Recruiting for junior girl, preferably southeast or mountain west

Doubtful. My daughter has a 5:10 1600 to go along with a 4.0 GPA and 1450 SAT and she has been offered nothing. She is having trouble even finding a roster spot.

Is she considering smaller schools? That’s disheartening.

There are plenty of schools that would offer some money. Girls teams have 18 scholarships, more money to go around. I would look at schools finishing in the top 15 in the region, but not top 5. I’ve heard good things about the Charlotte team. Schools around that level would certainly offer some money. If she gets under 5:00 this year and improves her 3200 as well, she could start looking a little higher even.

UNLV will definitely give her a scholarship. I know some girls on the UNLV team right now on scholarship who are slower than that.

I'm not sure if they are getting "significant" money though.

The difference in ranking between 5:10 1600 (~250th in class of 2024) and 5:05 1600 (~150th) is pretty much the same as the difference between 5:05 and 4:55 (~50th). There are only so many spots on teams to go around, and a 5-second gap at that level is a huge difference. The GPA and SAT can help with a roster spot at a high academic school, but are meaningless when talking about athletic scholarship. And if your daughter is a rising senior, that also makes a difference. OP’s daughter is a rising junior, and can be expected to drop a few seconds by next year, which would put her in a much better spot for recruiting.

She should check out University of Nevada Reno. They may have some money for her and if you are from a western state, the WUE scholarship makes it quite affordable, even if not. Reno is a great place to live and train and the university is a comfortable medium size

Oops. My mistake. She has run 5:01. She is mainly interested in larger schools but has contacted some smaller schools also and has contacted about 50 schools across the country. I think she is at about 7 or 8 replies. I am amazed at how little interest she has received. She is a senior and she is getting worried and doesn't really know where to turn. She may just attend a state school to save money and give up running if she can't get a spot on the team. She started the process in the summer.

I apologize. I meant to write 5:01.

UNLV did not respond to my daughter.

My daughter is working on college stuff right now. She would contact any coach that somebody believes would offer any scholarship. She would even be interested in a good academic school where she can get a roster spot becuase we are confident that she will get some academic aid.

Based on the previous UNLV post and your correction of your daughter’s time, I don’t understand this. My daughter would likely be in their top 3 in xc and maybe scoring points in the 5000 & 10,000. What exactly are they looking for? 400 types?

This is where I’m going… aren’t schools where your kid could be an immediate contributor and who hasn’t run excessive mileage in high school interested in partially investing in this type of kid?

Thanks. That’s a good suggestion and could fit the bill nicely. Something like that.

Interesting situation there. My view:

1) While 5:05 is very good, there are more HS girls who run that than 17:30 in XC. I assume that's 5k? Hopefully that wasn't a one-off and potentially a short course. 10:40 is very solid also.

2) Regarding out of state tuition, make sure you look at all of the states that have reciprocal agreements with your state. Also, there are many colleges that offer pretty cheap out of state tuition that could rival instate tuition in your state.

3) It's always tough getting a LOT of money. Many schools (not the "elite" colleges) offer decent academic scholarship money even on what most people would think of as mediocre HS academic performance...your daughter has better academic performance than what is required there. Couple that with some athletic scholarship money, and it might not be too bad.

I was recruited for a couple of top (academic) D1 and D3 schools, and they love people with high test scores. If they (for example) can get a 9:10 guy with a 1600, they'd prefer him to a 9:05 guy with a 1300

Good suggestions. We do have some reciprocity for tuition, but it’s getting more competitive. Some of these schools want a 3.9 or better. I don’t think the B+ average qualifies though it might qualify for some academic money at a lesser college.

We are in that group that makes too much for financial aid but not enough to be able to drop $50,000 in tuition per year with multiple kids in college. Also, I don’t think there’s even one school out there that’s worth $50,000 per year, let alone the $80,000 all in that some of the “brand” schools want. An in-state education is going to be about $29,000 per year including everything, so that’s our budget.

Yes, the 17:30 is on a legit, though easyish course. She’s run sub-18 multiple times and a couple 17:30ish. She may get to 5:00 and near 10:30 in her high school career, but I believe sun-5:00 will be difficult. She’s a “strength runner.”

My daughter went through the same problems. She ended up getting admitted to a college and then bothering the coach to get a spot. She was a sub 5 girl. Coaches do not respond. She got no scholarship.

Is she open to West Region? If so, Oregon State, University of Portland, and Gonzaga University or Boise State would be good to look into. All programs are looking good, and Boise and Gonzaga have gotten great recruits.

My daughter didn't contact Oregon State but got no response from Gonzaga, Portland, or Boise. Some of you don't seem to understand that the process is much more difficult than just contacting a program where you seem to have a qualifying time. It is sort of like trying to get a job at Microsoft with your masters degree in computer science.