NCAA age limit?

DI yes, others, you can be older.

i believe there are reasonable exceptions in DI also, eg injury, military service, missionary/religious ...

u can run till 24 in d1

arrrrgh. this always comes up, ever year or two and there's still so many uninformed people out there. apologies if you're truly just uninformed.

point out in the ncaa handbook where it says "you can't be over 24"......guess what, IT DOESN'T!!!

because there is NO AGE LIMIT. everything about one's eligibility is based upon when you started college full time. thus, a person who started full time when they were 18, would have to be done by age 23, 24 if with an injury exemption, 25 with a LDS mission exemption.

Lets say you decide not to go to school, and you don't EVER take any money. then, at age 30, you suddenly decide to go to school, and start running, for a DI institution. bingo, your magic age to be finished with eligibility is 34 (or 35). It is all based upon when you begin full time (as determined by your school and the ncaa, usually 12 credits) enrollment.

for example, in rupp's case, he could have gone to juco for 4 years at 10 units per semester, and had full eligibility awaiting him in 2008.

hope this helps.

dude-

this isn't true.

In division 1, the NCAA starts your eligibility clock at age 21, regardless of what you've done. So, you have 5 years after that until age 26. This is unless you've been doing military service or church related service (mission).

then explain why chris weinke (sp?) went straight into the minor leagues after high school, got tired of that a few years later, went back to school and was leading florida (or was it fl st.?) in his final season at age 27 or 28.

No military service or LDS for chris, just never started his clock until much later than most. perhaps the ncaa USED to start your clock at age 21, but obviously isn't the case currently.

dude-

somerandomdude wrote:

then explain why chris weinke (sp?) went straight into the minor leagues after high school, got tired of that a few years later, went back to school and was leading florida (or was it fl st.?) in his final season at age 27 or 28.

No military service or LDS for chris, just never started his clock until much later than most. perhaps the ncaa USED to start your clock at age 21, but obviously isn't the case currently.

dude-

It's very simple. The NCAA has different rules for different sports. The rule for football is different. The poster was correct about the 21 year-old age limit. For every year that you are 21 or over, you lose a year of eligibility. So if a 22 year old started running as a "freshman" he only has 2 years of eligibility total. Of course there are still waivers for medical hardships, military service, and religious missions as always. If you are over 24 when you try and start your running career, you are shit out of luck. That's the rule for NCAA DI XC and Track. You sir, are the one who is uninformed.

I believe that you only lose eligibility prior to enrollng full time at a university if you turn 21 AND you compete. After you enroll in a university, you have 5 years in which to complete whatever amount of eligibility you have at the time of enrollment.

Pre Officer wrote:

Of course there are still waivers for medical hardships, military service, and religious missions as always.

US military service, isn't it? I believe foreign military service was eliminated as a waiver around 1984 under the "Filbert Bayi" clause.

Presumably most of you are either college students or college graduates? Have any of you gone to the NCAA website? I have. The Newspeak that the NCAA uses in its manuals and pdf docs don't clarify the issue at all.

Check it out.

Weinke came back to FSU at the age of 23, to a set of rules that is different from XC/Track rules. He had 6 years of eligibilty due to Medical hardship wavers. Some of the rules protecting him have since changed, but the fact remains, with redshirts and a rare hardship waver, someone could be a division 1 track athlete and be 27 years old.

actually, "perspective" is the correct one here. say you are over 21, you decide to run two seasons of cross country while taking only 4 credits, then enter a DI institution (at age 23)and run for them. you now have 4 outdoor, 4 indoor, and 2 cross season left. your clock has not technically started, but you did lose those two years of cross.

better informed now pre officer?

somerandomdude, no disrespect meant, but you are wrong once again. Above you wrote "decide to run two seasons of cross country while taking only 4 credits". You must be a full-time student and be enrolled in at least 12 credits to compete as an NCAA athlete.

www.ncaa.org

or call up the Compliance Officer at a local college is your best bet to get accurate info.

By the way, Division II does not have an age limit. I had a 25 year old freshman with 4 years of eligibility last winter on my ski team. He's been taking occasional classes since 1999 but was never a full time student until last September. Now he's headed overseas with the military and god willing no tragedies he'll be back to restart classes fall 2007 as a 27 year old sophomore with 3 years of eligibility in skiing and 4 years in XC.

Somerandomdude, are you looking these things up or just guessing? Stop calling other people uninformed and then just making stuff up.

somerandomdude wrote:

actually, "perspective" is the correct one here. say you are over 21, you decide to run two seasons of cross country while taking only 4 credits, then enter a DI institution (at age 23)and run for them. you now have 4 outdoor, 4 indoor, and 2 cross season left. your clock has not technically started, but you did lose those two years of cross.

better informed now pre officer?

He is definitely making stuff up. If you enter a DI institution at age 23, you have 1, that is one year of eligibility left in the sport of Track and Field and Cross Country no matter what you've already done any where else. The above poster was right when he said you have to be a full time student to run DI, which is 12 hours, at least until you graduate. We had a kenyan on our team who started at age 21 and were well reminded that he only had 3 years of eligibility left because he was already 21. I'm also heavily involved with NCAA compliance issues. But thanks for giving me something to check on a week later somerandomdude.

wasn't lagat around 25 when he was running of WSU?

Actually, somerandamdude is correct.

Division I - your 5 year clock to complete 4 years of eligibility begins with your initial full-time enrollment.

NCAA Bylaw 14.2.1

There are few service exceptions to the five year rule: LDS missions

Peace Corps

Military

NCAA Bylaw 14.2.1.2

And in reference to competition once you turn 21. NCAA Bylaw 14.2.3.5.1 states the specific rule regarding Track and field and cross country:

Any prospect who participates in outside competition after their 21st birthday and prior to initial fulltime enrollment in a collegiate institution during a cross country, indoor track and field or outdoor track and field sport season (as opposed to general road racing events) would be charged with at least one season of competition in each of the sports of cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field.

There is no age limit for Division I, it all depends on when you first enroll full-time at any collegiate institution.

Get educated before you jump all over people for actually trying to inform you with the right information.

thank you compliance chick, appreciate the help.

d2coach, perhaps i should have been more specific for you. OBVIOUSLY you cannot compete when taking less than 12 credits. i was referring to the hypothetical instance that a student enrolls at "wherever U", takes 4 units, and runs OPEN cross country races, racing unattached, with zero affiliation to anyone. then, after a couple of years of this nonsense, he/she decides to enter a DI institution. thus he/she has lost two seasons of cross country.

I am not 100%, but when i was looking into all this a few years back, it was worded slightly different so that it read as though one would only lose a season of track, if they ran track after their 21st, a season of cross for the same, etc. Now if someone ran a road race, they then would be charged a season of each (cross, indoor, outdoor...kinda lame if you ask me).

i want to end with something snippy here, but i guess i'll refrain for today.

dude-

i have a unique situation. i started college at 18 . i never finished a full semester and essentially failed out after the first semester. I was on a team but never on the roster also never ran in a collegiate race.. If i return to school can i run d--1 or even d-2?

Saina is 24.5.... Like 3.5 years old than Hasay.

Imagine how good Jordan will be in 2015....