Do you commit to a D3 school?

Milesincr wrote:

or do you simply get accepted and let the coach know you would like to run? Athletes should have a pretty good idea of how competitive they can be based on posted times.

You don't sign anything, like a national letter of intent. a NLI has to be accompanied by a Grant-In-Aid. Since D3 does not give athletic scholarships, there is nothing to sign.

In the more general sense of commitment, yes athletes do this all the time. If you really want to run on the team, you should definitely be in touch with the coach. D3s do recruit. Coaches are sometimes able to help with admissions. You can, of course, get admitted on your own before talking to the coach, or just show up early on, but this tends to mean you are an unrecruited walk-on. Which is fine.

I am a D3 Coach and I will send celebratory letters to athletes, they are not officially binding, but if your school has a signing day you can sign it there to get in on the fun. As far as reaching out please reach out to the coach ASAP as opposed to just showing up the next school year. It is pretty easy to get their contact info as it will be on their bio on the school's athletics page. If the head coach doesn't respond quickly try reaching out to an assistant and inquiring about visiting to meet with the coaches.

Definitely don't just wait until you enroll. Most D3 schools still have limited roster spots, and D3 roster sizes tend to be dictated by how much money the school is willing to give the program. Don't want to wait to get into the school to contact the coach only to find out he/she already has a full team.

The Starved Elephant wrote:

Definitely don't just wait until you enroll. Most D3 schools still have limited roster spots, and D3 roster sizes tend to be dictated by how much money the school is willing to give the program. Don't want to wait to get into the school to contact the coach only to find out he/she already has a full team.

do you have to be formally invited to be on the team ..ie given a roster spot?

if roster spots are limited if you are faster than another member do you supplant them?

I'm a girl with a 800m - 2:25, 1600 - 5:22 and 3200 - 11:50 ----- sophomore times - this will be my junior yera

do I need to worry about "commiting" early in order to garner a roster spot

Most D3 schools allow unlimited females on the team. You have no problem. I recommend talking to the coach mid senior year though.

Reach out at the end of your junior year and let them know you are interested. That is early enough to help with admissions. Your times would make you a great candidate for most D3 teams so I would expect most coaches to reply back in a reasonable amount of time

milesincr wrote:

The Starved Elephant wrote:

Definitely don't just wait until you enroll. Most D3 schools still have limited roster spots, and D3 roster sizes tend to be dictated by how much money the school is willing to give the program. Don't want to wait to get into the school to contact the coach only to find out he/she already has a full team.

do you have to be formally invited to be on the team ..ie given a roster spot?

if roster spots are limited if you are faster than another member do you supplant them?

I'm a girl with a 800m - 2:25, 1600 - 5:22 and 3200 - 11:50 ----- sophomore times - this will be my junior yera

do I need to worry about "commiting" early in order to garner a roster spot

1.) If the team cuts, then you probably will have to try out when you get to campus if you are not recruited and invited to the team.

2.) I have no idea, but I've never heard of that happening. Most D3 coaches will only cut people off the current roster if they are slacking or getting in trouble. D3 teams tend to not be nearly as internally competitive as D1.

Besides, the roster sizes aren't usually hard and fast. I just mean that they will say no to people who aren't fast enough and say yes to anyone who is. My team fluctuates between 25-35 per gender. The school just made it clear to my coach that it can't be 35 people for a streak of multiple years.

3.) Communicate with the coach about this, but you won't need to commit early. Just make sure the coach knows who you are and that you are interested in running for him/her before your senior year of high school begins.

With those times you don't need to worry about committing early, D3 coaches will be thrilled to get an athlete of your caliber. You should committ earlier if you can, it gives you and the coaches peace of mind and its easier to get more money the earlier you decide (even though you can't get athletic money there is academic, aid and other forms of supplementary scholarships).

milesincr wrote:

The Starved Elephant wrote:

Definitely don't just wait until you enroll. Most D3 schools still have limited roster spots, and D3 roster sizes tend to be dictated by how much money the school is willing to give the program. Don't want to wait to get into the school to contact the coach only to find out he/she already has a full team.

do you have to be formally invited to be on the team ..ie given a roster spot?

if roster spots are limited if you are faster than another member do you supplant them?

I'm a girl with a 800m - 2:25, 1600 - 5:22 and 3200 - 11:50 ----- sophomore times - this will be my junior yera

do I need to worry about "commiting" early in order to garner a roster spot

Dont be so worried about D3 quite yet. You still have two primes years to grow and hit D1 times.

If you can't contact the coach or an assistant, get help from the admissions office (before or after being admitted). Explain that part of your college search is the opportunity to run on the intercollegiate XC and Track teams, and you want to know that you will be able to walk-on the team after enrolling. In some rare cases, competitive teams will have try-outs or limited roster sizes.