DIII Outdoor Predictions Thread

I forgot about Wash U. Definitely another good place to check out. You'll have to make a choice about size at some point though. The UAA is going to give you a bigger school feel, while the NESCAC and Haverford (Pomona too; Will Leer seems to have managed to improve in college...) are going to give you the stereotypical small liberal arts college feel.

lots of good choices wrote:

Depending on what you're looking for major-wise and geographically, there are several nice choices in the midwest.

North Central is a tremendous running school that has developed a million runners over the years.

Several of the WIAC schools have strong running programs - Oshkosh, Lacrosse, Stevens point

Wheaton has been successful in recent years distance wise.

Wartburg had a tremendous national meet distance-wise.

Ohio Northern has been to XC nats the past two years as a team, has Jimmy O'Brien and a nice group to train with.

Heidelberg has done well the past few years.

Calvin is a powerhouse in DIII. A little too religous for my taste, but to each his own.

DePauw and Anderson have both had moderate success in recent years.

Point being, there are a lot of solid distance running programs in the region.

If you scored 33 on the ACT you can do a lot better than these schools academically. Get out of the mid-west and look at Haverford or Williams like people have suggested. With times like that though, I'm surprised no DI schools have shown interest. What schools have you contacted? I am pretty sure all the Ivy Leagues would be happy to look at a 1:54 guy (especially since you have the scores/grades to get in) as would many other DI schools.

Hey who was that dude in the 800 this past weekend with the sick mustauche and shoulder hair? He looked like a badass.

video of the men's 800m is up:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jWvqDdLyP5I

If you want to stay in the midwest and engineering is in your future nothing beats Rose Hulman.

Septic System Manager wrote:

LaCrosse will never be a power again. All the national championships were impressive, but as soon as the admissions standards at LaCrosse were raised a few years ago all those stupid jocks they recruited for field events and jumps were no longer eligible for admission. Now the distance guys will have to carry the team and that won't happen as Oshkosh and Plateville are better coached.

Right, because Nate Olson, Andrew Rock, Derek Toshner, Danny Tutskey, Marcus Walgrave, and Michael Queensland were all throwers and jumpers..

Their problem is had they've had three coaches in three years ever since Guthrie moved up to UW-Madison. If they had stable coaching, they could recruit the talent like they used to and they'd be fine.

high schooler now wrote:

This is off topic but for a midwest high schooler with prs of 49.8 (split), 1:54.7, 4:21 where is the best d3 school to go to if I want to improve a lot. No D1 schools ever have shown interest in me. My gpa is 3.8 and I got a 33 on the act.

Great running programs, Midwest:

North Central, UW-Oshkosh, Calvin.

Great academic schools, Midwest: WashU, U of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon.

Before anyone starts crying that their school is being slighted, do note by "great" I mean consistently in the mix at Nationals/Top 25 National Universities according to USN&WR.

Pick what you want. You can have both at a few of these schools - particularly Carnegie Mellon, Williams, and WashU. Unlike you get stuck at Case Western or Conn. College, you really can't go wrong in the UAA or NESCAC.

how often wrote:Pick what you want. You can have both at a few of these schools - particularly Carnegie Mellon, Williams, and WashU. Unlike you get stuck at Case Western or Conn. College, you really can't go wrong in the UAA or NESCAC.

Williams is the only one of those three that has already proven itself as a program in terms of competing nationally. WashU is definitely on the up-and-up--Stiles is doing a great job--but it hasn't made its presence felt on the national scene. Carnegie Mellon has some decent nationals finishes in xc and Harvey has had a lot of success in the mile/1500, but they haven't brought home a trophy that I'm aware of.

Ultimately, if you want truly proven national competitiveness and a place where 33 on the ACT fits in, it's Williams or Haverford. Period. Farwell and Donnelly are two of the finest coaches in d3, both with numerous national champions from middle distance through long distance and xc, and both programs looking strong in the last four years (though Haverford seems to be making more noise in xc at least right now). And both schools are consistently top ten in any ranking of liberal arts schools you look at.

You make good points, well said. I happen to be partial to the UAA for reasons that aren't too difficult to figure out. I think, however, that we would both agree that it really depends on what interests him so far as a major and a career, as clearly there are a lot of things that schools like WashU or CMU are more known for (sciences, engineering, etc.) than Williams or Haverford. All four are excellent schools, but in different areas and scales.

Williams and WashU, it should be noted, are to be applauded for balancing athletics and academics as both are very routinely in the mix for the the overall NACAC title.

If you want to go to a UAA school and love big cities then NYU is no doubt the answer

Also note that the past two years they STILL would have won conference if all of the other schools had combined and ran as one team. Personally I think CMU is on the rise though...WashU not so much, there best days are behind them

Mathhhhh wrote:

If you want to go to a UAA school and love big cities then NYU is no doubt the answer

Also note that the past two years they STILL would have won conference if all of the other schools had combined and ran as one team. Personally I think CMU is on the rise though...WashU not so much, there best days are behind them

I don't want this to turn into a thread with people just sticking up for their own teams, but as a Wash U runner who just graduated I disagree with you. I ran on the Wash U team that made Nationals in '06, and that team didn't have near the upside that they will have over the next four years. Their last two recruiting classes have been tremendous, and I'm not too proud to admit that they have a good chance to be much better than any Wash U team to this point in the Stiles-era. From my perspective, which is as "inside" as you can get, Wash U's best days most certainly are not behind them.

UW-OshkoshCall Coach Zupanc at 920 424 7140.He is the best.

high schooler now wrote:

This is off topic but for a midwest high schooler with prs of 49.8 (split), 1:54.7, 4:21 where is the best d3 school to go to if I want to improve a lot. No D1 schools ever have shown interest in me. My gpa is 3.8 and I got a 33 on the act.

YOU ELITIST PIGDOG

Dick Tracy wrote:

UW-Oshkosh

Call Coach Zupanc at 920 424 7140.

He is the best.

high schooler now wrote:

This is off topic but for a midwest high schooler with prs of 49.8 (split), 1:54.7, 4:21 where is the best d3 school to go to if I want to improve a lot. No D1 schools ever have shown interest in me. My gpa is 3.8 and I got a 33 on the act.

Please stop and try to consider the best interest of this kid..assuming he's not trolling. Most of the replies so far have most likely been from alumni of those schools, trying to get them to go to their alma mater for athletic gain. While that loyalty is admirable, it is very shortsighted.

This kid has a 33 ACT. If he were to decide to attend UW-Oshkosh, it would just plainly be a terrible life choice. Nothing against them personally, but be real. They just don't compare at all academically to a UChicago or Carnegie Mellon.

If wants DIII, it's gotta be UAA or NESCAC. There are plenty of very qualified programs and coaches in those conferences.

I just checked Raceberryjam and they had the honor rolls for the CCIW (North Central's conference) and the UAA (Wash U, Carnegie Mellon, etc).

I noticed the MIAC- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was significantly deeper in the 800 and 1500M. St. Thomas has 4 runners who have run 1:51.XX (Sames), 1:52.xx (Boumeester), 1:54 (Dowe and Brandon) and ALL of them are back next year. They finished 3rd in the Drake DMR and 4x8.

Boumeester ran 3:50 for 1500M and if he hadn't been tripped at the NCAA meet likely would have run well below 3:50.

They have a strong tradition in track and cross country although their cross country program has fallen off a bit the past couple of years.

Check the history of middle distance runners at St. Thomas and you will find they rank right up there at the D3 level.

On top of all of this the Twin Cities is a great area to be a college student.

The kid has an ACT of 33. Why would he go to any of those schools?

Actually Carleton is ranked ahead (academically) of all of the UAA schools, and Macalester is a great college, too.

My ACT score was 32 and I go to St Thomas.... I know some of my teammates had high scores too...

Higher ACT scores= more scholarship money

[quote]solid seasons wrote:

Actually Carleton is ranked ahead (academically) of all of the UAA schools [quote]

Huh? There are separate lists for national universities and liberal arts schools. The top UAA schools compare favorably to Ivy League schools (i.e. National Universities). Liberal arts schools are compared to just that - liberal arts schools.

Somebody else has already said it best. If you want an elite "university" feel, then go the UAA route (huge endowments, research opportunities, terminal degrees offered). If you want an elite "college" feel, then go the liberal arts route (intimate campus, community feel, broad education). But it's comparing apples and oranges unless you are talking about schools in the same categories.

National University Rankings:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php

Liberal Arts Rankings:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1libartco_brief.php