Stay or Transfer for 5th year

Unless you need to finish a degree or have a girlfriend, then transfer. Your coach and teammates will understand. Your friends will still be your friends. You’ll stay in contact with them and meet up with them a couple of times during the season maybe. Good opportunity to meet new people and accomplish bigger things.

It's not really clear from your post, why you are considering transferring.

Givetallugot wrote:

Unless you need to finish a degree or have a girlfriend, then transfer. Your coach and teammates will understand. Your friends will still be your friends. You’ll stay in contact with them and meet up with them a couple of times during the season maybe. Good opportunity to meet new people and accomplish bigger things.

Why would you transfer schools after already completing 4 years? Potentially setting yourself back another year+. You can run after college for a team, or if you go to grad school if you want to use that last year of eligibility. The financial repercussions alone makes this a foolish idea.

Please help wrote:

I am in a predicament in deciding on deciding whether or not to transfer for my 5th year of eligibility due to Covid. I am currently the top runner at my school with PRs of 8:06 in the 3,000 (indoor), 13:56 in the 5,000 (outdoor), and 29:01 in the 10,000. I don't have many training partners at my current school, am relatively lower mileage (but no injury prone) and am trying to decide whether or not I should stay. I love my team, coach, and school, but don't want to wonder or have what-ifs down the road. Any thoughts or ideas on this predicament?

Do you feel like you're succeeding where you are? What were your high school times? If you were a 9:20 high schooler, you should stay. Clearly the coaching is working for you. If you were an 8:40 high schooler, you should leave. Clearly you are at way too high a talent level for your school.

If you're somewhere in the middle (9:00 or so in high school), then you've improved about as much as can be expected. It's possible another coach could take you to 13:30, but it's also possible you would just not improve or even get slower at a different school. If you're happy where you are (you seem to be), then stay and just commit 100% to where you're at. You may just run 13:30 there anyways, and most importantly you'll be happy.

It seems like you think that changing schools will help you run faster, and you think that won't improve as much at your current school. I'd make sure to consider all things that make you happy, not just running fast ... Is the new school in a good location ? Is it a good fit academically, socially, etc... ?

If you end up not improving/ running well at the new school would you still be satisfied with your decision ? If no, I wouldn't go.

Stay where you are. Any other school is an unknown. You are running pretty well and like your coach and teammates. Far from a given if you transfer.

“I love my team, coach, and school”

Why change something that is working? Transferring to a program with faster runners does not necessarily equate to faster PRs. A new school with drastically difference in mileage may lead to injuries.

Transferring could help you break through (if you join a P5 team with a lot of talent), or it could end up breaking you. I have seen it go both ways.

But here is my best and honest advice: Given your times you likely don't have a career in distance running in the long term. But you can certainly make it work for you and your education. If you are not on a full scholarship, insist on it for you grad degree with your current school. If your current institution won't pay, I really think you should transfer to one that will. Plenty of decent mid major programs will put a full scholarship behind grad transfers with your times. Some strong academic P5 institutions may be willing to invest a full as well...you could be the depth some bubble XC team is missing for next year!

A free year or grad school will pay dividends down the road (or at the very least does not set you back any cash before you enter the workforce).

Hope my perspective helps...

To clarify, I am graduating in the spring. I would only consider top tier running schools or stay at my current school to begin a grad program or double major. I do have a long term girlfriend that I plan to stay with who is on the team at my current school.

My high school PRs were 9:10, 4:15, 1:54, and 15:00

I am currently on a full ride at a mid tier power 5 school. I would be considering transferring to a powerhouse/S tier school such as Oregon, Colorado, NAU, Stanford.

I grad transferred from a D3 to a D2 school. I enjoyed my D3 and everything but I was ready to leave the school itself. My undergraduate school did not have the graduate program that I wanted. I could have stayed at my D3 school and been top 3 but leaving was my best choice. I am on scholarship now and barely paying anything for a master in engineering

YES TRANSFER! 100% Try a new challenge. Go to the best running program you can don't look back just do it! You will get to meet new friends, new workouts, new perspectives. Leave the safe friendly confines of your current situation and experience some growth!

"Transferring could help you break through (if you join a P5 team with a lot of talent), or it could end up breaking you. I have seen it go both ways."

Unless he burns himself out trying to keep up with faster runners, it will have no impact on his running performance. Guys like Pre, Virgin and Kennedy had no one any where near their level to train with, but still managed to win championships. Most HS sub-9:00 runners don't either. No true distance runner needs others to push him to reach his potential.

Transfer.

That one gal running for Utah is on her third or fourth school by now. You might have a Covid year, too, you might be able to transfer twice?

I've considered doing another grad year at another school. I will finish my master's in December of 2022. I think I have a 6th year of outdoor track and will not be using my 5th of indoor track (my grad school does not participate in indoor track)

There are 3 Utah women at their third school. Each from a different HS class 2015, 2016, & 2017.

https://utahutes.com/sports/cross-country/roster/lisha-van-onselen/12880

https://utahutes.com/sports/cross-country/roster/ariel-keklak/12958

https://utahutes.com/sports/cross-country/roster/emily-venters/12881

Please help wrote:

I am in a predicament in deciding on deciding whether or not to transfer for my 5th year of eligibility due to Covid. I am currently the top runner at my school with PRs of 8:06 in the 3,000 (indoor), 13:56 in the 5,000 (outdoor), and 29:01 in the 10,000. I don't have many training partners at my current school, am relatively lower mileage (but no injury prone) and am trying to decide whether or not I should stay. I love my team, coach, and school, but don't want to wonder or have what-ifs down the road. Any thoughts or ideas on this predicament?

It really only makes sense to transfer if you have finished your undergrad degree and would be in Grad School for your 5th year. If you haven’t finished your undergrad degree then you will probably lose credits and end up needing a 6th year to finish your degree.

Please help part 2 wrote:

To clarify, I am graduating in the spring. I would only consider top tier running schools or stay at my current school to begin a grad program or double major. I do have a long term girlfriend that I plan to stay with who is on the team at my current school.

My high school PRs were 9:10, 4:15, 1:54, and 15:00

Absolutely stay. 9:10 -> 13:56 is already great college improvement. Clearly your current coach has worked out well. Transferring would simply be a bad cost-benefit analysis. The cost would be high; likely a lesser scholarship, a strain on your relationship, losing your friends, and a chance that the running will not work out, and you will get slower. The benefit is very low; unless you run under 13:30, you won't be in any better position to go pro, and any accolades you get at another school you could get individually at your current school (except an NCAA team title, and frankly you wouldn't make NAU's top 7).

No one in the NCAA has times you have listed, I've looked up on TFRRS and no one has all 3 PRS that are the same. Either this is a joke thread or you are making up times to make you feel better about yourself.