collegerunner67 wrote:
As a D3 runner in the East Region, why is the D2 East Region so rolled? I could easily be top 7 on any of the teams that qualified but I have not hope of going to D3 NCAAs individually or as a team. Franklin Pierce is ranked 141 nationally according the USTFCCCA rankings and still qualified. They have guys in their top 7 running 36+ minutes on the 10K. I don't know much about D2 but why is there so many auto Qs when it just results in rolled teams making nationals over teams that are half decent. D3 only gets 1 team auto Q at regionals
Could be a billion different things. I ran in the D2 East until 2012 and can tell you it's WAY weaker than when I was on the team. I keep up with my college coach and he's for sure a good coach (had a girl run 2:09 and another girl run 4:49 in the mile when I was on the team, just had a girl run 4:49 last year) but from what I've gathered, recruiting has been next to impossible (very little money, if any, at most of those programs, a ton of D1 and D3 options in the immediate area, etc.) and the kids he does get are so far from what he needs to compete at the national level that he's playing a never ending game of catchup. It's also a regional thing. I remember when we hosted recruits, a vast majority were looking at us or a bunch of MID majors. The northeast has the D1 or bust mentality in most sports, so D2 is looked at like going to CC. Not giving an excuse for the whole region, but overall it's a dead area for D2 sports in general.