help help wrote:
Intriguing. But you missed some because I just l0oked in Milesplit. There were more than 200 seniors who broke 5 in the spring when counting 1500, 1600, mile indoor and outdoor. There are many more who broke 5 in prior years even though they didn't do it senior year.
I am another one who has a daughter in the same boat. She is a senior who ran just over 5 minutes in the spring on 20 MPW. She is not quite as good at cross country as some of the other 5 minute 1600 girls though. We went through the process with her brother a few years ago. He ran 4:20 as a junior and 4:15 as a senior. He received more interest than she is receiving. He received a walk-on spot at a power 5 school that does not have a very good track of cross country team. My daughter has not real interest currently and she is very nervous at the moment. Some of the other parents and girls here sound like they are going through the same thing. My daughter contacted many coaches via email or by completing their questionnaire. She did about a dozen in the summer to her favorite schools but received no responses. She expanded her search to about 50 schools later in the summer. One Ivy responded and 2 mid majors but no Power 5 schools responded. About October, she contacted even more schools. She has been offered no official visits. She hasn't even been really offered a roster spot anywhere. The few coaches who have responded have all told her to wait until track season and they will reassess if they have a roster spot. This makes it very difficult to apply to colleges and make decisions. She is at the point where she is likely to apply to a few top academic schools and give up running. She has a very high ACT and is a 4.0 student so she is likely to be accepted to nearly any school. I admit that I expected the process to be easier for a girl than it was for our son. It is sad to think that her career may come to an end when I think she is capable of being a 4:20 1500 runner in college if she gets her mileage up to 40 MPW.
I stopped tracking after the spring season since 90+% of girls commit in the Fall of their Senior Year. I am sure that there were quite a few girls that went under 5 their Senior campaign (my daughter was one) but that wouldn't have been considered by college coaches recruiting in the summer and fall. At best it may get them more money if the coach has any left to give in the Spring.
Like a few others, I am surprised that she hasn't gotten any activity. Maybe she started too late in the process. My daughter started contacting coaches over the winter of her Junior year and really ramped up activity in February and March. She filled out questionnaires and followed up with a simple email with her Grad Year, PRs and GPA in the subject line. The body of the email was short and to the point. She expressed interest in the program and had bullet points of her accomplishments and PRs, including when and where she achieved them. She was also lucky enough to have her State XC win filmed, so she included a link to that video plus a couple of other race videos. Then she closed with something like I would love the opportunity to be a Tiger, Sooner, Cowboy, etc.
My advice to any other parents who read this is to start the process early. Filling out the questionnaire gets you into their database. Then follow up with either an email and/or a phone call. Be persistent. D1 coaches are busy people.
There are definitely spots out there. 272 D1 programs competed in the most recent D1 XC regionals. The average team size is conservatively around 12. If they turn over a quarter of their runners every year, then that is 3 spots each year per team or over 800 spots. Of course those are just averages -- 14 girls committed to Tennessee just this fall alone.