How many D3 Track Athletes have gone pro?

I don't have any other examples off the top of my head, but this interview with Will Leer gives some good insight into what his experience was like

https://youtu.be/c7g0dt6r-eg

Andrew Rock from UW Lacrosse

Nick Symmonds

Yes.

Your best opportunity would be to run at the D1 level.

Edwin Moses

Kip Janvrin

Jeremy Scott

Andrew Rock

Lance Brooks

Olympians I could think of off the top of my head.

I don’t have specifics but it is definitely possible to go pro from a d3 school. The main reason that people don’t go pro from d3 often is because you simply have to be an amazing athlete to go pro and generally amazing athletes have the opportunity to run d1 and often take the opportunity because it better opportunities as far as races, travel, gear, facilities and support (some top level d3 will be better on all accounts than some d1 schools).

In short going to a top level d3 will not kill your chances of going pro. If you are going d3 be use you like the small school or the coach or the area you may still have a chance if you are going d3 because you can’t run at a d1 school it is probably a long shot.

If you run a sub 3.5x mile or sub 10 sec 100m no one cares what division.

Bill Rodgers although technically there were only 2 divisions at the time he was a student.

Here are a few more that I recall.

Bob Hodge. Dan Grimes and Mark Conover (their school switched divisions half way through their college careers).

Dan Henderson. Edwin Moses. Joan Benoit Samuelson. Gwen (Hardesty) Coogan.

Later Karl Paranya. Missy Buttry. Ian Lamere.

random poster here wrote:

Bill Rodgers although technically there were only 2 divisions at the time he was a student.

Here are a few more that I recall.

Bob Hodge. Dan Grimes and Mark Conover (their school switched divisions half way through their college careers).

Dan Henderson. Edwin Moses. Joan Benoit Samuelson. Gwen (Hardesty) Coogan.

Later Karl Paranya. Missy Buttry. Ian Lamere.

That's a hefty list. Didn't realize the numbers were that high

Aren't DIII pros more like diamonds in the rough? The folks that were recruited at frat parties the Friday night before a Saturday meet because the team needed a fifth guy to score. Turns out that recruit had some serious running talent and ended up becoming pro a few years later.

random poster here wrote:

Bill Rodgers although technically there were only 2 divisions at the time he was a student.

Amby Burfoot and Jeff Galloway were teammates of Rodgers at Wesleyan.

Ian Lamere is a more recent example, although I don't think his pro career has gone very well.

Emily Richards

Short answer: precious few. You wouldn't be "killing" your chances as they are infinitesimally small compared with the odds that you'll want to earn a good career income from your degree. Go where you'll get the best education, running will be there later if it's meant to be. Put it another way: about an equal proportion of D1 runners intend and fail to go pro as D2 and D3 runners.

Also forgot Andrea Rodenfels

This isn't complicated. Go to whatever school you want, and run fast. Be among the fastest in the nation, and the "pro" part will take care of itself.

B Franklin wrote:

Ian Lamere is a more recent example, although I don't think his pro career has gone very well.

Ran well initially but has been injured since.

Also Wadeline Jonathas won two D. 3 titles here freshman year at UMass-Boston