Running for a college starting sophomore year

High school XC runner wrote:

I've dreamed of running for a D1 XC team ever since I started running, but as a high school junior, I haven't really produced the times good enough for that dream. I think I have talent, but once I finish growing fully and working hard through my freshman year of college, I think I can make some big improvements. Is there any rule that prohibits people from joining a team their sophomore year?

Nope. But most coaches have pretty tough walk on standards especially for nonfreshman. But you are 18 months away from worry about this. Train hard for the next 18 months and see what happens.

Pick a school where you will have a good academic experience and fit in your plans to walk-on the team after that. Even if you make the team as a walk-on, you may find a conflict wit schoolwork and practices, travel, etc. Generally D1 has the biggest time commitment for athletics, then D2, D3.

The odds are your dream will become a nightmare. If you enjoy running 65+ miles a week, no scholarship money or very little and for that - you get - redshirt your freshmen year and you can hold a clipboard at mile 3 yelling out to your teammates, year #2, you are on the team running 70+ miles as you are allowed to run 2 races in the fall, the two closest races to campus or maybe the race they do not send the top 10 runners to. Year 3, you are not involved in running and you are a member of a fraternity on campus.

Look at a D2, D3 or NAIA school. You will get as good or better education, a better scholarship, be a valuable member of the team from day 1, run all the races etc.

Like us D2 athletes don't even work. We commit ourselves and are training just as much. The only difference is we aren't getting all the special treatments.

Steve K---- wrote:

Like us D2 athletes don't even work. We commit ourselves and are training just as much. The only difference is we aren't getting all the special treatments.

D2 means you weren't fast enough in HS. It doesn't mean that you're not good enough to run D1 in college.

Steve K---- wrote:

Like us D2 athletes don't even work. We commit ourselves and are training just as much. The only difference is we aren't getting all the special treatments.

The special treatments? Only a handful of d1 schools have "special treatments."

Some d2 schools give more money than d1 schools to the track/xc team as a result of differences from football.

There's no rule against walking on a D1 team as a College Soph.

I agree with the advice from others. Pick the college with the best academic fit, then go from there.

It's very possible to have a mediocre (meaning not good enough to get recruited) Junior year in HS, walk on a D1 team and do very well. It happens pretty frequently, but two things have to happen:

1. You have to have some good performances just to walk on (4:20 / 9:20 in 1600 / 3200).

2. You have to improve from there if you want to actually participate.

Example: I know a kid that ran 9:50 for 3200 as a Jr, then 9:20 as a Sr. That 9:20 allowed him to walk on a D1 team. He's now a sub 8:20 3K guy (translates to about 8:55 3200) as a College Soph.

If these times seem out of reach, your academics are strong and your parents can afford it, I'd definitely recommend looking at better academic D3 colleges like Williams, Haverford, etc.