DIII runners: Any regrets about not running DI?

DIII here and after a year or two of development could have walked on to a mid major or bottom half major U and run some but it would have been a stretch. I just wish I'd had a better program and team atmosphere, regardless of division. Our team was kind of cutthroat and the coaching was sub par for the most part. At one point I did want to transfer and walk on at a bigger school but parents advised against it because I was going to a fairly good school academically. Now rojo wouldn't be impressed because it was not Ivy but it is consistently top 10-20 in the country for small colleges.

Went D1 and I'm glad I did it because I got so much more out of myself training-wise than I would have had if I had gone to a smaller school. While our training program did suck and my coach was terrible in retrospect (he stepped down my junior year), the guys I had to run with every day were indeed top-tier, competitive, role models, and pushed me to be better. My first real training was absolute sufferfest but it really did set the tone of what it took to compete at the highest level.

I was also an arrogant SOB at the time, and getting crushed in practice was a good wakeup call. It also taught me a lot about how scholarship athletes are the coaches favorites, and you need to work so much harder as a walk-on to earn your keep. It wasn't fair, but neither is life in general.

The school I also chose was based on how much I also like my department head, as well as most people across the country knew of my school. It was an all-around win for me.

I don't think Leer was even all that much of a talent coming into college, so I think the D3 completion was just fine for him, at least at first.

Symmonds had an incredible Pro career, and probably enjoyed they relaxed racing schedule. Dude never ran indoor in college, and didn't much as a pro.

I'm the opposite too. I think I would have had a much more enjoyable experience at a DIII school. I had a lot of friends that went to DIII schools and whenever I visited, it seemed like they had much more relaxed, enjoyable schedules. I went to a D1 Ivy and right off the bat, you felt this aura of expectation and pressure to perform. The whole "faster times qualify you for faster meets" mentality was drilled into our heads and even normal training runs started to become less and less enjoyable. It felt like we weren't building towards anything and that there were these huge expectations right away. Of course, many of us ran very well in highschool, but it is ridiculous to expect that every single athlete will respond to a collegiate program right away. Those that did respond well ending up soaking up all the attention from the coaches and even former HS stars would fade away in obscurity/end up getting injured.

I think that at a DIII program I would have been more focused on the process and would have understood better about setting manageable goals. I would have enjoyed training and racing more because I knew I wasn't going to be shunned by my coaches who, at a D1 program, expect you to qualify for X and Y right away. Also, when things go bad in one area, they tend to bleed into another and when training/racing was poor, quality of life outside of training was pretty bad too. You just felt miserable all the time if you had teammates that were kicking ass and you weren't responding to the training. I think a more gradual program with less pressure to qualify etc. would have been a great catalyst for future goals. Not to mention, I think I would have had a better social "college experience" at a DIII school. I mean, I would have still trained hard etc., but without the pressure to achieve X and Y all the time, I think I would have had more time to go to parties, attend social events that were not running related etc....You know, really "get" the college experience. Sure, we had parties here and there, but everyone was always so literal with training regimes (only to end up hurt or exhausted) that almost no one ever wanted to go out or enjoy things. I had a decent college experience and made a lot of friends (and I still run for a club team), but I think I would have had a better experience at a DIII school. Plus, most people continue to run at those schools because they like to and not because they are being paid (scholarship etc) to.

I am currently a DIII Freshman who just finished my first XC season. I decided in the spring not to pursue DI scholarships that would have been available for me mainly for one reason not related to running-Spirituality. I am a very devout Catholic and I attend a very Catholic school and I feel I have made the right decision for my running, even though the program is not very strong here.

When deciding to make the pick between DI and DIII, I really thought it over and talked to people who had to make this decision. I found that it doesn't matter what program you attend, but that your success is dependent on if you trust the coaching staff, the training (while also working to maybe add/subtract training), and you can push yourself when no one is looking or says you should give up (even your own head) and make the opportunities that will allow you to excel in the sport, you can succeed as well at a DI school or even more than your high school competitors who attend DI schools.

I always look to Nick Symmonds as an example for this, and I do not regret my decision to attend a DIII school.

With the caveat that of course every school is different, I think one of the biggest problems with D1 is that so many coaches have the attitude that their athletes are lazy or weak and need to be pushed to train harder and longer. Most D1 athletes don't feel that they have the option to pull the plug on a workout that's going badly--that's a decision for the coach to make. While it's certainly true that some athletes have gotten by on talent and need to be pushed to commit fully, most serious runners have all the motivation they need. Or perhaps a more cynical take is that the coaches KNOW they're pushing their athletes too hard, but they also know they have athletes to spare, and they're hoping that the ones that survive will be the stronger for it.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily a regret but I wish I could've gotten into some faster races. Our program didn't have the budget to get out to the big Track/XC meets. I went to a top distance running DIII school with okay academics. I supplemented the lack of name recognition by taking on a lot of internships and other work during the school year so I was fine when I graduated, but all of that extra work definitely took away from running.

I felt kinda stuck in the 14:30/30:30 range during the last two years of my career. Faster races are hard to come by in our location and especially so when you have a large roster (as most DIII teams do) and can't afford to travel. I know a lot of my teammates who ran the same times felt stuck as well. Outside of Nationals, we had maybe one or two XC & Track races where we had the opportunity to run against deep competition. It's just not as much fun when you're racing your teammates every week just to get a nationals qualifier.

Overall, it's a toss up for me. I spent a large part of my career being injured or coming back from injury so I can't really say for certain if DI would've been a better option.

I've got to say I've been pretty happy with the DIII experience. I was a 9:2x and 4:2x runner coming out of high school, but I also was pretty injury prone. At my school my coach has been super helpful getting me in the pool to aquajog, building miles cautiously, and letting me develop. Like what other guys have said, I feel I could have walked on at a lot of D1 schools, but I don't know that the coaches would have been so forgiving, I might have got injured/cut/burned out. Also, it's nice to have success, able to run and nationals and get some respectable PRs. I know even if I went D1 and had a miracle four years of health, I still probably wasn't going to get to the top level. I've had good enough competition here for most of the time. I do hate the D1 guys who think they're hot stuff and too good for D3 while running 26 min 8ks and 15:20 5ks.

My school has given me the chance to succeed academically and still let me devote more time to running than I should. I've had a great team experience and am set up well for the future. I think because I went D3 I will be able to have a sub 14:30 5k pr, a gorgeous wife, and a 250k salary in the future.

Yes, better runners to train with.

I am a senior on a competitive DIII team. I was a state champion and had the opportunity to run at my DI state school along with one or two other mediocre DI teams.

I have spent much of the last 7 semesters dealing with injury or disease (yes, disease, not just sickness). I'm sure had I walked onto a DI team, I wouldn't be on the team anymore. However, because of the nature of DIII and my team in particular, I had the ability to step away from the sport for a while and take care of my own health. Now I have the opportunity to compete in my two final track seasons healthy and with a positive outlook. The outcome doesn't matter so much to me anymore, but I still love to compete and train with my teammates. I still get the feeling of contributing to the team when I counsel an injured teammate or drag a freshman through a workout. I am not sure there are many DI teams where I could fit into the team this way.

Just out of curiosity, why did you choose a small DIII Catholic college over lower level DI's like Creighton, Marquette, Boston College, Holy Cross, Loyola Marymount, etc.?

None,

I ran at a power 5 d1 school and transferred to d3 after my freshman year. Don't get me wrong, I liked being part of the program and running with guys who were the best in the country, but I had to weigh that fact against not being able to race or compete as much as I would like and know that no matter how good I got, the chances that I would be as good as a top 15 footlocker kid with a red shirt year weren't good and at best, maybe I'd make a conference team by my junior or senior year. Stress on the maybe.

I left and ended up having a totally different and just as satisfying running career d3. I was able to race often, be top scorer on national teams, try my hand at different events, and all for the love running and competing rather than the pressure to perform and competing against my own teammates.

I think d1 is great, but after you get through the top 20 teams, it's pretty much irrelevant depending on the school you attend. Probably the only difficulty for d3 is finding barn burner races that let you be 15th place and still run 14:20. Opportunities to run "time trials" is a little more difficult.

Other than that, all my best friends are from my d3 team. My degree has taken me to a great place to work (a fortune top 10). And I have really great memories of my time in college, not just my time in practice trying to make it.

I chose this school because of the authentic Catholic education and the Catholic environment that is present on campus. With most the schools that you mentioned, the academics at those schools have been infected unfortunately with rampant secularism that is not in line with Catholic teachings. This is mostly because of who it it is run by and the school I attend is run by a better religious order. As I said, I chose my spirituality over the athletics, and the academics play a big part in my spiritual formation as a man.

^^^ this is in response to The Starved Elephant

I regret not training hard enough in high school to have the opportunity for a top tier d1. But am happy I ended up d3 where I was very competitive.

I’m 30 now. Just met a 7’ high school highjumper who went d1. He didn’t Care I ran d1/2/3. Just enjoyed talking to another track guy.

I currently Work with a guy who ran with a bunch of current pros in college. Love talking track with him and he never mentions me running d3 vs d1. Outside of this forum, college athletics of any kind at any level is respected.

Except for football. Idiots go Gaga over ex SEC/big 10 football players.

I doubt many people who went d3 regret not going d1. Ended up developing a lot at the d3 level (not that I could’ve gone d1). Came out of high school with 4:40, 10:1x so not great. Ended college running 4:1x, 8:2x so pretty respectable times and running a 3k at a pace faster than my high school mile pr. Trained hard, partied hard and had fun, got to go to nationals

Recent DIII grad, multiple time AA both track and xc.

The question isn't DI/DIII. There is plenty of variation among all of this. There are DI programs that are athletically intense and academically less intense, there are DIII programs that are academically intense and athletically a joke, etc. Every possible combination of the 3 - DI/DIII, Academically intense/weak, Athletically intense/weak (although I knowledge DI has a potential to reach extreme levels of athletic intensity). That still doesn't prevent fantastic coaches, better than most DI ones, from existing on the DIII level . Perhaps they like it on the DIII level because you get guys who are in it "for the sport" instead of because they need the financial support or needed to go to a big name, etc. It all depends on what kind of person the athlete is. I think if you have the potential to be a NS or WL, you're gonna be able to make it almost any way you please, be it DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, etc.

I personally looked at DI and DIII schools pretty equally, emphasis appropriately on "I am going here to get a good education, athletics is an important part of my life, so I want to be able to run there, but it is not going to be the real focus (although now I am certainly dreaming/working towards running at a professional capacity, didn't know I was going to get to that level at the time) I was a sub 9:30/sub 4:30/sub 16:00 5k XC guy at the time I was looking around. (SR year track ended up running times that probably would have gotten me recruited to a middle of the pack DI school if I had run them a year or so earlier.) So nothing of interest to most D1 programs, although I was trying to swing my consistent and gradual improvement over the years to make myself appear better. Times like that are still pretty good, you're not going to find a single DIII coach out there who doesn't think that someone who ran sub 9:30 as a JR could be an extremely valuable part of their team in the future. I ended up choosing the DIII school I went to because 1. It was academically very good. 2. The environment was not nearly as cutthroat/intense as some of the other schools I was looking at (UC Berkeley, a couple Ivies, etc.) which was something important to me because while I was a good student, I wasn't the best student, and was worried without a good support network, I would be miserable/failing and 3. I really liked the coach.

I think DIII was good for me partially because of the particular academic atmosphere I was in. It was rigorous, but not overwhelming, and coexisted well with my ability to train and also live a normal college life (have friends, party occasionally, be generally happy.) I think if I had gone to a DI school I would not have had that same school/athletics/social life balance. Potentially could have been slightly better athletically, sure, but worse off overall. If I had to do it over again, I still would still choose DIII. DI was I think too much of a mystery/risk/crapshoot for me. I would not be surprised if this is a common thread among some of the more talented kids who go DIII these days, but I'm sure theres a plethora of reasons.

I can only comment for an athlete I know..who was on several state championship xc teams in HS as a soph-Senior years ..Ran 15:35 5k in Hs ..One of his team mates who ran a comparable xc time in the 5k went D1..while my friend went DIII. My friend is now a Jr.. ran a sub 24:20 8k in xc won his conference and is repeating at Nationals as an individual..His team mate went to a very good D1 program and had to walk on..The coach of the D1 program hardly paid any attention to him and he basically was training on his own. After a year the D1 athlete threw in the towel..I think the DIII athlete's only regret is his relationship with his coach seems to has soured.. This past year my friend times have been beating the school record but the coach isn't allowing many of his times because the coach is measuring the courses ahead of time and if his meaurements come up short of 8k hes not allowing his athletes times count towards the teams records..or best times ..This past year this coach has disallowed 3 courses on their schedule and 2 record breaking times for this athlete.. I can understand if the course is dramatically short but disallowing more than a third of the courses seems a bit over reaching..I know, its xc and who cares right? but I think hes thinking what kind of coach does that sort of thing.. Has anyone else heard of this sort of thing??

I ran D3 and made the national meet twice. Great experience, made lots of friends, etc. My high school times meant I could have been a role player (or whatever the running equivalent of that is) on a mid-major type school in D1.

The one thing I wonder about, as far as "should I have gone D1" is the training. A lot of people get chewed up and spit out by D1 training, but every now and again someone who runs the mile in the 4:20s (as I did in high school) will respond to the intensity and end up getting super fast. It happened to an old high school rival of mine who used to be right at my level, but ended up going sub-four and becoming a reasonably well-known pro. Never made the Olympics but got to spend several summers on the European circuit and I think was on at least one Pan Am team -- hey, I'd take a career like that i you offered it to me!

Would I have been that 0.01% type who responded to that kind of training? Not likely, but I'll never know for sure. At my D3 school we had a real idiot for a head coach, though I was lucky enough to have a succession of assistant coaches who more or less ran our day-to-day training and, when necessary, went over the head coach's head. In retrospect I would have liked to have been in a program, of any division, where the head coach was knowledgeable and respected, and we didn't have to sneak around to do good workouts.

I will say though, that my final decision for a school came down to my eventual D3 choice and a D1 choice, which was James Madison University. As you may recall, JMU famously cut its men's program, at the conclusion of what would have been my junior year there - too late to transfer most likely and I would have been S.O.L. So as far as that goes, I guess I'm glad I picked the D3 school!