D1 confusion

The fact that the coach gave you clear expectations and you tried to immediately find ways to undermine them shows me that either you or your kid are not going to thrive at the college level. Instead of complaining about what should or shouldn't be, it's time to run 4:15 in the 1600, buddy.

This isn't true. I'm an assistant coach on a national qualifying program and we bring in at least one athlete around 4:13-4:16 per year. Sure, it's low dollar or walk on level, but to say what you said is simply incorrect. Most of the time it depends on roster spots available. We'll take a chance on a nice kid who has run 4:15/1:52 if we feel there is upside there.

You guys live and die by times. A 4:14 kid on 30 miles per week and minimal speed development is worth more than a 4:10 kid on 80 mpw and a great hs coach.

You are not truthful.

Unfortunately for your narrative I am being truthful. I don't care if you believe me because it's the truth and you have to deal with it on your own.

Either not truthful.or idiotic. There are many sub 4:10 kids begging for walkon spots. If you are signing 4:15 kids, you are not smart and your team sucks.

by my count there are about 80 in the class of '25 who went sub 4:10 in the 1600. there are over 300 d1 programs. sure not all of those programs are amazing. sure 4:09 might not get you to stanford. but do the math, no way sub 4:10's are begging to be walk ons

Your math is correct but your assumptions aren't. Less than 1/2 of teams are fully funded. Even for the ones who are, they had 12.6 scholarships for throws, jumps, hurdles, sprints, mid d, and distance. That's about 2 scholarships per event group. If an average program has a 4 minute miler and 2 more at 4:05, and a steeple, and some 5k and 10k guys all splitting 2 scholarships, what the heck is 4:10 going to do for them. And you forgot that a large percentage of elite distance runners are foreign and they demand big scholarships.

You are not smart, nowhere in my post did I say we don't bring in 4:10 kids. I just said we occasionally bring in 4:15 kids depending on their situation. Do you know how to comprehend what you're reading?

Nor did I. I said you are a fool to bring in a 4:15 kid when there are 4:09 kids begging for a place to walkon. But you are not serious. No 4:15 tye kid is getting on a real team this year. You will find a random 4:15 PR but it won't be a 4:15 type kid because he will be a footlocker qualifier or an 8:53 3200.

This.

My daughter is great at compartmentalizing, getting the work done and then moving on to whatever else she has to do or some other leisure activity. I told her when she started that if she just got the work over with ASAP and moved on, it would never take her more than 2 hours a day. Prior to all this she was doing gymnastics for years and the practices were often up to 3 hours, so running was an easy sell because it would only take half the time gymnastics did. Right now her recovery days are something like 7 miles in 1 hour, so if she just ran recovery pace all the time for 90 minutes a day, that would be over 70 miles a week. It's not hard to pack a 60 mile week with occasional weightlifting or other cross training into 90 minutes a day.

I was more of the heavy mind type and it cost me a lot when I was young. I watch out for my kids to make sure that whatever they're involved in, they don't become over obsessed with it.

My daughter is not too worried about running in college. She's really started to enjoy the process of running and racing and is starting to think about what happens if she doesn't reach the level necessary for whatever college she goes to. I've told her that it's more important to go to the right school than to go to one where you can run. If she still wants to run I can always coach her for road racing/marathon, and it's not hard to find training partners anymore with Strava, etc.

by your standards of what you are considering a good d1 team, most of those teams are sharing more than 2 scholarships with distance. “what’s a 4:10 gonna do for them” idk maybe develop into faster?? you think teams only give scholarship to high schoolers that are day 1 best on the team?

Was not trying to undermine coach, just trying to understand. Yes, this coach knows my kid's coach and they have discussed him. My son knows it's a long shot but won't be devastated if it doesn't happen. He will end up running somewhere even if it's not one of his top choices. He is looking at academic fit as well since he's an excellent student so far in high school and has managed varsity sports and a demanding school schedule. We will see what happens. According to my son's coach, there is still time and a chance to get to a DI and that many athletes sign in the spring.

Yes that is the way it works. Otherwise the scoring guys are not getting anything.

Not anymore. Teams are cutting rosters. They won't be signing in the spring. Why haven't you provided any times from the conference?

What do you mean by conference times? The school's conference times? Like the TRFFS times?

You liking the prestige of the school is not the same as academic fit. Your kid wants to major in meteorology or something, that only so many schools have, is fit. The school having a particular prof to study under, is fit. Him liking that campus, fit. if we're talking prestige -- and your big thing was "elite" here -- there are usually several at each level, you'd look just as good for going to any of them, and if one is disinterested, you walk down the street. You don't suggest you only "fit" there and bang away at the closed door.

I mean, far as I am concerned, if they aren't responding to my emails (and I mean to me) that's not "fit" and that's not my favorite. I knew this post felt like the girl who wants to go to Vandy but has never gotten an email back from the coach for some reason. it made rational sense. But you got a no. Move on. If you have to insist, then you better have 10 other schools lined up, and this one just idling in the background.

And then as I was getting at in terms of timeline, yeah, I am sure guys get grabbed in the spring. But at Alcorn State or something. If you are really competing for elite academic schools' running teams, the d1 ones, the roster limit d3s, that happens faster than you acknowledge.

Put differently, if you're chasing something like Williams, you will know about that long before you can run a 1600 time in the spring. I wasn't an early commit and I was sorted by March. Your timeline doesn't work. It's a nice "Rudy" or "Rocky" idea. But generally everyone else doesn't wait around while you wait to see if some disinterested school changes their mind next spring.

since you're fighting us every step of the way, i think y'all will learn this the hard way. just like vandy girl not noticing 4 more months had passed with no response. you'll be doing nescac and UAA prereads, and being urged to go ED, and if you go ED, that's a decision to make in the fall or winter -- not spring. you'll have to decide who else to apply to for regular admissions if that doesn't work. do i waste one on a school not in touch with my kid. winter. XC is done, fall. people start sending admissions letters and scholarship financial aid offers. they want a deposit and scholarship commitment by x date. winter.

yeah, i knew some guys at no-name d1s or who ended up in the marines who were chatting with track teams during spring season. but the good ones and smart ones were sorted fairly early. your scenario in your head works better for some average smarts kid or late athletic bloomer who wasn't sure they were going to college. yeah, they might get snagged in april.

and that's all setting aside that whatever coach-coach talk you want to throw around, he's not actually talking to you or your kid. you're confusing shop talk with recruitment. i had this one ohio team come watch me play soccer and talk to my coach, too. they weren't interested, either. i could tell people the coaches chatted about me and it's literally true but not really honest with myself or others. they were an exception. i crossed them off. on to the next one. and they had a lousy record frosh year so it was dodging a bullet.

Ok, my son patiently explained it to me, haha. Without saying the conference, his top choice school only sent 3 or 4 distance athletes to conference, fastest got 1:49. He says this school "sprinters are some of the best but distance is mid." So maybe that's why he might have a chance to be signed?