RPI usually does a good job developing runners who’re about mid pack level guys. Not to mention they have a girl who is front runner for D3 XC champ who had never ran XC seriously before
Hartman 4:46 high school mile to one of fastest college 5k/10k runners ever in 3 years
Napoleon 2:03 800 to world championship finalist steeple in 2 years.
This is the great illusion.
Yes, Henes has developed some nice runners including Hartman and Napoleon. Add on Bush and Gapes recently too.
But ...
Napoleon was the overall Gatorade Player of the Year for entire US T&F in her senior year for her high school record in steeplechase.
Hartman was a 2 time winner of the Ohio Gatorade xc award.
Most coaches would be ecstatic to have these type of recruits to start their development!
Gatorade winners are all over the place at NC State. Rauber NY, Scheffler OH, Quarzo PA, Michalak CO, Shea MA, Wisniewski OR (2x), Engelhardt CA (3x)and Stephens MD (a recent transfer out) were all also winners of their home state Gatorade award.
NC State does pretty well on recruiting front, AND also develops runners well too.
D2 is really overlooked for some great programs that develop talent. Some good ones include Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Christian, and Northwest Missouri State. Grand Valley State and Adams State also develop a lot of talent, however, they have very high rates of runners burning out and getting injured all the time before quitting.
I was about to post about any of these great D2 schools. You can throw in the majority of the RMAC along with Mines and CCU. Looking at recent years and seeing what Coach Kubatzky at UC-Colo. Springs on the women's side has been up there with best in the country for recurring and development. Then you've got other D2s in the Midwest and South that have been great as well. Lee TN and Florida Southern for example. And then Western Washington is always reloading because of good development. D2 is truly the place for those underdeveloped high school kids that have potential but just need a few extra years of steady guidance and consistency to reach that next level.
We're looking to compile a list of schools/coaches that actually develop hs runners. So not the schools that took STUDS and then they run well...schools that took mid-pack, good runners and developed them.
Looking for schools across ALL divisions, if you or someone you know had a good experience - name the school/coach here.
thanks!
I thought you had to be better than mid-pack in high school to run in college.
You'd be wrong. It depends on the college. I work at a D1 school, and the program here regularly loses to D2, D3 schools. I think there's a misconception about the divisions. As a hs runner, I thought if I was good, I had to go D1 and I'm trying to do better by the kids I coach. There are nearby D3 programs that would take kids with the times my HS freshmen are running.
Portland has a history of developing runners. Fauble and Kincaid are both Portland grads who have had big pro careers. Both were State Champ level talents but were running in the 4:20/9:00 range. Who knows if that the coach that developed these guys and others is still there. David Perry, wya?
D2 is really overlooked for some great programs that develop talent. Some good ones include Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Christian, and Northwest Missouri State. Grand Valley State and Adams State also develop a lot of talent, however, they have very high rates of runners burning out and getting injured all the time before quitting.
I find myself recommending D2 programs more and more these days, especially programs that are finishing top 3-4 in their conferences. The MIAA has a ton of great programs...NW Missouri, Pitt State, Missouri Southern, and Washburn all develop kids nicely and have good facilities. In the same part of the country, SBU has a good reputation as well. Truman women have shown a lot of growth over the past few years but have a new coach with more of a sprint focus. I think their old coach went to UCM, so curious if he will turn around things there.
It will be interesting to see how the chips fall at the conference meet. You could argue UWP, UWSP, UWEC, and UWO have built a stronger reputation for developing mid-tier recruits this year. I agree, the WIAC generally showcases well-developed runners across the board.
The WIAC is good at developing its runners partly because its runners are underdeveloped. The rules for high school athletics in Wisconsin severely limit the out of season opportunities for runners.
Nah. WIAC is good because there are a number of affordable, state Universities who have the resources to have full-fledged athletic departments that include Track and Field and XC.
This affordability coupled with the ease of going to one of these schools, it is often more affordable to run at one of these schools as a lower-tier national elite to State-elite/state-mid tier runner even though they don't offer running scholarships than D1 or D2 with scholarships.
Plus, it's less "win or get cut" drama, and a more relaxed approach to training and development.
Agree on the Non-UWL/UWW schools looking to have developed more lately; although UWL looks good in both Mens and Women's XC this year. UWW is rebuilding a bit; we'll see how it does.
As for WIAA HS rules—out of season competition and training is no different than anywhere else. In season work, however . . . that is different. Still, I don't think it affects the kids much with all the meets they have in the season.
St.Mary & Park U in KC are by far the best developing schools in Kansas & Missouri in NAIA & seem to still have the budget to travel to better places than majority of D1s. The Park coach also has coached an 18 year old that went 3:52 in the mile & 8:38 in the Steeple. He's on a Mission Trip but has developed insanely well (Eventually @ BYU again - Wyatt Haughton.) Also coached Grace Strongman (Colorado Mines) in HS & she might be winning a D2 national Title this year. His athletes stay healthy. St. Mary also takes no names up a huge level & brings the noise when it counts.
I don't know a ton about the program but Rider in NJ has developed some really outstanding runners over the years. It's definitely a regional school and not a major destination but there are a lot of programs and coaches who have developed elite athletes. Sometimes the fit of a school to the athlete is more important than historical program success (e.g. Elle Purrier, Heather Maclean, Cristian Soratos, guy at Loyola Ill. ~10 years ago to name a random few).