Yea definitely no to options 1 and 2. Don't even bother with #3. Go to a slower Mid pack juco. Like the teams that are in the bottom 10 at cross country nationals. That could give you an opportunity to enjoy competition and develop, since not everyone on your team will be much faster. I would not even consider looking any of the top 10 Juco teams, as you would be in the same position as your option 2.
The bottom teams a nationals are not taking a 4:59 1600m runner. A couple years back the runner in last place at NCAA D-1 Nationals was a 3:59 miler still.
Real quick before all of the super shoes and advanced tech I took 45th one year at Nationals and 7th the next and was still a 4:04 miler and 29:05 10,000m runner and was NAIA and would be lucky to crack the top 40 at NCAA Division 1's back then.
re the NAIA comments, maybe i am being a little hard on NAIA. the division varies. there are some good sports programs like D2, and they can offer money. [i have seen some NAIA literally become D2 or D3. ] but you're not running money times. you're running walkon-at-NAIA times. there are then some NAIA who are like D3. my D3 would beat a lot of NAIA at soccer. and was a better academic school.
if i have good grades and scores, and your times, i go to the best academic schools offering me a good aid package and/or scholarships, where i think the sports experience looks appealing as opposed to depressing. that to me trends patriot league-type D1 or D3. good school, solid team.
if your grades and scores aren't perfect and/or you're into sports reputation, maybe NAIA, as you're not as badly into the rat race mentality as i was. it was still my experience that a lot of D3 were better funded, traveled more, and held their own with NAIA. the best D3 would put NAIA to shame.
last point, if you want to walk on to a D1 team my sense is even at weak programs you need to drop 15-30 seconds and probably run XC also. and for most solid D1 we're talking 40-45 seconds, 4:15 or 4:20, down closer to 4 best programs.
I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you're a guy running 4:59, the last thing on your mind should be the track team when choosing a school. Find a school which fits your career interests and where you won't go into unnecessary debt.
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