Walk-on times for a good d3 school

hrpowers wrote:

So I’m not near those times and I’m aware I’m not close to being recruited. If I’m being optimistic, I’ll run around 4:40 in the full mile and 2:05 in the 800 assuming all training goes well in the next few months and I race well. Do you think that’s enough to make one of those teams as a walk-on or would I get cut.

Maybe. It depends on the school.

hrpowers wrote:

So I’m not near those times and I’m aware I’m not close to being recruited. If I’m being optimistic, I’ll run around 4:40 in the full mile and 2:05 in the 800 assuming all training goes well in the next few months and I race well. Do you think that’s enough to make one of those teams as a walk-on or would I get cut.

I’m pretty sure most D3 schools would take a 4:40 / 2:05 type... Maybe not WashU, but other teams would.

Your times ( faster mile, slower 800) are very close to my HS prs. I ran D3 about 100 years ago, and did okay ( ~ 15 5000m). Contact the coaches and ask them what they would want to see.

Were I a coach, I'd want to know about a 200m PR. If you can run 25-26 or better, a coach might think you have some room for improvement.

Also keep in mind that a fair number of people show up at school with fast HS times, and quit as they realize that D3 is still college, and expectations at any decent program are a little higher than they thought. Smart coaches know this, and are often willing to take on people that show up ready to train hard.

hrpowers wrote:

So I’m not near those times and I’m aware I’m not close to being recruited. If I’m being optimistic, I’ll run around 4:40 in the full mile and 2:05 in the 800 assuming all training goes well in the next few months and I race well. Do you think that’s enough to make one of those teams as a walk-on or would I get cut.

Get accepted first, then fill out recruiting questionnaires/email coaches. I never broke 11 minutes in the 3200 once in high school and only ran sub-5 once, and I got into a pretty academically prestigious D3 school and ended up emailing the coach when I got accepted and now as a graduate student, I’ve got a bachelor’s degree and a couple of All-American medals. Put your mind to it and if at the end of the day running in college doesn’t work out, don’t sweat it. Good luck OP!

I’m gonna try and go to nyu. You should go there so we can be buddies :)

I was running around 2:00 and 4:40 my senior year on 10-15mpw. Contacted WASHU's coach after my acceptance to the school, and was barely given the time of day. No walk on if you haven't hit times close to anyone on the roster, regardless of how undertrained you may be.

I always wonder why smart people post here only to get contradictory advice, when the only people that have the real answers are the coaches are the school in question.

- email the coaches.... Period.

Ps: it's D3, everyone is a walk on, recruited or not, because there are no athletic scholarships.

Un-period. He won't be admitted to some of the schools listed. Stupid to waste the coaches' time.

2019 Individual XC champion Patrick Watson from Stevenson (I know not the same academic reputation as the schools listed...but undergrad at a school like that and grad school at a more prestigious school is what many do) ran 4:54 in high school. Based on these responses he would not even have been considered at these other schools.

I went to a fairly competitive D3 school about a decade ago (made Baby Nats 2 of the 4 years I was there), the cuts were done based off a 5000m Time Trial run on the 2nd or 3rd day of XC practice. Time target was 16:40 to make the team (they changed it one year to be 17:10ish or so, forget the exact time, after a big class of seniors graduated to allow on more Freshman than usual), with a little wiggle room for kids with faster HS PRs who might have bombed the TT (for whatever reason).

Guys with slower PRs would try out each year (coach encouraged everybody who was interested to come to the TT and try out) but the time cut was strict unless you had 4:30ish or better 1600m/mile PR from HS. Showing up to college and hitting a 16:3x 5k off summer training is tough, guys with HS Track PRs in that ballpark (4:50 milers / 10:20 2 milers) pretty much were never able to hit it, and they were told to come back next year if they still wanted to compete (to the credit of a few of them some actually succeeded their Sophomore year). Generally unless you had a 4:40 low or better in High School kids didn't make it.

Roster size was generally around 15-20 guys on the XC team in any given season.

Women's team was (practically) no-cut by comparison & much larger, presumably for Title IX reasons.

I can't speak to the specific programs you're interested in, but I would reckon most competitive D3 programs have similar benchmarks, where being a sub 4:40 miler is probably the indicator that you'll likely make it. I will say though - some programs, even very good ones, I believe are no-cut (or nearly no cut) when we talk about the D3 level. Depending on the sports the college offers they may ore may not be able to offer a lot of extra roster spots to men on XC/track. If you check their present roster size it might give you some indication.

hrpowers wrote:

I'm not really asking about college admissions, but I have a 34 act and a 1500 sat and some academic awards so I think I'm a competitive applicant

Man, with those SAT scores, you could get into some really good academic colleges! Screw running D-III! Think about your academic future and run club for fun.

You are pretty clueless. Some of his listed schools are also some of the top ranked.

You'd definitely have to start dialogue with the coaches. You might get some nibbles based on your background and potential ceiling based on lack of significant running background. Some coaches may completely ignore you.

A limited number of the schools listed also offer club teams.

You can walk on at a d3 school with solid academics, but not a good distance running powerhouse (most likely). You'll be running xc and not playing soccer most likely.

None of the schools you list are likely to offer you a walk on spot, but email the coaches and see if they'll let you walk on anyways, can't hurt.

It can hurt. He is not nearly fast enough which will cause many coaches to hit the block button. Had he waited until being admitted and running a faster time in the spring, they may have considered him.

This is probably the best response here. I wouldn't try at Wash U they seem like a bunch of jerks anyway--unless you really want to go to school there for the academics.

It was years ago walked on at academic top 15-20 D3 school. They had a decent XC program, track was not so good at the time because they were going through a lot of coaching transition. My times for mid-d and distance were 2:20, 5:20, 11:30, and 18:50 off of about 10 miles a week of training on my own. However, I did run 25 for 200 and 56 for 400 in summer all-comer meets. That summer before college a coach from a top 5-10 D3 xc program saw me doing 200s on the track and actually tried to recruit me, and said that I might do okay academically at my school of choice, but as a runner would do much better at his school.

Anyway, I lettered all four years and graduated on time with PRs of 4:30 mile and 15:50 5K. And as a side note if I put my high school test scores and class rankings here, I'd be laughed off the board. Ended up going to grad school to one of the top programs in the country in my field, and kept running long enough to keep improving on those rather average college times.

Choose your academics as your primary factor, and see if you can fit into a program at your top school. And by all means, contact the coaches through the process. Some might not give you the time of day, others will get back to you and try to work with you.

I currently go to a D3 rival of the schools you listed. We competed at Nationals alongside those schools. Having applied and talked to a lot of these coaches, I can probably give you a good idea of the vibe.

You'll likely need to run at least a 4:45 mile or 2:04ish 800 just to have a chance of making the team. If you can get in that range, the coaches might give you a shot, but no guarantee. These schools typically recruit kids who run 4:30 or faster, or 1:58 or faster, so you'd be in the bottom of their recruiting class. COVID might change that for this year though.

There are plenty of other less competitive D3 schools that would take you with the times you have now, many with great academics. I'd recommend looking at those schools as well.

dirk funk wrote:

800: 1:55

1600: 4:30

3200: 9:40

5k XC: 16:15

Why are these times so inconsistent? A 1:55 800 is equal to about a 4:15, 9:20, and 14:50 is it not? lmao

Top tier D3s are usually about on par with mid tier D1s. Here’s my mid-tier schools walk on times:

1:57.9

4:26.9

9:39.9

15:29.9

Also keep in mind that D1s have to limit rosters while most D3s don’t. If you can get into the low 4:40s and sub 2:05 I bet you could walk on at most

hrpowers wrote:

So I’m not near those times and I’m aware I’m not close to being recruited. If I’m being optimistic, I’ll run around 4:40 in the full mile and 2:05 in the 800 assuming all training goes well in the next few months and I race well. Do you think that’s enough to make one of those teams as a walk-on or would I get cut.

I ran about 4:40 and 2:05 in high school and also played soccer in the fall. I competed in the same conference as one of the schools you are interested in and was scoring in the conference meet by the spring of my Sophomore year. A lot of the best mid-d runners at my school and in the conference at the time were in a similar boat (soccer background). If you can show that you are in 4:40 shape this winter or spring any of these teams should be happy to have you. If they aren’t, you probably don’t want to run for that coach anyway. Any D3 coach should believe that he can improve an undertrained runner by 5-10%. If they get 10% out of you, you will be scoring in any D3 conference meet.