How common is it for the fastest runner at a school to not be on the track or XC team?

Its pretty uncommon. The sanctioned team provides resources, travel opportunity, and gear+facilities that are worth a lot of money. There is also the camaraderie that comes with being on a team, which very few students are going to be able to find anywhere else. Few people like to just train and go to races on their own - which is why there is a huge drop off in participation post college/high school.

In the case of the grad student out of eligibility - sure, that happens, but grad school is basically like a job, just with more social opportunities.

Most athletes who disagree with the coaching philosophy modify the prescribed training and do additional training on their own. Its usually worth putting up with a bonehead coach or transferring for the resources described above. Only with the most boneheaded coaches who insist they'd rather lose while doing things their own way than modify the training of a star athlete is it worth it to attempt to train on one's own.

I coach two high school athletes privately that are the fastest at their school. unfortunately, they have had a difficult time with the structure of training with their coach. One of them is running at nationals this weekend.

I've heard of two cases of elite level HS runners not being able to compete for their schools. One was Tierney Wolfgram, the other Easton Allred. Not sure of the details but I think both had something to do with relocating to different districts, which I think is a silly reason to make someone ineligible at the HS level. They are both D1 runners now.

Probably quite common, at least in high school, as track and cross-country aren't the most popular sports.

At my high school, we had one guy with real potential, but he never joined track or cross-country, preferring instead to play football in the fall (and maybe baseball in the spring? I can't remember.)

We had another one who joined cross-country for half a season. His older brother was one of the best in our high school history, if not the best, and he seemed capable of following in his brother's footsteps, but lacked the mentality. He ran one meet, and took second, with one of the fastest times in our school's history. I think he was dissappointed at not being the best on our team, or maybe finally decided that cross-country wasn't cool enough, and he subsequently quit.

For college (large DI schools) I think you could usually put together a pretty competitive XC team for a dual meet versus the actual team.

If I were to grab guys I know are wandering around my campus right now

• 3:44 - med school
  
• 3:47 - grad school
• 1:48 - dental school
• 1:49 - grad school
• ...

Those are only the people I know of. I am sure there lots of people I have never met. Also probably some kids that were great in high school and didn't go out for the team.

It's becoming more common with the rise in popularity of private coaches and club teams. It's a good thing. Often the track and XC team is just dumbed on some doofus that doesn't know a fartlek from a fart. When an athlete goes to a private coach they at least know the person has a history in the sport.

My son was state champ in 4:15 and is not running in college. About 1/3 of the top guys in the state typically do not pursue it in college.

No, it's not common, but it does happen once in a while. Athing Mu didn't run for her high school team and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that she might have been a tad faster than anyone else in her high school.

I thought this was college. High school? Manybtp sprinters play soccer or baseball instead of track.

Speaking of that, at my high school, I think the non-track boys 4x4 team might actually beat the track 4x4 team if they all had sprint spikes:

1st leg: Football guy who ran a hand-timed high 11/mid 24 in the 100/200 without wearing spikes

2nd leg: Soccer player who ran a 4:43 mile

3rd leg: Basketball player who ran a sub 60 400 in Air Jordans

4th leg: XC runner who didn't do track but ran a 15:54 5K on a flat course

For the 4x4, the track team's best time is 3:42, but they usually run around 3:45.

I had a friend in junior high school who was, what we called then, a "burnout." I was running 40 miles a week, and running road races frequently. He tagged along at one, and outkicked me at the end, when I was running 42 minutes or so (13 years old). I went on to set records at my high school that still stand decades later.

A buddy of mine in college worked as a lineman for the power company in addition to taking classes. How, I don't know. We went out one time to ride bikes, me on one I bought with summer money I made working at a bike shop - it was essentially a pro tour race bike that I cherished. Him on a hand-me-down with wobbly wheels, bad brakes, and rust everywhere, the standard "mountain bike" that lived outdoors for five years.

He kept up on a 25 mile road ride, then dropped me on a long climb late, and got back to town five minutes before I did. I went on to race in national championship events.

The only reason some of us have "success" in running is because a lot of people who could bury us don't bother to take part.

My niece's xc team up to her senior year had a young lady who was able to split club soccer and high school xc. She was quite a decent runner and advanced maybe to State if I recall properly. Anyway, her senior year, the club team schedule and xc just conflicted too much and she chose soccer.

This.

Our kick returner did jumps and was about 11-22 in the 100m and 200m. Solod a 4:49 1600m for kicks and giggles in a JV race off of sprint and jump training. I still believe the dude could’ve been a national class 400/800 guy. The sad part is that our football team was hot garbage.

I knew a coach who had a multi time state champ who was literal pulled from football because the XC team was short runners. Football coach just picked the kid because he always lead warmup and cooldown laps. Kid ended up running collegiately.

Famous story about Dr. Delano Meriweather who came across a track meet on TV he was 26 years and had never ran track in his life, he starts thinking......I can do that. He'd win our USA National's in 9.0w a year later.

I'd say it's pretty common in more rural areas where kids are a bit more sheltered and home life can easily replace extracurriculars.

I was my high school's top guy as a senior -- nothing special, just the local champ. I had a classmate who claimed then and still claimed when I last ran into him in 2015 that he could have been the school's best runner, ahead of me, if he had come out for the team. We graduated in 1981, so he's held this belief for a long, long time. He was a bit of a speedster for the baseball team but if I remember right, he got cut as a senior because all he had was speed, no hitting or fielding skills. So he had his chance to do spring track in '81 if he wanted to back up his assertions.

So in some people's minds, it's probably the case for every school, every year!

To answer a little more seriously, I always wonder about a different classmate of ours who could run around 6:00 for the mile in elementary school. We had a little asphalt track then that was something absurd like 14 laps to a mile (felt like you were always turning!) and he would lap the whole class multiple times. We didn't even have phys ed uniforms, he'd just huff along in jeans and smoke us all. He never ran in our high school days, but he was pretty athletic, I think he was on the baseball team with the dreamer. I still wonder if that early talent could have turned into elite times that could have made me look useless, or if he was just an early bloomer who wouldn't have improved much. Never know, I guess.

Definitely, and also the pressure in rural schools for boys to play football. I'm out in the boondocks and I remember about 10 years ago reading stories in the paper about a local kid who was top guy on the HS team running 17's as a freshman and upper 16's as a sophomore, maybe 4:30s for the mile. Piqued my interest as an runner and alum, I thought we'd have a local star. And then he was the backup tight end as a junior and starting tight end as a senior, in the kind of small-school football program that called pass plays maybe 10 times a season. Oh well!