I run a 17:50 5K. Is there a division 1 or 2 school I can run at?

I ran almost the exact same time when I was a senior in high school, but at that time I wasn't even a runner, so I never even considered running in college. I walked on to my NAIA school's XC and Track team as a first year transfer this year, and I'm running low 16's, and hopefully mid 15's by the end of the season.

I say this because it seems like you're more concerned with running at a school with a decently good name (D1 or D2) than with running well in a decent program. You can walk at a D3 or NAIA school with a good program, work your way up, and end up with a solid college running career. I've seen numerous guys do it; guys running high 14's as Sophomores, stuff like that, all while getting some great one-on-one coaching and running against some solid guys.

Just remember that it's not so much about a having the title of being a D1 or D2 runner; what's more important is that you get some decent training/coaching and face some good competition. That's what will be the deciding factor in what you get out of your college running career.

So does anyone else think this guy is either very dumb or a troll? He says he wants a DI or II school mainly because of the academics. As other posters have pointed out, academics at many DIII schools are much better than nearly all DI and all DII schools. Not to be critical, but these times are not good. He would have been been at the back of my DIII team.

Run SB wrote:

Just remember that it's not so much about a having the title of being a D1 or D2 runner; what's more important is that you get some decent training/coaching and face some good competition. That's what will be the deciding factor in what you get out of your college running career.

i would agree with this. i think a strong d3 might be best. make sure it's a strong program though and not like intramurals

...and they could not win the Michigan girls High School XC meet.

Just like the rest of us 31 flat 10k'ers.....NOT 8k... learned we sucked and moved on with our lives the better off he'll be.

Haile Gebrselassie WR 5k splits:

14:44

14:41

14:50

14:55

14:49

14:42

14:30

i'm a girl. graduated high school with a 5k pr of barely under 20, so, not that great. i went to a small d1 school where, at the time, upper 19s would have had me fighting for the 7th spot. however, i purposely picked a "bad" school that had just gotten a new coach who was in the process of creating a new team; prior to my era it was not serious at all, people didn't train over the summer, etc, so of course they sucked. but with the new coach and other teammates like me (not super talented, but hard working and wanting to improve) we were never less than third in the conference during my time and i ended up improving to the point of all conference honors.

our boys team had a separate coach and guys with similar attitude to the 'old' girls team of not caring, not training, etc. if i were you i would never want to go to a school in that environment even if your times were more compatible because it'd be a lot harder to improve when no one else cares or is pushing you. our guys even made fun of the guys who came in and actually wanted to work hard.

so here's my advice:

a. find a d1 or 2 coach who will let you on even if you'd be way back and get ready to work your arrrrseeee of. in my experience, some coaches laughed at me, some never returned my calls/emails, and others were surprisingly nice given how fast their teams were and how slow i was. if you show the coach you understand what kind of commitment it is and that you are willing to work hard they might be more likely to let you on.

or

b. find a d3 school with a solid tradition of developing runners. i think that says a lot-- and there are some d3 teams that are REALLY good.

just don't go to a sucky running school just b/c they run times that you could come close to now.

also, regarding science, since i'm a science grad student now.....get good grades wherever you go. a smaller (and probably d3 then) school will probably offer you more individualized attention and less competition for research experience. i second whoever said its your grades that are going to matter most in terms of getting into grad school. and there are some very prestigious small schools, ones that i'd say have a better academic reptation than many/most bigger d1/public schools.

MIT has a decent XC/track team, and is a great academic school.

As a Chemistry Ph.D. at who is a professor at a D1 med school, here is some heartfelt advice. 1. Chase girls (or whatever floats your boat) in college, not 5k times. Later in life you can always chase the times, but chasing the girls can get socially complicated. I spent lots of time on the soccer bus, and it was great being part of a team, but college should be richer exploration of all aspects of your life. 2. Study chemistry hard, it's great, but go to med school. Basic chemistry grant funding is just too hard to obtain right now, and having a medical background to pay your salary actually can make it easier to do the research you want without sacrificing all the other good things in life. BTW I'm doing well and am not a burnout, I just have seen too many others from my grad school class who have.

PS I went the liberal arts route and didn't regret it.

I ran XC at a DII school with a HS PR in the 5k of 21 minutes. But I was a soccer player who only ran one 5k in HS and never ran over 30 mpw. I got down to the low 16s in college and was all conference for 2 years. If you enjoy running and want to run there are places where you can run and will even be in the upper echelon of your conference. Just train and get your mileage to 70 mpw and next fall your 5k time will drop during xc and doors will open.