GOOD D 3 MIDDLE/DISTANCE PROGRAMS

St. John's University (Minnesota)

Several All Americans both in Distance/Mid Distance in the past 4 years.

Looked very good at Cross Nat's with a decent young team, and has a very strong freshmen class coming in this fall (as noted by other MIAC coaches).

Look for them to dominate the D3 running scene for the next few years.

SJU is a great Liberal Arts college with almost every major under the sun.

Even better- its up in central Minnesota where the weather is great, and most of the running is done on trails/dirt roads.

You'd be cheating yourself if you didn't at least check it out.

www.gojohnnies.com

I would think Calvin College in Michigan should be mentioned.

Unless you're going to be a poly sci or english major, these are probably the academic rankings you should be looking at:

4. California Institute of Technology

4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology

9. University of Chicago

12. Washington University in St. Louis

16. Johns Hopkins University(MD)

18. Emory University(GA)

21. Carnegie Mellon University(PA)

27. Tufts University(MA)

31. Brandeis University(MA)

34. New York University

34. University of Rochester(NY)

38. Case Western Reserve Univ.(OH)

I don't go to Haverford, so an unbiased opinion here, but Tom Donnelly is without doubt the best mid-distance coach in Division III. The results speak for themselves.

In addition, Haverford is no slouch academically, in fact, I'd say 95% of letsrun posters couldn't get in (especially when you consider 33% are functionally retarded). So if you can get in, I'd say Haverford is your best bet.

Williams also has a great mid-distance tradition (although who knows what may happen there since the coach is getting fired) and is clearly a good school. I would be hesitant to judge Pomona based on one stud. With Williams or Haverford, you're pretty much guaranteed in any given year to have at least a couple sub 4 1500m runners. I wouldn't count on it at Pomona, and Leer graduates this year (plus do you really want to get slaughtered by a sub-4 minute miler in every workout.)

You talking about Ralph White @ Williams?

RE Williams, why is Farrell getting fired?

I also don't go to Haverford. I don't attend a D-III school.

Williams

MIT

Haverford

For running, especially middle distance running, Haverford trumps all of them.

jzb wrote:

(plus do you really want to get slaughtered by a sub-4 minute miler in every workout.)

That's how I got faster.

Being a graduate of Pomona College I would like to add my two cents to this discussion of good/great Division III middle distance programs.

To begin, I find it difficult to validate the claim that Pomona has only one "stud." Does anyone remember Crosby Freeman? Granted he wasn't a middle distance star, but he was certainly a great runner. Additionally, Pomona has had 4 sub-1:53 guys over the past two years (two of them were freshmen this past year). They currently have a frosh who just ran 9:30 for the 3,000m SC as well as Sean McCarron who is a solid steepler at 9:13.

That being said, longtime coach, friend, mentor, and absolutely amazing human being Pat Mulcahy is on the way out after over 30 years heading the program. I have had the opportunity to meet the coach that will most likely take over the position a few times and not only is he an incredible coach with strong credentials but he is also a fun person, like Mulcahy. He will most definitely keep the tradition of excellence going at Pomona.

Another huge positive for Pomona is its location in beautiful Southern California. Not only is the running great, but you never have to wear anything more than shorts and a t-shirt. The team runs basically no indoor meets (Leer was the schools first indoor track athlete) and their outdoor track campaign starts in early February.

Plus the school provides all of the alcohol you could ever want at parties.

A side note, Occidental is a great school and is developing a strong program right now. But the loss of their coach, Troy Engle, is pretty rough. He is almost single handedly responsible for the team that is there right now.

My advice would be that if you are interested in attending a small liberal arts school in SoCal and want a strong mid-distance program look at these two schools... if you can get into them.

bump

The last couple years they have been down but their down is much better then most other colleges. Getting 1st, 2nd, and 1st in Drake 4x8 I wouldn\'t call terrible and warn people to stay away from it. Also the youth is tremendous. They have 2 Freshman at 1:54, 3 Freshman sub 4:00 in the 1500, 5 Fresh/Soph under 8:40 in the 3000, not to mention some great steeple and 5k runners. Also in cross country they have 6+ coaches for the athletes and they do not have 60 guys on their team.

ppxc1500,

When is the coach leaving?

I went to grad school at Claremont and ran with the Pomona guys. The coach is still there and is a pretty good character with a lot of real-world knowledge and good sense of humor etc. Certainly not every year, but Pomona has had a good distance program consistently. The editor at Track & Field News, Sieg Lindstrom went to Pomona and as a good runner 9with some injury problems). While we were there Armstrong ran about 3:44/45 for 1500m (and 14:19/5000 without doing a lot of distance work), while Nick Buchan(spelling?) won the SC in 8:55. The academics are also quite good and extend well beyond Poli-Sci and English. It is pretty good training weather throughout the school year and smog is not like it was decades ago when I was there.

Cortland State.

This years best 5 KM times; 14:26.63, 14:33.34, 14:41.21

10KM times this year; 29:55.14, 30:13.15, 30:15.21, 30:34.43, 30:47.56

I think Pat is planning a "phase into retirement" program starting next year, slowly bringing the new coach into the program. That being said, he lives about 1 mile from the track and I see him being around until the end of time. He simply loves track and field.

yes, the 5k and 10k are middle-distance events jzs and are definately relavent for the kid who started the thread. good call, dumbass.

make a decision for yourself, and quit having every person come on here and tell you how great they and their schools are. hurrray all of you are so smart and talented. keep up the diluted self-confidence. i'm pretty impressed so far.

that's what she said.

BUMP!!!

check out what happens at that big upcoming national meet!

also, as anyone mentioned TCNJ?

From my experience running for a crappy D1 team in the Northeast I would say the following D3 teams are pretty good bets in XC. Or at least they beat us alot.

TCNJ- New coach, great rising school, perenially strong program.

SUNY Cortland, only good for gym teachers

NYU- they look like a bunch of bohemians but its another great school

Haverford- Have to agree with them being a great school and a great team especially when it comes to milers.