Best colleges for each event

Shot put and discus.

Penn State.

Olympic and world champs.

northeastcoach wrote:

Multi? (Have one girl especially looking for this)

The following schools have had first team all americans in the heptathlon/pentathlon in the past 2 seasons (2017-2018, 2018-2019, number of times in parentheses):

(3) Georgia, Kansas State, Miami, Texas A&M

(2) Florida, Kennesaw State, Penn State, Texas, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Wisconsin

(1) Akron, Alabama, Arkansas, McNeese State, UCLA, Washington St

That's plenty of schools across most of the country. They're probably also the ones willing to invest a little bit of money into the event.

Titan wrote:

Shot put and discus.

Penn State.

Olympic and world champs.

I agree with Penn State for throws. Also would say Texas. Penn State just had the world champ last year in shot, but both olympic champs in shot were from Texas - Crouser and Carter.

Just like any event group there are tons of great options. Keep in mind that you need to find a program that will work well for your athlete and their needs, because not everyone will be putting up the numbers to get them into many programs. There are plenty of schools that can work great for all levels.

For instance UW - Eau Claire is D3 but has had 2 shot putters in recent history who threw far enough to place at D1 Nationals, but those athletes needed 3-4 years to develop that far and many D1 programs wouldn't have the patience for that.

Jud Logan at Ashland is a 4 time Olympian in hammer coaching a Division 2 program that consistently produces some of the best weight throwers in the country and has a top ten record list that rivals all division 1 programs.

University of Minnesota has a great overall program with success across the board. UW - Madison produced the best men's weight thrower in NCAA history and one of the best female discus throwers and has produced plenty of All-Americans in the rest of the throws events. Current Penn Coach has had a ton of success coaching hammer and weight throwers, including national champions at the D3 and D1 level. Auburn has great throwers across the board, coached an Olympic shot putter in his time at Penn (Darrell Hill), and has proven his ability to develop athletes though the massive amount of success he had in D3 while at UWO. Ole Miss produced multiple Olympic throwers while at SIU and has continued to produce top throwers. Current SIU throws coach has produced plenty of All-American throwers and is coaching his wife who is the current World Champion in Hammer Throw. Ohio State is a growing program and Ashley Kovacs was coaching (and still is coaching) her husband when he won worlds in shot put. NDSU has had a ton of success and recently had a guy win both shot and weight at indoor nationals, which only happened once before. There are also plenty of Mid-Major programs that offer scholarships where throwers have developed well that we could dig into.

I could honestly come up with over 20 good options for a thrower. It all comes down to what level they are at coming out of high school, their goals, and most importantly their academics. No sense in going to a school to be a thrower if they don't offer your major or if you wont have academic success. Track and Field does't pay bill even when you are world class so having a degree they can work with is huge.

Are you sure that you really want to know the best schools in the event groups because that means your athletes probably can't make that squad? Best sprint school will require 10.5. Best distance school will require 8:55.

Recruiter of Juniors wrote:

Are you sure that you really want to know the best schools in the event groups because that means your athletes probably can't make that squad? Best sprint school will require 10.5. Best distance school will require 8:55.

I have an understanding of the relative abilities of my athletes. Milesplit makes it pretty easy to know where they sit on a national level. I do have some idea of at least some good schools in each event group, but I know there’s more out there worth investigating. What’s the saying... “I know enough to know how much I don’t know “

Great info - thank you! And thanks for the information on the various divisions, that’s very helpful. With you 100% on making sure athletes are set up for academic success.

Post some stats for the multi athlete you have and I can tell you what schools would be a good fit. It's a very nuanced event and coaches should be picked based on strengths and weaknesses.