D3 in VA area

Funny thing about W&L is that they don´t seem to care about Virginia athletes. Check their roster. Pretty much all out-of-state private school athletes.

If you´re interested in D-III & Virginia, check out the ODAC. Lynchburg is doing good things but, it´s in Lynchburg. (Lynchburg is home to the Flagger Moverment...as in Confederate Flagger Movement. Yee haw!) Bridgewater just lost their coach, but strong. Good location (near Harrisonsburg). Shenandoah University recently built a new indoor track. EMU is located in downtown Harrisonburg (right next to James Madison University)...with a new coach too. Roanoke got a new coach a few years ago (after their long-time coach retired). I heard Roanoke, the town, is coming around too.

Lots of coaching changes.

W&L is very good. They take a lot out of state. Generally you have to have a lot of $, good grades, and be from an alum family. From what I can tell they're pretty selective.

Top 4 odac have been consistently:

W&L, Lynchburg, Bridgewater, and Roanoke.

As someone mentioned Bwater just lost their coach.

Shenandoah tends to burn out their guys imo (tripling meets 10k, 1500, 5k)

As for improvement Lynchburg has a sophomore girl who just made all american at d3 xc nats. This girl also never broke 6 minutes in the mile in highschool. Biased opinion but food for thought. Going in to LC I had a mid 17 5k. Graduating I finished with a low 16 5k. 8k freshman year was in the low 30s. Finished with a mid 26.

W&L is hard to get in to. You need a high sat/act and then unless you are poor(or exceptionally gifted) they don't really give a lot of aid, its expensive. Very good coach, places to run, and team atmosphere though.

CNU is also very good. Team has come a long way in the past decade or so.

Mary Washington is good some years, or at least was.

Hopkins in Maryland is good some years, if you don't mind living in Baltimore.

I graduated from W&L a few years ago. My experience in the program could not have been much better. Brandon Spalding is a fantastic coach and I saw a huge improvement in my time there. I love my teammates and think we had a pretty awesome team culture. This is the most difficult DIII school in the area to get into, but that also means it’s graduates tend to have many opportunities at graduation. I understand the ticket price for attendance is pretty wild, but in my experience the school gives very generous financial and merit aid. If you’re interested in running in VA and at W&L then definitely reach out to Coach Spalding sooner rather than later. The campus, and Lexington as a whole, is beautiful.

That said, as other people have mentioned there are a number of other quality schools in the ODAC. I had a lot of opportunities to meet some great guys from other schools over four years and have nothing but respect for other runners and coaches in the league. If you’re serious about running and school, then definitely give W&L a shot, but Lynchburg, Bridgewater, Roanoke, and Shenandoah are all great schools too.

I lost my sh*t when I saw this post. I am a former General, graduated a short time ago. Washington and Lee is a TOUGH academic school both in the sense of acceptance and the workload while you're here. Despite the huge workload, I loved my time there. What I learned had real consequence and was invigorating. They give stellar financial and merit aid. Take a look into it, the aid is astonishing. I agree with the poster above, the ticket price is ridiculous, but the education is phenomenal and the opportunities coming out of the institution are superb. Take a look and contact Coach Spaulding. He is more than willing to talk to anyone and potentially recruit young men that are excited about the sport and are hard workers. The team culture is supportive and goofy, we all had a blast together. It is the best DIII school in the Virginia area without a doubt.

Lexington is beautiful. Incredible places to run.

I played football for Dubyanel in the late ‘90s-early 2000s. Unique place.

When were you there?

Major?

Fraternity?

Hollins girls still a thing?

What abt Salernos and Stop-in Dogs?

I'd recommend W&L. They can develop talent far better than anyone in the odac as of right now. Roanoke distance has taken a back seat ever since the addition of the new coach, or at least that's what it seems. Depending on the coach they hire, Bridgewater may also be a solid choice but tends to be a little weaker academically.

do you think that with out any merit or aid that W&L is worth the price?

Holy crap! All you ever wanted to know about W&L in two questions:

Fraternity?

Hollins girls still a thing?

Yikes! Definitely late ´90s-early 2000s thinking there, I hope. But, I doubt it--unique place, indeed. Sigh.

Coach is a bit high on himself and not sure many runners actually improve.

the coach is actually a very nice guy

Haha you know nothing John Snow.

Spalding is a grinder and all around good hearted guy. He has made a name for that program and will be back to nationals next year with a fierce crew ready to run fast.

Spalding is the GOAT

CUB had a great program until they got rid of MB. A real shame. If you are a quality runner and train hard you can be good anywhere.

Good Luck!

I’m a townie, ran for W&L a few years after you, and yeah Salerno’s is still there. Didn’t Hollins go co-ed? Anyway I don’t really know about the stop-in dogs, now there’s actually some decent food places around.