Possible to run d1 with garbage track times?

not going to happen, I barely walked onto a d2 program with a 16:16.

CollegeBound wrote:

Heres the deal-io: (current junior)

i love xc. i cant get enough of the season. Favorite time of year. I train hard over the summer, work hard during the season, and am running around 16:30 (freshman/sophomore times ~17:00). But im garbage at track. I didnt even letter my freshman or sophomore year. Im running 4:50 mile, and 2:10 800, and 10:30 3200. And i doubt it will be getting any better this year.

im fairly smart, have an unweighted 4.0, etc. Do you think that it would be possible to walk on to a d1 school with a 16:30 5k? or do i need to train for track? i just hate track and would rather not train for it, and only for xc.

Check out Tennessee Tech.

Look for a school with a XC team but no track team. I know of at least one that has a women's XC team and no women's track. I have no idea if any exist for men. Do you have a specific D1 school in mind?

Why run track if you hate it? Why try for D1 school if you are too slow for a competive D1 school with great program. Lookup walk on times for some D1 schools. They are listed elsewhere in the forum. Why not NAIA or DIII?

You are a junior now. You can contact coaches yourself now and ask your questions. So send out the e-mail now.

Another option would be to look up the high school times of a team's current members and see if any ran the same times as you.

yeah thats a pretty good 5k time for a girl, i bet some d3 would let you walk on. I am a girl and I ran 16 flat and got rejected, but taht was for the mile..

You could walk on to a shit d1 program, or you could always join a XC club team that many d1 programs have. It sounds like you'd be a 5k/10k guy anyway that would move on to marathon post-collegiate. I think your best bet would be d2, or a d1 club team though.

It really depends on the school. My college would let you hang around, but the coaches didn't actually speak to you on a regular basis. Many D1 schools have clubs that they have you run on until you either get faster or give up.

The thing to think about is in order to run competitively in the 5k or 10k or even marathon, you need to get faster. Now is the time to do that, aerobic development will continue to happen but if you just ignore speed your entire junior and senior track seasons, you will have given up something YOU REALLY NEED.

Many guys finish up their maturation during their junior or senior years and all of a sudden, they aren't really slow anymore.

There are plenty of very very bad D1 programs who will let you walk on with those times. I'm familiar with NC. I'm sure most states in America have a few schools on the low end who need to fill out their rosters.

I've sent athletes to UNCW, UNCG, ECU, Western Carolina, UNC-Charlotte all D1 schools with times around your cross country times in the last decade to walk on.

I've even sent 16:30 kids to schools like Appalachian State who got to try out and made the team but they worked their butts off over the summer for that chance. 16:30 want get you recruited there but they might let you try out.

You are correct your track times might make them rethink letting you walk on. If you get down to 4:40 and 10 flat you can almost guarantee you will be able to walk on to some D1 school if you look around.

Many low end D1 schools will take a 16:30 athlete to round out their roster but if you don't improve they will cut you and fill that spot again with someone else the next year.

The best way to find a school that will take a 16:30 guy is to look at the XC regional results and either look for teams that didn't send a team to regionals or a team that finished in the bottom 5. Those teams will jump on 16:30 athletes as long as they feel the athlete can handle the academics.

Lots of good advice so far. You can definitely run at *some* D1 schools, but not a lot.

If your goal is to run in college, though, stop thinking track sucks. Finish out this cross season, take a short break, and get in a serious winter of base mileage. Hit your junior year track season hard. You have nothing to lose, and if you actually think about it in a different way, you just might surprise yourself with how much you like it. Sub 4:40 and sub 10 are totally doable for you, and as others said, that opens up a ton of possibilities as far as schools you could try to run for.

You can only run at a garbage school with a garbage program with garbage track times.

Maybe you can walk on and hope that you get decent coaching and you improve greatly.

You have two more track seasons to get better. Go into them full bore, and really work on taking those times down.

Like others have said, lots of guys go through an additional growth spurt/ physical maturation around their Jr>Sr year and get stronger and faster.

Also, I was one of those slow footed distance runners that LOVED cross country but just kinda survived in track, I tolerated it but never really got seriously into track the way I did XC. If you are looking to run in college that is completely backwards- it's all about track times.

CollegeBound wrote:

Heres the deal-io: (current junior)

i love xc. i cant get enough of the season. Favorite time of year. I train hard over the summer, work hard during the season, and am running around 16:30 (freshman/sophomore times ~17:00). But im garbage at track. I didnt even letter my freshman or sophomore year. Im running 4:50 mile, and 2:10 800, and 10:30 3200. And i doubt it will be getting any better this year.

im fairly smart, have an unweighted 4.0, etc. Do you think that it would be possible to walk on to a d1 school with a 16:30 5k? or do i need to train for track? i just hate track and would rather not train for it, and only for xc.

Those are right around my son's times from this year as a high school senior and he will walk on and run with a D1 program next year. Just find a program that has a large team and accepts lots of walk-ons. There are many out there.

Easily. Look at the Patriot League. You can walk onto a bunch of those teams with your strong academics - assuming at least a decent SAT. On the plus side, when you graduate you will get a good job as opposed to the Oregon grads who put all their eggs in a running basket e.g. AJ Acosta

But to clarify...most if not all D1 programs require you to run winter and spring track.

Nope and Noper.

Actually, xc times won't matter or help you here.

Unless you're sub 15:20 @ xc, track times are the only times they care about. (Too much variations on xc courses to give credence to times, until 15:20. -----Fast is fast.)

Go d3 for fun xc experience and choose a good school for academics/future. D1 will not give you the feel good experience you currently have.

I'm sure you could find a really crappy school somewhere, but its barely worth it. Go JC or D2 and work on improving and enjoy running, some D2 programs don't have track and you would fit in perfectly.

Not gonna happen in D1 without good track times, 9:30 or faster for 3200m.

Look at D3.

Most D1 coaches don't care about xc times, it's about what place you get at your state meet, nxn, footlocker regionals, and so on.

However, If you do get top 20 at footlocker regionals with bad track times, then some coaches might let you walk on, provided youve already been accepted to the school.

Not gonna happen in D1 without good track times, 9:30 or faster for 3200m.

Look at D3.

Most D1 coaches don't care about xc times, it's about what place you get at your state meet, nxn, footlocker regionals, and so on.

However, If you do get top 20 at footlocker regionals with bad track times, then some coaches might let you walk on, provided youve already been accepted to the school.

What program/conference? Those times won't even get you on the top 5 of a middle to upper tier D3 team.

Thanks all for the advice. Im looking into it, and d2 doesnt seem like a bad option. Maybe il give track a shot and go for a 9:30 3200 (i think i can do it). or maybe il start running milage this winter for track since ive never done more than 35 or 40 per week lol.

i do think a 9:30 is possible if i actually train