Running unattached in college meets

Yes- They have indoor meets at Cornell many weekends and even some outdoor meets. I have friends who've run.

Most meets you can do it...but certain meets have restrictions. Done quite a few in my time. You cannot receive any help/assistance/transportation from a college you may be affiliated with if you go to the meet. You are responsible to get yourself there and enter yourself. Also, I cannot remember the exact rules, but you may not be allowed to do it unless you have ran in college yourself; high schoolers can't jump in. Keep in mind, if you are not in equivalent shape to the guys running in college, there really is no point to do it.

D3 meets are especially open to this. Redshirted D1 guys show up at D3 meets occasionally and post-college guys are usually welcomed.

If you still have any NCAA eligibility use at least a little caution and ask questions. If the meet is scored as a team event in any way, it could cost you eligibility or at least cause you a head ache clearing it up.

sheltered wrote:

If you still have any NCAA eligibility use at least a little caution and ask questions. If the meet is scored as a team event in any way, it could cost you eligibility or at least cause you a head ache clearing it up.

This. If you are running unattached but have eligibility left, you need to be careful. Your coach should know more info about unattached/redshirt running, talk to them.

If you are post college or otherwise not concerned with eligibility, you can just search for meets on directathletics dot com and try to enter, email the meet directors if you have questions or are having trouble. Or look on the websites of the schools you are near and see if they are hosting any meets, and email their track coach to see how to enter (answer will probably be Direct Athletics)

Yes, a lot of D3-centered meets I know have absolutely no problem with unattached. The D1 centered meets I have run unattached in have been good too, but I'm only 2 years removed from college and am still pretty good, so I think they like to have me in there, give their guys some good competition. What I'm saying is if you are not fast you might not be able to get into some "faster" college meets, but you probably wouldnt want to be there anyway, you wouldnt get any good competition.

Thanks for the help! I was recruited by multiple D1 schools in my region, but due to financial reasons and other opportunities competing for a college team just wasn't in the cards for me, but I do still want to have a few more seasons on the track before I go to road races full time. But anyway eligibility isn't much of a concern for me.

What if I’m just running unattached in general by myself with no coach would they still take eligibility away?

D3 is heterogeneous and includes some conferences like WIAC and SUNYAC that are all state schools, as well as some scattered schools in TX, MN, WI, ME, and Mass. D1 and D2 have tons of state schools.

to me when someone starts asking to run an unattached schedule while in college they are fighting themselves. they denied themselves a choice. they want that choice. rather than make the change they try to bargain about it. if you want track, run track. this is not complicated and i don't believe you have literally no other financial or other options.

but anyhow, it's not a complicated process. make a list of local colleges with TF/XC teams. check their schedules if they hold their own meets. at some point a month or two before the meet they will post meet information including their openness to unattached. follow the instructions. you might also do well to contact the coach ahead of time and touch base. i would advise starting D3 and working your way up, that way you get some times down from an official college meet, and can demonstrate you showed up and didn't pose a disciplinary issue. you can then wave that around to the next meet, like i am serious, and try a higher level.

but i still think if someone wants this that bad, and wants to go to all the work to prepare and travel and such, then compete at that particular level, why not make it real and get on the official side. it's like wanting to do it the hard way and with less of the team fun aspect.

the safe answer is you show up at college meets while in college, as unattached, and you might be burning that year of eligibility. you have a running clock of semesters/years (depending which division) which is definitely burning if you are healthy and attending class and competing. i am not sure what running some meets unattached does to trying to get a year back as a supposed redshirt, or a medical hardship, or the like.

this, to me, is the flaw in the plans of folks who come on here saying i want to train on my own, run a meet or two, and wave that around chasing a walkon spot someplace the next season. i think eligibility wise that makes you a sophomore. i often see it as a sort of protective shield when asked if they ended up running college sports. you don't have to say no. you can say i am training to try and be a walkon. in reality you didn't tryout yet, the coach may or may not know you exist, and you're just rhetorically leaving a door open while you train but don't tryout. i am not joe student -- even though i am not on the team -- i am like team adjacent. any year now.

we had people who would show up for the soccer pickup in the offseason and you'd say they should tryout, they might make the bench, and they might even talk themselves up around campus, "i could be on the team," but we generally held them in lower regard than those who showed up and tried. we respect the talent, yes, but it's like do you want to run your mouth or do you want to play. in team terms they are irrelevances until they show up at tryouts one summer. and they might be better than someone who makes the team but that dude has gone to war with me and been part of the team. my 2 cents.

You wouldn't lose any eligibility. Quite a few high school kids run in meets unattached and it has not impact on college eligibility.

You wouldn't lose any eligibility. Quite a few high school kids run in meets unattached and it has not impact on college eligibility.

Yes, you just need to reach out to the meet organizer.

This will work for open meets sometimes.

You just need to use direct athletics. directathletics.com

If a meet isn't open to unattached athletes there and you really want to run it, reach out to the meet director and sometimes they'll let you in.