No they won't. It is 12/22. If a random 4:20 kid blasts emails out to those 50 coaches today, they will not receive a response from 40 of them because there is no room at the inn.
No they won't. It is 12/22. If a random 4:20 kid blasts emails out to those 50 coaches today, they will not receive a response from 40 of them because there is no room at the inn.
If a guy's kid ran 4:19 and didn't get onto any of those teams, that is the guy who seems most credible. Somebody who is just checking websites of a bunch of programs for times is not somebody who has first hand knowledge. There are always kids complaining here about running 4:15 while getting no response from a bunch of schools that have slower guys on the rosters. Coaches are not always wise at recruiting.
In 2019 NAU had two of their top 3 athletes that were no where near 4:20 milers in high school. Peter Lomong was only a 4:30 guy who Mike Smith admitted was basically a favor that he was on the team to begin with because of his brother. The other was their top finisher, Tyler Day who was 6th in the nation that year whose PR was exactly a 4:20.
Another poster put it well that the air gets very thin up there at the top and it's hit and miss on if/when 4:20 milers can walk-on to the team. I can't speak to NAU this year, you put a lot of time into digging up high school times. But historically, NAU has had quite a few 4:20 milers and many that went on to do great things. Perhaps winning 6 national championships might just make recruiting a little more picky with their runners.
So there is a big difference between a school offering you a scholarship or helping you get preferential admission and a spot on the team as a freshman and allowing you to join as a walk-on. I would say the majority of schools would be happy to have a sub 4:20 male join the team, practice and have the opportunity to run in meets. There's definitely a few top programs that might tell you to come back when you are a little faster but I don't know of many coaches who would flat out tell you to pound sand.
Track is somewhat unique b/c outside of the relays it is largely a individual vs. team sport but that also means the overheard for an additional athlete or two is low whereas team sports like basketball have fixed roster sizes. Title IX can play a role for limiting the # of men a. coach might allow but that will vary by school and there are work around for having students train with the team but not be an official member. Again this is harder for team sports but given the informal nature of some track practices it is more common.
V wrote:
In 2019 NAU had two of their top 3 athletes that were no where near 4:20 milers in high school. Peter Lomong was only a 4:30 guy who Mike Smith admitted was basically a favor that he was on the team to begin with because of his brother. The other was their top finisher, Tyler Day who was 6th in the nation that year whose PR was exactly a 4:20.
Another poster put it well that the air gets very thin up there at the top and it's hit and miss on if/when 4:20 milers can walk-on to the team. I can't speak to NAU this year, you put a lot of time into digging up high school times. But historically, NAU has had quite a few 4:20 milers and many that went on to do great things. Perhaps winning 6 national championships might just make recruiting a little more picky with their runners.
I looked it up and Day said he ran 25-35 mpw during all 4 years of HS. He increased his mileage to 100mpw at NAU and ran 14:05/29:06 as a freshman. He was just a guy that was undertrained in HS and not an example of a typical 4:20 miler somehow improving to 13:16. Mike Smith wasn't the coach until his sophomore year.
He ran 14:59 and went to NXN. Nico Young is a 2:06 800 runner from HS also.