No Men’s Track Team - Hawaii, UCF, West Virginia, GA Sn, Oregon St, Ohio U, Western Mich, Marshall (bringing it back soon), Delaware, James Madison, etc.
No Men’s Track Team - Hawaii, UCF, West Virginia, GA Sn, Oregon St, Ohio U, Western Mich, Marshall (bringing it back soon), Delaware, James Madison, etc.
lots (if not all) are Title IX casualties. since James Madison moved to Sun Belt they're investing heavily in their athletic department - expect them to bring back mens XC & men's track and field in the coming years.
(lots of talented high school runners in Virginia)
It isn't club. It is sponsored by the athletic department just like other sports. It counts against Title IX. Check TFRRS. Check official meet results. Check with the coach. She coaches them and the university pays for their travel and they run in uniform. The team doctors treat them. They use all of the facilities.They get thousands of dollars of gear during track season. They travel in the team bus when less than 5 hours. They have a special charter unique to them.
They don’t “sponsor track” they are allowed to run a few track meets in the off season from xc per ncaa rules… it basically like gaveling a track team but they can’t qualify for ncaa, basically they are like Portland state right now… they went to meets and stuff but didn’t actually end up sponsoring the sport so fast kids can’t run at ncaa champs.
It sounds like an upjumped club team, like a step up from the typical nirca club. Schools that sponsor the sport compete at conference and regionals and nationals, if they qualify. The team also get listed on the athletic department's website. There is nothing wrong with running there. You'll still be a D1 runner - but its only a varsity college team for xc, for track, its a club.
No Men’s Track Team - Hawaii, UCF, West Virginia, GA Sn, Oregon St, Ohio U, Western Mich, Marshall (bringing it back soon), Delaware, James Madison, etc.
Huntington (where marshall is located) at one point was the fattest city in America. That town needs all the running it can get.
No Men’s Track Team - Hawaii, UCF, West Virginia, GA Sn, Oregon St, Ohio U, Western Mich, Marshall (bringing it back soon), Delaware, James Madison, etc.
Western Michigan/Oregon State/Hawaii/etc doesn't have men's xc or track.. I thought those thread was just about programs that had xc only for men.
No Men’s Track Team - Hawaii, UCF, West Virginia, GA Sn, Oregon St, Ohio U, Western Mich, Marshall (bringing it back soon), Delaware, James Madison, etc.
Marshall has been brought back already. Scored last place at Sun Belt Conference Champs but had some stout performances on the distance side including 3rd in the 800m and 2nd in the steeple.
They don’t “sponsor track” they are allowed to run a few track meets in the off season from xc per ncaa rules… it basically like gaveling a track team but they can’t qualify for ncaa, basically they are like Portland state right now… they went to meets and stuff but didn’t actually end up sponsoring the sport so fast kids can’t run at ncaa champs.
It sounds like an upjumped club team, like a step up from the typical nirca club. Schools that sponsor the sport compete at conference and regionals and nationals, if they qualify. The team also get listed on the athletic department's website. There is nothing wrong with running there. You'll still be a D1 runner - but its only a varsity college team for xc, for track, its a club.
I competed on a D1 team that only sponsored men's XC and not track so I can shed some light on this.
Schools in this situation do not "sponsor" track but I don't think its necessarily fair to call them club teams. As cross-only athletes we were treated no differently during the track season by support staff or anyone else. That is, we had all the same access to facilities and athletic services as we did during the cross season.
At our school we were allowed 5 meets (across both indoor and outdoor) in which we could compete as uniformed, attached athletes. Everything was paid for as if were members of a sponsored track team. We typically traveled with the women's track team in the same bus, stayed in the same hotels, etc. For these meets we were functionally a sponsored track team.
There were obviously caveats. Beyond 5 meets we would have to run unattached, pay entry, lodging, travel, etc. We maximized our competition limit by running unattached in our home indoor meets (which were very large and very competitive) and attached during the outdoor season. We didn't really compete any less than other track-sponsored teams, other than the important exception of conference and regionals.
Sometimes travel was separate because there's a rule that non-sponsored track teams can't fly, so we had to drive while the women flew. That only happened once or twice though and travel was still paid for and we were driven by an assistant coach.
Another caveat. Because track season was considered out-of-season our coaches had to get creative with countable hours. I can't remember the specifics but we would have many weeks where the maximum countable hours were 10 instead of the typical 20. In those weeks we'd just meet for workouts and weights. We saved 20-hour weeks for competition weeks.
I certainly wouldn't say I regret being on that team, quite the opposite. I loved it, and we had the chance to compete at some very high level meets and put down times that outperformed plenty of sponsored teams. That said, we definitely had a chip on our shoulder about it and endlessly begrudged the athletic department for not sponsoring track. We hated the fact we couldn't compete at conference or regionals. Recruiting certainly suffered from the fact that we couldn't. But we were a decent team and I still enjoyed it.
Running list of schools mentioned. I've double checked these against the school websites, and omitted those that don't sponsor either cross country or track since I think OP was talking about schools that DO sponsor cross but not track. Only checked for men.
Creighton (?) San Diego Austin Peay FGCU Jacksonville Jacksonville State North Alabama Stetson Murray State Loyola (MD) Toledo Bowling Green Central Michigan Robert Morris Ohio U Vanderbilt Temple FAU UNLV Mercer Chattanooga New Mexico State
For sake of correction, the following schools sponsor neither XC nor track for men: Northwester, UAB, SMU, UCF, Ball State, Northern Illinois, SDSU, UNLV, Georgia State, Delaware, West Virginia
Also saw Boston College mentioned for some reason. BC sponsors both XC and track for men.
Since it’s regionals time and fast kids are qualifying to run in the west and east regions this seems like a good time to discus the schools that can’t run at regionals since they don’t “sponsor track” as an ncaa sport, they only sponsor cross country… let’s make a list and also give me your thoughts about coaching pretending that getting to run a few races is the same as sponsoring the sport?!?!
I think kids need to understand they can’t make NCAAs no matter how fast they are unless their school sponsors track…
Schools that sponsor track I can think of…
Northwestern, Creighton, USD… what are others?
After more looking it seems Creighton has a qualifier and thus has recently added track, good for them and let’s keep that trend going… xc and no track is just a title 9 mockery of the rules and an obvious sign the school doesn’t care about either sport!
This confuses me. Creighton does not list track and field at all as a team on its website, and I couldn't find anything to indicate that they had decided to bring it back. All I could find was this tweet:
OMAHA, Neb. – Tommy Ward has made history! The redshirt sophomore member of Creighton's men's track program is headed to the NCAA West Regional Championships after
which says, "Creighton ran their first official NCAA track season since 1961 during the spring of 2022 as a distance-based track program, utilizing the cross country roster. Led by head coach Chris Gannon and assistant Matthew Fayers the Bluejays currently compete as an independent in track."
How does this work? What does "utilizing cross country roster" actually mean? I am all for schools adding track where they don't already but is Creighton in compliance here? Just confused by the situation
It sounds like an upjumped club team, like a step up from the typical nirca club. Schools that sponsor the sport compete at conference and regionals and nationals, if they qualify. The team also get listed on the athletic department's website. There is nothing wrong with running there. You'll still be a D1 runner - but its only a varsity college team for xc, for track, its a club.
I competed on a D1 team that only sponsored men's XC and not track so I can shed some light on this.
Schools in this situation do not "sponsor" track but I don't think its necessarily fair to call them club teams. As cross-only athletes we were treated no differently during the track season by support staff or anyone else. That is, we had all the same access to facilities and athletic services as we did during the cross season.
At our school we were allowed 5 meets (across both indoor and outdoor) in which we could compete as uniformed, attached athletes. Everything was paid for as if were members of a sponsored track team. We typically traveled with the women's track team in the same bus, stayed in the same hotels, etc. For these meets we were functionally a sponsored track team.
There were obviously caveats. Beyond 5 meets we would have to run unattached, pay entry, lodging, travel, etc. We maximized our competition limit by running unattached in our home indoor meets (which were very large and very competitive) and attached during the outdoor season. We didn't really compete any less than other track-sponsored teams, other than the important exception of conference and regionals.
Sometimes travel was separate because there's a rule that non-sponsored track teams can't fly, so we had to drive while the women flew. That only happened once or twice though and travel was still paid for and we were driven by an assistant coach.
Another caveat. Because track season was considered out-of-season our coaches had to get creative with countable hours. I can't remember the specifics but we would have many weeks where the maximum countable hours were 10 instead of the typical 20. In those weeks we'd just meet for workouts and weights. We saved 20-hour weeks for competition weeks.
I certainly wouldn't say I regret being on that team, quite the opposite. I loved it, and we had the chance to compete at some very high level meets and put down times that outperformed plenty of sponsored teams. That said, we definitely had a chip on our shoulder about it and endlessly begrudged the athletic department for not sponsoring track. We hated the fact we couldn't compete at conference or regionals. Recruiting certainly suffered from the fact that we couldn't. But we were a decent team and I still enjoyed it.
You are correct- you’re not on a club team. You’re not one ANY track team. You’re on the xc team and you raced 5 times on a track.
You would have enjoyed it more if those local races were paid for by your university instead of on your own. Would have enjoyed it better being on a bus paid for by the school, would have enjoyed it more if you were treated the same as other teams that invested in the team. And it’s actually not hard- your school gets $35,000 for adding a sport so if you’re just an xc team then it would pay for itself with money left over.
No Men’s Track Team - Hawaii, UCF, West Virginia, GA Sn, Oregon St, Ohio U, Western Mich, Marshall (bringing it back soon), Delaware, James Madison, etc.
Western Michigan/Oregon State/Hawaii/etc doesn't have men's xc or track.. I thought those thread was just about programs that had xc only for men.
I think OP didn’t proof read and meant “which schools say they have track but don’t” and the thread sort of figured it out despite her terrible skills of the English language.
You should look up the word. It means to provide funds for. They sponsor it. They spend more money on it than many D1 schools do. They compete in 4 indoor and 4 outdoor meets the same as other schools do. Yes it is different than most teams but the school is the sponsor. And yes they are listed in TFRRS as Northwestern team in the descending order list. This isn't controversial. The school pays for the coach and the facilities and the doctor and the therapist and the travel and the food and everything else involved.
I did see some Nerdwestern athletes running at an outdoor meet this year, so they do run some meets in school gear at least unofficially. Definitely not conference or regionals though. What a joke.
Some? They ran 12 meets this year including UW, BU, Meyo, Drake, Bryan Clay, Mt. SAC, and Raleigh Relays. Is there another team who competed in more big meets?