 in college, my advice is (a) pick the school based on non-running criteria then (b) work to continue to improve as a HS Sr. If he can get to sub 4:20 or 9:20, he could walk on most (not all) D1 programs.
3. If he does make it to walk on status, it's my understanding that, as he develops, he might get some $. If for example he's scoring points at the conference championship, he might get $. If he's just on the team, but not helping the team score points, then don't expect $.
4. If he absolutely must run for his college, go D3. He'd be a great fit with those times. The top D3 programs are legit. And there are some great academic options (MIT, Williams, etc.) He'll have great competition and probably a lot of fun!