Why is an academically good D3 college recruiting me for XC/Track?

go run fast wrote:

No coach is going to use one of their auto admin tickets for you. You will have to be admitted on your own. Most highly selective schools use a need based system for tuition. What is you family income and savings? Two of my children declined admission to Ivies due to cost.

Non-Ivies still give merit aid. I went to a top D3 university and knew a number of people on half to full-rides who didn't qualify for financial aid. It's also been alleged that the people giving out scholarships at some D3 schools might accidentally take a peek at your athletic abilities, if you catch my drift...

No they don't. If there was even a hint of that, the school woukd be placed on probation from the NCAA.

You should look at Rose-Hulman. Great engineering school and the coach has done great things with slower runners than you

Right, they would never do anything like that (wink wink). After a number of D3 schools were caught considering athletics in merit aid, they've probably adjusted to make this harder to prove.

confusedrirunner wrote:

I'm a relatively average runner, 12:55 for the 3200m, 6:00 for the 1600m, 20:30 for the 3 mile (from the 2019 season). However, this midwest coach has actively tried to recruit me, but I'm a bit confused since I wouldn't be able to contribute much anyways + have faster teammates. Is there a reason for this?

My daughter was a D3 recruit (Pomona) pre pandemic with similar grades and scores and her times were consistently under 2:25, 5:10, 11:15, 18:30 5K xc. She did get a recruiting spot, but it was not straightforward and some other D3 schools were less interested or not interested at all. I’m surprised at this coach’s interest in you, but more power to you if it’s a great academic school (like Carleton or Grinnell), and you want to keep running.

confusedrirunner wrote:

I'm a relatively average runner, 12:55 for the 3200m, 6:00 for the 1600m, 20:30 for the 3 mile (from the 2019 season). However, this midwest coach has actively tried to recruit me, but I'm a bit confused since I wouldn't be able to contribute much anyways + have faster teammates. Is there a reason for this?

1) No offense intended, but I am confused as well. You can run on a ton of D3 teams, but your times aren't good enough to be actively recruited by most D3 teams, unless the team just absolutely sucks.

2) You mentioned MIT, and while I'm not sure they would be interested in you as an athlete, it is absolutely NOT unreasonable for you to apply to go there if that's what you want. Getting into MIT is not guaranteed to anyone, but your academic stats are worthy of sending in an application if that's what you want to do.

3) You should definitely put academics first. Good luck!

800 dude wrote:

California high school running can skew your perspective, but there's not a huge pool of girls with your times, scores, and grades.

That's true. It's the scores and the grades though that make the combination of the three rare. According to Milesplit, 1000 HS girls (that's as far down as it goes) ran 5:11 or better in 2021. Jeebus. How far down would it have to go to get to a 6:00 1600 runner?

There's definitely a school out there for her if she wants to run in college though.

The D3 coach is doing his job. Since there are no athletic scholarships at D3, sports exist to attract students to the school, to provide a sense of school pride and enhance the overall college experience. By encouraging you to join the team, he is giving you a reason to come to and stay at the likely high-priced, private school. College athletics are fun, and a sports team is better than any sorority or fraternity that people pay more money to join. You are super intelligent. Participating in a sport will help keep you balanced and you might even enjoy the experience.

Hi Confused Runner,

You might be surprised how many schools are looking for distance runners just like you. I work at a company called Streamline Athletes and we help College Coaches recruit High School Athletes. Many coaches do not have the budget to go after only the "best" athletes and instead target athletes with great potential, and/or good marks. They often tell us they will be interested in talking with students who seem like a good fit with their existing team and the school's values in general.

Additionally, some of the other commentators mentioned increasing the number of female athletes on a team - and this is a real motivator for many coaches! Many teams have funding incentives what make it worth the risk of recruiting someone who doesn't have the results on paper (yet).

If you want to create a profile on our website so that you can browse programs and connect with other Coaches who would be interested in you please check it out - it's free for athletes. (

https://streamlineathletes.com/

)

- Devan

Here is the truth that nobody wants to say - most D3 coaches are unofficial arms of the admissions office. The teams exist to drive enrollment and fill empty seats in the classrooms. Many D3 coaches have it written in their contracts that they must maintain a certain number of women on their team.

I know D3 coaches that will get fired if they have less than 80 women on their track team. It doesn't matter if their team is dead last place, as long as they maintain a certain number of athletes.

Since there are no athletic grants at D3 they are looking for athletes who want to keep competing and are willing to pay tuition. My son was sent a letter by a small D3 school after his sophomore cross country season. He finished ok in the state meet, but certainly is not going to warrant much interest. My guess is they do a web crawl to get results and then match with names or sites sell the info.

aztec the moronic wrote:

Here is the truth that nobody wants to say - most D3 coaches are unofficial arms of the admissions office. The teams exist to drive enrollment and fill empty seats in the classrooms. Many D3 coaches have it written in their contracts that they must maintain a certain number of women on their team.

I know D3 coaches that will get fired if they have less than 80 women on their track team. It doesn't matter if their team is dead last place, as long as they maintain a certain number of athletes.

This is true. D3 can and does carry some large team rosters. Especially on the women’s side. If you run and are remotely interested in the school you might be on their radar. Nothing wrong with this, it is good for the sport.

aztec the moronic wrote:

Here is the truth that nobody wants to say - most D3 coaches are unofficial arms of the admissions office. The teams exist to drive enrollment and fill empty seats in the classrooms. Many D3 coaches have it written in their contracts that they must maintain a certain number of women on their team.

I know D3 coaches that will get fired if they have less than 80 women on their track team. It doesn't matter if their team is dead last place, as long as they maintain a certain number of athletes.

Several posts have pointed out the enrollment aspect of athletics at D3 schools. Lots of football players playing at D3 so they can say they played college football. Also tackle football is not really a "rec sport" for adults whereas you can run road races as a runner.