Does anyone know much about the University of Portland? What sorts of times are expected, the philosophy of the program, the feel of the school itself?
Does anyone know much about the University of Portland? What sorts of times are expected, the philosophy of the program, the feel of the school itself?
Good times had by all.
Email the coaches, introduce yourself and tell them you are interested and ask expected times for walk-ons to try out and also their times to be considered for athletic scholarship. They'll have an answer immediately for you. Also look up their results from this past year to get an idea of what their current runners are doing. They've had some decent athletes there.
As far as the school itself, it is a small Catholic University so that will strongly influence the feel. Every student there is seeking out that type of school, so don't expect it to be a party school, which is a good fit for some, not for others. Academics there are also more small classroom type of course, which some will enjoy and some will not.
Consider the degree you want and how this school fits with that degree and job you want posy graduation.
Look at if you will get academic or athletic money to go there.
If you are still interested after those considerations, ask for a team visit the fall of your senior year. Meet the current team members, see where they are staying, eat the dorm food, then decide if those things fit with you.
Consider all of the above for every school you are interested in, then make the right decision for you. You may find there are multiple "right" choices for you, which may feel stressful since it feels like it is a big decision, but really that is a good thing.
Good luck.
Is Reid Buchanan representative of the type of person on the team? I am sure most kids are looking to avoid clowns.
Visited there with some other runners from our team a few years back. Volume-Lydiard type program. They don't typically expect a lot of contribution from freshman or even sophomores because they are building up. So it's the 3rd, 4th, 5th year runners that are making the mark.
They emphasized the concept of student athletes, not just there for the running.
They have a good program but had to cut half the team later that year. They had their top group plus another 20 or so walk-ons, some pretty good runners among them, but the athletic dept told them they had to go. Probably something to do with campus/NCAA politics or money.
Thanks for the replies!