Can a male 5 minute miler walk on to any D1 team in the country?

I still say no. Wofford’s published walk-on standard is 4:30. Creighton and Seton Hall don’t even have track. He asked about a 5 minute “miler”, not someone who can run minutes for a mile being able to run xc.

Predictor wrote:

I still say no. Wofford’s published walk-on standard is 4:30. Creighton and Seton Hall don’t even have track. He asked about a 5 minute “miler”, not someone who can run minutes for a mile being able to run xc.

Some 800m runners with quick 400m times are granted a cross-country exemption. No one desiring to race 1500m during spring track season are granted a cross-country exemption. A person wishing to race spring track must run fall cross-country. In high school, cross country and track may have different coaches. In college, cross-country is part of the track program. You are splitting hairs for no reason.

That wasn’t my intent. It sounds like he wants to be a miler. I was just pointing out that those schools don’t even have track so there is no team to attempt to walk on to. The other one has a standard published so I would respect it.

Winthrop (if you're from SC), USC Upstate, Anderson

In the right situation yes...I ran for one of the worst D1 universities and in the midst of coaching changes no one spent anytime recruiting and everyone for the exception of me and 1 other runner quit from previous yr. When school started in August we only had 3 guys on the team. The new coach ended up pulling people off the street. A 17:30 5k guy, a 28ish 8k guy that hadn't been training and a guy that had never even run for a team and could barely manage mile repeats under 7 min!!! His best 8k that year was just under 35 min!!! Our # 3 that year was just under 28 min at his best race!

Let me ask you this, why look for the 1 or 2 exceptions for D1 schools where they might be able to run? Why does the division matter at all? Is it because they want to say "I run D1"? At 5:00 they aren't getting a scholarship, so really the division should make no difference whatsoever. Plus its not like a D1 school where 5:00 makes the team is going to have superior coaching. The division should make no difference.

[3.1]Miles Davis wrote:

Let me ask you this, why look for the 1 or 2 exceptions for D1 schools where they might be able to run? Why does the division matter at all? Is it because they want to say "I run D1"? At 5:00 they aren't getting a scholarship, so really the division should make no difference whatsoever. Plus its not like a D1 school where 5:00 makes the team is going to have superior coaching. The division should make no difference.

I'm guessing OP or as OP stated, "A friend" must live near a D1 school. Said 5 minute mile runner may have already been accepted by local D1 university based on academic record. Said person is weighing the odds of walking on cross-country team in August, IMO.

Yes wrote:

In the right situation yes...I ran for one of the worst D1 universities and in the midst of coaching changes no one spent anytime recruiting and everyone for the exception of me and 1 other runner quit from previous yr. When school started in August we only had 3 guys on the team. The new coach ended up pulling people off the street. A 17:30 5k guy, a 28ish 8k guy that hadn't been training and a guy that had never even run for a team and could barely manage mile repeats under 7 min!!! His best 8k that year was just under 35 min!!! Our # 3 that year was just under 28 min at his best race!

Not bad! I was in a similar situation but was the only returner. That year our 5th guy didn't break 33 & our 7th man never broke 38 & got lost on the conference course because they started breaking it down before he started the final loop because everyone forgot he was out there. Yes, this was DI. No, this wasn't a 10k.

I have had some pretty unassuming walk-ons run well for my team (NCAA D1 bubble team). We had three guys who never broke 16:00 for 3 miles (even slower for 5k) run pretty decently (one with 14:49 5k, another with 9:12 steeple, another with 24:40s on legit XC course). That isn't the same as 5:00 mile but it is not something most coaches would really let on their team. They earned their way through a team time trial in the summer. I think 5:00 will be a tough sell for most D1 coaches unless they came from a sprint background maybe.

I do know of a runner right now who never broke 4:30 in high school for the 1600m. He went to a certain team and ran on their club farm team until he made it to the actual D1 squad. He has ran 14:01 and made NCAAs in XC as an individual. Pretty impressive. You just never know sometimes. I think the thing these guys all had in common though was absolute crappy training and were underdeveloped both from a physical and training standpoint.

I ran with NIU club team early 90s and we became buddies with guys at UIC. They were one of the few teams we could beat in XC when meets let us score. UIC were also more of a club team but with an actual coach. They definitely had guys who couldn't break 5 in a mile back then.

ironside wrote:

It's not impossible for a male with a personal mile best of 5:00 for a mile to race 34:45 for 10K XC. That's where a walk on would start. If D1 XC coaches know you only have a mile or 1600m PB of 5:00, you will have to impress coaching staff that you can keep up in XC.

Yeah, I walked on with a 5:00 mile PR and ran in the high 27's for 8K XC, at an Ivy. I think my fastest PR was a 1:14 half, on the roads. Plenty of guys in D1 were slower than me, although I was definitely one of the slowest!

Wisconsin-Green Bay

https://www.tfrrs.org/teams/WI_college_m_Wis_Green_Bay.html

The Pope wrote:

Not bad! I was in a similar situation but was the only returner. That year our 5th guy didn't break 33 & our 7th man never broke 38 & got lost on the conference course because they started breaking it down before he started the final loop because everyone forgot he was out there. Yes, this was DI. No, this wasn't a 10k.

Oh...c'mon now, that's sad. What D1 school was this? I mean really here; a D1 guy running so slow that the race officials forgot he was still out there?...SAD!

It is likely that all except the top couple of HBUs would let a 5:00min guy walk on to the program; they may not let him run track the first few years, but they would be able to use him in XC. Those schools typically have trouble with depth, unless they are putting a lot of scholarships into distance runners like Grambling or FAMU.

Point Park University, last year or two years ago I was at an indoor meet and they had a kid go 5:19.

I'm sure you could walk onto a D1 school somewhere. There are a lot of teams out there and some REALLY bad ones. Who needs D1 though? Go to Division 2 Rollins college in Florida and be their #1

Mens 5k Team Avg: 22:07 (#1 Runner - 19:57 )

Women's 5k Team Avg: 30:02 (#1 Runner - 25:10)

I'm sure there are worse, but haven't seen anything like this before..

Results for the above post: http://elitetiming.net/live-results/2017/20170929-flr/

I went to URI. One of my friends came in freshman year with an 800m time of 2:02 and he walked on. Ended up running 1:55 sophomore year and made it to the A10 indoor finals

As reported above there are some D-1 schools which beg to have athletes and will take walk-ons who haven't achieved fast times. To be a D-1 school in one sport they must have a certain number of D-1 athletic teams in other sports. And perhaps in those few if any scholarships will be given. In most D-1 schools there are limits to how many male athletes they can have on a team. It's about balancing it with the number of spots on the corresponding women's team. Male athletes who truly have potential are often not given a chance. One of my friends in recent years ran in open competition during his frosh year. After one meet at his own school he sat down with the coach he told him that as much as he admired the athlete's work ethic and praised his performance he was only allowed so many on his roster. He already had 5 runners who were underclassmen faster than my friend. My friend ended up transferring and subsequently competed for another school of the same size.