What times would I need to hit to be able to walk on to a d1 schools running teams? I run from the 800 to cross country 5k. And I know that all schools are different, but what is a good average?
What times would I need to hit to be able to walk on to a d1 schools running teams? I run from the 800 to cross country 5k. And I know that all schools are different, but what is a good average?
That's really hard to say. You have to put some effort in and search out schools in your academic range and distance you're willing to travel for school.
I used to go to watch meets at a local D1 school where they had heats of the 800 with guys from D1,2,3 schools barely breaking 2:00 and just under 5:00 in the mile.
There is likely one out there. Find them and email the coach expressing your interest.
I walked on to an America East team (lower level D1) with 4:32/9:56/16:45 for 1600/3200/5k XC and was able to get into the team’s top 7 for cross.
This is a great argument for D3. These are trash high school times and if you go to a D1 program where this makes the team you’ll spend 4 years finishing 285th in mediocre invitationals.
Those are not trash times. They're better than most HS times. That person got into their top-7 & obviously improved at that level.
What I will say is that it doesn't have to be D1 or nothing. Think about the school you want to go to, what you want to study, location, culture of the program, etc. Lots of strong academic D3 schools out there that have good team culture & plenty of exposure at bigger meets.
Walk on standards are on a lot of websites. Some random ones: Florida Atlantic: 1:58/4:35/10:30. Davidson: 2:01/4:23/9:31. UMiami: 1:54/4:18/9:25. In general sub-2/sub-4:30 will get you a shot at a lot of places. mid-9:00 3200, 16:xx XC. Reach out to coaches directly. A lot don't respond. That might tell you who you might want to run for.
What times would I need to hit to be able to walk on to a d1 schools running teams? I run from the 800 to cross country 5k. And I know that all schools are different, but what is a good average?
Don't limit yourself to D1 schools. There are numerous D2 and D3 schools that are better running schools as well as academics then some D1 schools.
Those are not trash times. They're better than most HS times. That person got into their top-7 & obviously improved at that level.
What I will say is that it doesn't have to be D1 or nothing. Think about the school you want to go to, what you want to study, location, culture of the program, etc. Lots of strong academic D3 schools out there that have good team culture & plenty of exposure at bigger meets.
Walk on standards are on a lot of websites. Some random ones: Florida Atlantic: 1:58/4:35/10:30. Davidson: 2:01/4:23/9:31. UMiami: 1:54/4:18/9:25. In general sub-2/sub-4:30 will get you a shot at a lot of places. mid-9:00 3200, 16:xx XC. Reach out to coaches directly. A lot don't respond. That might tell you who you might want to run for.
For a D1 recruit they are objectively trash times and indicate the person isn’t good enough to be actually competitive. Unless it’s a girl.
Getting crushed in D1 is pointless. Find a level of competition where you are in meaningful races.
Unless you are getting some decent scholarship money, you're better off concentrating on your studies than spending your time running.
For me, I went to a pretty decent D1 school and got tuition and books. I might add that tuition wasn't nearly as crazy expensive then as it is now. I was always like number 5-7 on XC and barely got to travel for track meets. I had a lot of fun running XC & track but the time commitment is a lot.
Those are not trash times. They're better than most HS times. That person got into their top-7 & obviously improved at that level.
What I will say is that it doesn't have to be D1 or nothing. Think about the school you want to go to, what you want to study, location, culture of the program, etc. Lots of strong academic D3 schools out there that have good team culture & plenty of exposure at bigger meets.
Walk on standards are on a lot of websites. Some random ones: Florida Atlantic: 1:58/4:35/10:30. Davidson: 2:01/4:23/9:31. UMiami: 1:54/4:18/9:25. In general sub-2/sub-4:30 will get you a shot at a lot of places. mid-9:00 3200, 16:xx XC. Reach out to coaches directly. A lot don't respond. That might tell you who you might want to run for.
For a D1 recruit they are objectively trash times and indicate the person isn’t good enough to be actually competitive. Unless it’s a girl.
Getting crushed in D1 is pointless. Find a level of competition where you are in meaningful races.
I don't agree. If the guy ended up having a big improvement jump in college then what difference does it make? He could've gone to a D3 school and maybe it's not the right fit with the coach.
Plus, it's the America East conference he was referring to. That's northeast, and there are a lot of small private D1 schools in NY/NJ + New England that compete against each other and he's still going to be relevant within the conference.
What times would I need to hit to be able to walk on to a d1 schools running teams? I run from the 800 to cross country 5k. And I know that all schools are different, but what is a good average?
Don't be so tied up into D1 or bust. There are a lot of D1 programs out there that suck and are only technically so because of the basketball/football teams and are in a D1 conference. There are really good D3 teams that could wipe the floor with the D1s in the area - no, not the NC States or Oregons or Floridas of the world, but the smaller midmajors, yes.
Find the school you like and the team/coach you fit in with. The rest will take care of itself.
So, I ran 1:57/4:22/9:27/16:01 as a senior in high school many moons ago.
I ran D3 (for 1 year) and then transferred to D1.
I think there is a good argument that I should have stayed D3. Why?
1) I was worried I wouldn't have anyone to train with. Turns out, at the program I did transfer to, that was pretty much true anyway. We weren't a great D1 (I ran 8:11/14:24/30:11), but we were competitive within our conference. There are more not good D1s than good D1s.
2) My PRs in college were good enough to compete in the D3 National Championship during the period in which I ran. I even beat the D3 National Champs in a few different events. But in D1? Eh, I was good for my conference - but wasn't going to touch NCAAs.
3) At a D3, a coach can likely care MORE about an athlete's long term development than at a D1. Why? Because there are no scholarships. In other words, you don't have to worry as much about a coach overvaluing their return on investment vs your longterm health and development
Keep going! You've got a long way to go, and who knows where you'll end up!!
Realistically. 1:54/4:15/9:14 are going to be very common standards when it comes to d1 teams that aren't total dog sh*t. XC doesn't really matter too much if you can just hit a solid 32 because there is so much course variation. If you're running around 15:30 though that's pretty solid for those schools.
my heuristic would be take the last points paying spot in your event in a given conference and add a second or two. eg in some conferences everyone in the final (almost) is running 1:40-something in the 800. walkon is probably very low 1:50s. some of the weaker D1s you can win low 1:50s so it might be mid- or perhaps even high 1:50s .
the point the D3 advocate is trying to make is this. there will be D3 conferences every bit as fast as the weaker D1s. the venn overlaps. and the times that win in those overlapping D3 leagues are nationals qualifier times, where in D1 they are season-over times.
Minimum 1:56/4:25/9:35 for terrible programs. But as other pointed out, you will finish 300th place in most track meets. You will finish 275th out of 300 at XC regionals or likely won't go because some low level schools don't spend the money to attend. Better to attend a D3 school.
Long, long ago, I was 1:53/4:25/16:30 in HS. I could have walked on at a meh D1 school and had grind super hard and probably do poorly at meets all while amassing a lot of debt.
Instead, I went D2. Got some scholarship money. Still had to grind super hard (running in college no matter the level is a big time commitment), but I was "getting paid" for it.
I tell everyone it was the best financial decision of my life. Graduated with minimal debt, which I paid off within 3 years.
My wife did the same thing (we met on the cross country team), and we are so grateful that we were never crippled by debt.