Looking around at some of my options for college running, thought I would see about JC/Community College. None of my local in state schools have XC/TF programs. Although, I was looking at the Half Marathon national championship results from 2020 and noticed that a good size of the field competed unattached. I didn't see any other unattached athletes in the XC or Track national championship results.
-How does this work?
-Are those runners attending schools that don't have programs so they are allowed unattached entry?
-Why is it not the same for XC/Track?
-If my school doesn't have an official program, would it at all be possible for the NJCAA to let me compete as an individual representing that school so I can qualify for nationals etc?
-And on a different note, how common are athletic scholarships in NJCAA D1 XC/TF? I have high school PRs of 4:29 1600/9:40 3200/15:5x 5k and an unofficial 1:18 half marathon which I ran solo a few months back. Would this give me a good shot at a full ride at an out of state school?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to NJCAA stuff.