Respectable D1 Career

scoring in a conference meet...on the low end of DI that means

about 1:53.5/3:56/4:15/8:35/14:50

another way to look at it would be this:

There are about 300 men's DI programs.

For the very best teams the walk ons hit those times in HS (those times might not even be considered at some schools).

For teams in the top 100 most of the athletes (but not all) hit those times by senior year, with a good number well below those marks.

For teams ranked 100-200 I would say between 40-75% of athletes will hit one of those marks in their career.

For teams in the bottom 100 maybe 25% of the team will approach of have those times but as you get toward the bottom you see teams with no one of that ability.

For DI as a whole, maybe 40-50% will hit those times. People will dispute that, but a lot of would be guys run for at least a year in college.

Sliding Scale wrote:

scoring in a conference meet...on the low end of DI that means

about 1:53.5/3:56/4:15/8:35/14:50

I literally know a lot of D3 guys who hit these times.

If you want to be a respectable D1 guy, I'd say you need to be 1:50 for 800, sub 3:50 1500, 4:07 mile, sub 8:15 3k, sub 14:30 5k. If you're not doing these you're showing up to a lot of meets barely making a slow section. Even with these times you're not making the fast sections of any noteworthy meet.

To be making any real noise in D1 to where people nationally give a rats butt you've got to be 1:48, sub 3:45 1500, 4 flat mile, sub 8 3k, sub 14 5k and with these times you're still never mentioned in all-american discussions.

1:4X

3:4X

8:5X

13:5X

29:XX

These are legit times fast but won’t win you much. It’s crazy how fast you can be but still not in the race to win. ALTHOUGH those 5k/10k times can help you be part of a NATTY CHAMP XC TEAM. Those are also nice times to consider making the transition to the OT ‘THON.

These times can also help land you on your schools ALL TIME TOP 10 LIST for some nice bragging rights. And let’s not forget being the TOP LOCAL ROAD WARRIOR.

hooopla5432 wrote:

What are some times from 800-5K that you would consider respectable. Times that don’t make you a complete highschool wash up

All relative to the athlete. A 4:10 high schooler that runs 3:50 for 1500 would be pretty washed up IMO. A 4:20 high schooler that does the same would've had a very good career. I ran 4:18 in high school, which I'd say is about your average D1 runner. I finished at 3:51 for 1500, and many of the guys I was competitive with in high school never got close to that. A few got faster, and I knew only one guy who was slower than me in high school that broke 4:00 in the mile. However, these are some rough numbers that I would consider respectable:

Sub 1:52 for 800

Sub 3:50 for 1500

Sub 4:10 for mile

Sub 8:20 for 3k

Sub 14:30 for 5k

Sub 30:00 for 10k

Unless you were already at that level in high school and are highly talented, you have to work pretty hard to hit these times and you will at least make the final of all but the most elite conferences. That said, in a bad conference you can probably add a bit to all these times, maybe something like:

Sub 1:54

Sub 3:55

Sub 4:15

Sub 8:30

Sub 14:45

Sub 31:00

Guys like this would be respectable there but would get EATEN at any power 5 school or even good mid majors.

What makes your career respectable is two factors: whether you improve from high school, and that you’re competitive in your environment.

That means to be respectable, you must meet at least one criteria in all of these buckets:

-Improvement from high school:

-You must run at least one performance that is 4% better than the equivalent your best high school PR (4:10 HS miler? Gotta run at least 4:00 or an equivalent performance at another distance at least once)

OR

-You must run at least 2% better than your best high school PR in 3 of your years of eligibility (4:10 HS miler? Gotta run at least a 4:05 equivalent or better as a sophomore, junior and senior—of freshman and two of the other years)

Competitive in your environment (within your school):

-Top-2 on your team in XC at conference or regionals in one season;

OR

-Run top-7 on your team in XC at conference or regionals in 3 of your years of eligibility;

OR

-Run at conference in track in 3 of your years of eligibility.

Competitive within your environment (within your conference):

-Make all-conference (first team or second team) in XC once;

OR

-Score at your conference meet in two different seasons (seasons, not years of eligibility—so scoring in indoors and outdoors the same season counts);

OR

-Finish in the top 25% of the field in XC in three of your four years of eligibility.

I made this up on the spot, but I think I believe this.

The difference between 14:59.99 and 15:00.00 for 5000m is big, just go sub 15.