What's a good college a 26:30 8k could/should run at?

NCAC wrote:

I go to a D3 school and you wouldn't be top 7 on my team... I use to go to a D1 school and the coach would laugh at you... sorry that is the way it is.

I didn't say it had to be a D1 or D3 school. I'm not really considering D3 because most of them are private and consist of rich snobby kids.

I also don't remember asking what school I would get laughed at either.

Where are all these schools with 6-7 guys running better than 26:30. I know the top schools do, but there are hundreds of schools that don't. Exaggeration runs rampant on this site.

For NCAC, you must go to one of the top ten schools in the country for D3. Good job on being a good runner. But there are plenty of other schools for him to go to.

Some real adivce wrote:

I would never consider adding a 26:30 college soph to my roster, particularly as a transfer.

We did not go to DI Nats, but I would rather bring in a 9:20\'s HS walk-on than \'develop\' a 20 yr old who runs 8k at a pace that represents a fair tempo run.

Whoever mentioned the lack of $$ for a 26:30 guy was spot on. No program adding such athletes will have any money to spread around. That\'s just the way it goes.

right, because I\'m sure your awesome team has tons of 9:20 highschool guys begging to walk on for no money.

26:30, if run on a legit course, is not slow in the slightest.. usually it takes an 8:30-8:40 3km guy to manage that. Grass track type course you are looking more like a 9:00 3km guy... still something a lot of weaker D1 schools would love to have.

And I call BS on your 9:20 walkon running 26:30 as an easy tempo run.

NCAC wrote:

I go to a D3 school and you wouldn't be top 7 on my team... I use to go to a D1 school and the coach would laugh at you... sorry that is the way it is.

I agree. I am older and went to a D3 school and ran about the same time as the OP. Maybe things have changed a lot but mid 26 in CC was not that great. I cant believe posters saying this guy can get money or go D1. NO

D3 is way more legit than most people think. The top runners in D3 are nothing compared to D1--All American usually takes sub 24:40 type guys--but the depth in D3 is very good. There are probably 50 D3 schools that have 6-7 guys with PRs of 26:30 and all of the teams that make nationals (top 32) have 6-7 guys the regularly run under that. My team barely made nationals and our top 8 had PRs under 25:50. If you look at results from D3 nationals 26:30 would be 240/278 and only about 15 guys in the whole race ran slower than 26:45. This was not a slow super slow course but it was definitely not a PR type course either.

D3Runner wrote:

D3 is way more legit than most people think.

Not a smart thing to say on these boards my boy...

You are correct.

There is nothing wrong with saying D3 is legit because it obviously is more "legit" than people on this thread are giving it credit for.

The fact is that 26:30 is not that great, even in D3 where people like to think 28:00 will get you to nationals.

The teams that make nationals in D3 tend to have a top 7 ALL under 26, usually with averages in the low 25 range.

I call a big loud BULLSHIT on this whole thread.

Let's begin.

"D3 ... All American usually takes sub 24:40 type guys"

BULLSHIT. Over a period of 2-3 years I repeatedly smashed 2 D3 runners every time I raced them (2-3 times a year). These guys consistently finished in the top 15 at D3 nationals. I was running 26:30's. Why don't you mosey on over to trackshark and see how many sub-30:30 10k's were run last year at the D3 level.

You must be stupid. Someone who runs 26:30's on normal cross country course (not Stanford or your local "7k" 8k race a la Auburn) is probably a 30:50-31:30 track 10k guy.

"9:20 walk-on"

BULLSHIT. You must be the dumbest f***ing coach in the country. Most of the best collegiate runners in America are 9:20 2 mile guys in high school. You must be one of the worst coaches out there. If you can't turn a 9:20 high school guy into a sub-30 10k type in 4 years you should be thrown to the curb.

You aren't giving this kind of talent scholarship? WHY WOULD THEY RUN FOR YOU?? A 9:20 kid can get scholarship at numerous D1 schools, even the top 20 ones. Get your head out of your ass.

26:30=30:50????

man I must be doing something wrong

mediocre D3 runner wrote:

You are correct.

There is nothing wrong with saying D3 is legit because it obviously is more "legit" than people on this thread are giving it credit for.

The fact is that 26:30 is not that great, even in D3 where people like to think 28:00 will get you to nationals.

The teams that make nationals in D3 tend to have a top 7 ALL under 26, usually with averages in the low 25 range.

Again, I ran D3 in the 1980s so it was another era of running. I was a mid 26 min CC guy and could not even make all Conference which was getting top 25. It was MIAA which was not some super conference. I had a great regional meet one time my junior and was not even close to qualitfying for nationals.

I was more of a 800/1500 specialist. My 3:57.0 1500 pr was about 5 secs off D3 nationals qualifier at the time. So I couldnt even make the nationals at D3. I did compete against many nonscholarship D1 guys and beat a fair share of them in the 1500, but their stud scholarship guys destroyed me.

My point is, I doubt a 26:30 CC guy would get any money to run in college.

To the OP--

All bashing/defending D3 running aside, don't talk sh*t on the kids at small colleges. We are not all rich, snobby kids. We're generally pretty hard working, nerdy kids who are willing to put in the work to run 26 minutes in XC even though we know it might not mean sh*t in the scheme of things. Take your beef somewhere else, get your head out of your ass.

For real.

A dozen southern NCAA Div. 1 schools where 26:30 would have made you the No. 1 man last fall and I'd bet you would now get at least some athletic money coming in as a transfer:

Charleston Southern

College of Charleston

Citadel

Gardner-Webb

Jacksonville

Mercer

Presbyterian

Stetson

UNC-Asheville

USC-Upstate

Winthrop

Wofford

a journalist wrote:

A dozen southern NCAA Div. 1 schools where 26:30 would have made you the No. 1 man last fall and I'd bet you would now get at least some athletic money coming in as a transfer:

Charleston Southern

College of Charleston

Citadel

Gardner-Webb

Jacksonville

Mercer

Presbyterian

Stetson

UNC-Asheville

USC-Upstate

Winthrop

Wofford

I know for a fact that Mercer has a fully funded D1 XC program, and that only one person has run sub-26 in school history. If you want to run there, I'm willing to bet you'd could get a full ride, and a great education too. I'm also fairly certain their are other schools on that list where your 26:30 would break the school record.

That said, choose the school based more on what's important to you. If getting a good free education is what you really care about, then some place like Mercer would be the best for you. If, instead, you care more about becoming a better runner, then I'd suggest walking on at a big name program.

Stepping back from most of the other arguments, if the goal as a collegiate runner is to become the best runner you can be in those 4-5 years, than would you really want to be a #1 guy with a 26:30 or even 26:00?

I'd much rather be a #7 or 10 or whatever with a 26:30 and have guys better than me to push me than be a #1 and get the "glory". I put glory in "" because your school might respect you but then you go to regionals and see the rest of the real world and realize you can barely crack the top 120.

Also it doesn't say much for the running program if the SCHOOL RECORD is 26:00, hell school records should be well under 25 if the program is established.

this is so STUPID wrote:

You must be stupid. Someone who runs 26:30's on normal cross country course (not Stanford or your local "7k" 8k race a la Auburn) is probably a 30:50-31:30 track 10k guy.

since the rest of us are so stupid, would you mind explaining how someone running 5:19/mile for an 8k suddenly runs 5:00-5:04/mile for a 10k? how do you define a "normal" cross-country course? a series of sand dunes at 12,000 feet?

Over a period of 2-3 years I repeatedly smashed 2 D3 runners every time I raced them (2-3 times a year). These guys consistently finished in the top 15 at D3 nationals. I was running 26:30's.

in 2008 the 15th place d3 guy was 24:48

2007, 24:58

2006, 27:14 (mud course, yuot ran 26:31)

2005, 25:56

2004, 25:07

2003, 25:35

2002, 25:34

2001, 24:37

2000, 25:25

i'm sure any of these gentlemen would love to tangle with you and your awesome 26:30 skillz. please don't smash them too harshly.

The OP could have ran on ten of the schools that ran in the D3 nationals this past year. I have no idea of how many schools he could have ran on that didn't make it to nationals. I'm guessing a lot. There are plenty of scholarships out there for him to get. If he's running 26:30 right now, there is no reason he couldn't be running in the 25's next year with the right coaching. If he wants to go to a D1 school, he can give Purdue a call.

If you're running 26:30 at age 20 your primary goal in college should be to get the best education you can, not the bet runner you can be. You may not want to hear it, but your best bet for improving the most is with a good coach in DIII rather than getting hammered in workouts everyday in DI. I'm sure there are plenty of great DI coaches with a history of taking 26:30 guys down to 24:30 but we probably don't hear about them as much as the DIII coaches who do it so it's probably easier to find the right coach in DIII and to have a group of guys training at your pace.

mediocre D3 runner wrote:

You are correct.

There is nothing wrong with saying D3 is legit because it obviously is more "legit" than people on this thread are giving it credit for.

The fact is that 26:30 is not that great, even in D3 where people like to think 28:00 will get you to nationals.

The teams that make nationals in D3 tend to have a top 7 ALL under 26, usually with averages in the low 25 range.

Yeah, my team had that and didn't win conference. But you're right D3 is legit I don't know what all this fuss is about Rupp and Oregon when the studs in D3 are cruising low 25's.

The fact that you have state how "legit" your division is is an indicator on how not "legit" your division is.

You just aren't following.

I'm not trying to defend any division.

Just trying to make the point that although he thinks he wants D1, to put it in comparison he wouldn't even do well at "baby nationals".

I agree with the poster that says this guy needs to look for a good education and a good coach. A coach that cares about the guys running his times. That could be a lot of different teams across the divisions.