The issue is that just like your son is 'casting a wide net' hundreds of other 4:19ish class of 2026 1600 runners are also casting a wide net. So, there is not a practical way to communicate, research, get to know, and evaluate, hundreds of potential recruits. Unless you are from the local region or have some other connection, the coach needs someone to stand out by running 1:52 or 4:14 or whatever in order for it to make sense to take many, many hours recruiting a single prospect. The real problem as a college coach is with so many people casting a wide net, they have no idea if a particular recruit is truly interested or sending out emails to 50 plus schools. The standards are a filtering process to make it more realistic to cut it down from 100s of recruits to closer to a manageable amount.