I'm a long time hard working runner who started at 26 minute 5ks as a freshman. As a senior I have dropped down to 16:51 with much of the postseason left for some larger PR's hopefully. On the track, I run a 51.19 400m and Have dipped below 2 in the 800m on four occasions. I'm interested in running in college but I'm not sure where to look.
Absolutely D3. You probably won’t find a D1 program and you wouldn’t want to. D3 is enjoyable and you could succeed there.
That's a wide range. here are things to consider:
1. Division does not matter, education does. Look for a school with your intended major that would be a good fit FOR YOU, whether it be DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, etc.
2. What region would you like to be in? Somewhere close/far from home? Do you prefer heat or cold, beach or turf, altitude or sea level?
3. Are you academically solid? Do you want a rigorous school or a trash school (I.E. American Conference Vs. SEC)
4. You likely will not make a Division I roster (I had a teammate with a similar scenario in times go JUCO and then go DII) but there may be some schools that would take you on, look at NEC schools or the Summit conference for example.
5. Take my advice with a grain of salt, I am just some high schooler barfing up information which I have seen on countless other threads such as your own
Good Luck!
D3 future wrote:
Absolutely D3. You probably won’t find a D1 program and you wouldn’t want to. D3 is enjoyable and you could succeed there.
There was a thread about a year ago asking if a 4:59 one mile runner could find a D1 school in which he would not be the slowest one mile runner. We found some schools. I won't list because when I do posters will knock the universities. If OP wants to run D1, he can. There are many schools that a 16:50 5K guy can run with the second group in XC practice.
There are likely no "mid range" DI schools that would allow you to walk on. Low level DI schools maybe. Can't speak for DII.
Given your times (aside from academics) I would encourage you to look at schools where there are at least a few guys in your range. That is likely going to be DIII or NAIA, or maybe lower level DII. You will have a lot more fun not being the worst guy on the team.
College is not like high school, and athlete motivation changes. Teams can be close knit, but if you are way behind the pack most of the athletes will not give you the time of day.
If D1 is your goal, you'll be able to find a spot as a walk on if you do the work. I'm not going to do all of your research for you, but look at all of the XC conference championship results from last year. Take those schools and check out their rosters. Compare what their high school junior and senior year track times were. Are they similar to yours? Then you have a shot at walking on. Narrow down the pool by looking at schools you are interested in academically as well. Email the coaches and see what responses you get. This is how my son approached it and he was successful in hearing back from 3 of the 6 schools he emailed. He ended up as a recruited walk on at one of them and is now a sophomore. For reference, his junior year times were roughly, :53/400, 1:57/800, 4:22/1600 (XC under 16 range), but I don't think that factored in too much). I think one thing that helped was that his mileage was relatively low (usually 35 mpw, sometimes up to 40) so the coaches may have seen some potential.
However, because it's already fall, you need to get moving on this and finish strong in XC, have a good indoor season if your state has indoor, or some good early spring track times. You need to get those emails out tomorrow and keep in contact with any coach that writes you back. You should also try to apply early to any of the schools you are interested in. In a couple of weeks, I'd look at the conference XC results again, and see what teams are near the bottom of each conference and perform the same exercise.
hope this helps wrote:
If D1 is your goal, you'll be able to find a spot as a walk on if you do the work. I'm not going to do all of your research for you, but look at all of the XC conference championship results from last year. Take those schools and check out their rosters. Compare what their high school junior and senior year track times were. Are they similar to yours? Then you have a shot at walking on. Narrow down the pool by looking at schools you are interested in academically as well. Email the coaches and see what responses you get. This is how my son approached it and he was successful in hearing back from 3 of the 6 schools he emailed. He ended up as a recruited walk on at one of them and is now a sophomore. For reference, his junior year times were roughly, :53/400, 1:57/800, 4:22/1600 (XC under 16 range), but I don't think that factored in too much). I think one thing that helped was that his mileage was relatively low (usually 35 mpw, sometimes up to 40) so the coaches may have seen some potential.
However, because it's already fall, you need to get moving on this and finish strong in XC, have a good indoor season if your state has indoor, or some good early spring track times. You need to get those emails out tomorrow and keep in contact with any coach that writes you back. You should also try to apply early to any of the schools you are interested in. In a couple of weeks, I'd look at the conference XC results again, and see what teams are near the bottom of each conference and perform the same exercise.
First paragraph should have said, look at the bottom third of the XC conference finish list and compare yourself to their roster. Don't waste your time with the schools at the top.
You didn't say anything about your academic situation or interests. There are some very academically strong D3 and D2 schools like UC San Diego where your times would give you a strong shot at running for them. Your times indicate that there would be a lot of college teams you could run for, but you're not likely to be earning your living from running post-college. So, you need to research schools that will be both a good academic and running fit for you.
Don't limit your school choices by division. There are tons of good D2/D3/NAIA schools with awesome programs made up by great coaches and fast runners. There's are also tons of garbage D1 schools that are terrible and have little or no support from the administration (or, even for cross country, from their own track team!). Plus, in XC/Track, you'll get the chance to race against all divisions, depending on your ability level. If you're fast, you'll get the chance to race fast people if you're at the right school.
Lotta D1 hate in this thread. I will say I ran D3, and my biggest regret ever was not walking on to a D1 school.
The competition was great in D3 and I had a good experience, but I can imagine I would have run even better times against D1 competition.
For reference, I was a :51/1:57/16:20 guy, so no world beater times here.
rapodash wrote:
I'm a long time hard working runner who started at 26 minute 5ks as a freshman. As a senior I have dropped down to 16:51 with much of the postseason left for some larger PR's hopefully. On the track, I run a 51.19 400m and Have dipped below 2 in the 800m on four occasions. I'm interested in running in college but I'm not sure where to look.
What has your training been like?
Avg 33 mile weeks, two major workouts per week one interval one tempo/progression. Most commonly 6X100m at around 3:10 per k or 4-mile tempos around 5:50 per mile.
Well, I'm planning on doing a double major in business administration and Computer engineering. PSU is my first choice, my house is also less than a mile from campus and I've been in talks with coach gondack but I'm not sure if I'll be able to meet his standards.
I'm going to echo the advice to focus on a school that is a good academic fit, then try to fit in running around that if possible. Lots of D1 schools are "in name only" for the non-revenue sports like XC and track. Lots of D1 schools don't fully fund scholarships in non-revenue sports like XC and track. You could easily have a bad college experience finding a D1 school that lets you walk-on the team, but the coaching may be a bad fit for you and/or you have limited opportunities to compete.
Given your times, focus on Junior Colleges, NAIA, or D3. Some of the larger D1 schools have club-level XC and track that you may want to investigate if you like the school but can't walk-on the team.
Talk to your HS coach and academic counselor about researching colleges that will fit your criteria.
Plenty of DI and upper level DII schools will let you walk on. As an example, there is a runner for GVSU (high ranking DII school) named Dennis Mbuta. He ran 52.6, 1:58.9 and 17:18 in HS. Last year, he ran 1:49.8 and 4:11.8 (mile) as a redshirt FR. Ran XC 8k for first time this year and has run 25:29. Obviously that is an amazing/unusual progression. The point is 1) a runner with your times CAN walk on to quality programs and 2) don't let your current times lead you to believe you can't be a competitive college runner. 33mpw is low and you have decent shorter distance times. When you up the mileage you may progress into a pretty darn good miler. Good luck!!
Did that at CU.
Sup Joe
Had similar PRs. Tried walking on to a mid major program that was conference champ and qualified for NCAA cross when I was there.
Worth a shot but unlikely you make anything other than a low to mid tier D1 team. If you do, you’re looking at getting dropped in practice consistently and zero attention from the coach. Remember running a 5 mile “tempo” as an all out effort and still got dropped badly by everyone. Team had multiple former state champs who did not crack top 7.
Given your 800 time, you might have better luck in track. Still won’t be competitive, but few programs really try to develop 800 talent and if you can get down to 1:53-54 you might sneak into some meets. You’ll still get destroyed.
If you have a D3 school you like then that would give you your best overall experience.
You could go to St. Peter's or Niagara and probably be their top runner. I mean they are technically D1...