College programs that punch above their weight

where are you getting these 5k times? track last year?

For atheltics yes, but go look at what the school offers academically/through the school, not the NCAA, and they have a big fund for international students that pays for them. You can't have 30 internationals on a roster if your school isn't providing some type of relief or aid for cost.

https://www.lacctic.com/

Can't give them any aid that regular students don't get.

I see. where are they getting those times? or rather how are they calculating those times since they are not actual times.

BYU in a unique situation. They are the #1 school for Mormons. Many Mormons in Utah and Southwest are 4:10/8:50 runners. Some are so commited with their parents that they will still go to BYU and run club, even with no roster spot.

It's not about recruiting, or local Utah kids, it's just managing the pipeline of excellent Mormon runners.

Only similar school is really Stanford, who gets first pick of all the top kids with 1300+ SAT. Simply Stanford is best academic schools offering athletic scholarships. That usually locks them in with 2-3 top 10 kids each class.

Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Muslims, Atheists all consider a wide range of colleges, rather than the single minded aspiration for BYU for Mormons.

Portland, small conference sea-level school. Overshadowed in-state by Oregon, small enrollment and not even a track facility on campus.

I feel like a lot of the midwest Big 10 schools like Ohio State and Illinios punch way below their potential.

Montana and Montana St are not funded better than NAU. Montana St is very similar, Montana is middle of the pack for the Big Sky.

I'd agree with this, particularly tOSU (huge sports culture, elite high schoolers in-state year after year, Columbus is a cool town) and Minnesota

Also always wonder why Arizona and ASU aren't more competitive - at least at mid-d, if nothing else - because I'd figure they should get some spillover talent from California and Colorado, plus the occasional Midwest kid who likes the idea of warm winters

UM is barely at 3k feet. that's not altitude.

Harvard has no business being this good.

UMASS Lowell

The talent they get isn’t that good but they develop it extremely well. MA mostly sucks at running (other than them and Harvard). Nobody really wants to attend Umass Lowell, but I feel like with how good they’ve been in the past decade that’s changing, for runners at least.

Navy. What they're able to do with the talent they get is incredible. Both Cantello and Lanzel. Many recruits are 4:25 guys. Respectable, but not people you would expect to compete at a high level in D1. And Cantello and Lanzel turn them into 4 flat guys. That's because of how tough the Navy program makes them

Wartburg is ranked 2nd in D3. It is a tiny private school in Iowa. The team is loaded with 9:45-10:00 guys who now run 14:15. Their recruits are nowhere near those of Pomona, Hopkins, MIT, North Central, or Lacrosse.

FYI Jenna Hutchins is not Mormon. I doubt she is not the only one.

99% of the dtudent body is Mormon. How do you know what religion she is? Has anyone asked her recently?

And again.

Not even close to fully funded. Like A LONG way away from being fully funded.

True story. We alum of the program lobbied hard to get some crumbs. In recent years, the athletic department has done a little better, but in terms of funding, I would say Gonzaga is well below half of a fully funded program. Alumni are doing our best to help financially, but the results are a miracle (in my opinion). Tyson is doing the best work of his career to get GU to Nationals 4 years in a row. Jake Stewart also doing a masterful job in building up the women's program. They're headed to nationals for the first time in a decade.