Missed junior track season. Now what for recruiting?

You focus on getting healthy and running well in the fall. If that isn't getting their attention then maybe video a time trial on the track in October.

Keep in mind. Interest is slowing due to the hangup with the House settlement and roster size stuff. It's not just because of your injury.

You'll be fine if you keep working hard and perform well.

It actually feels like I'm seeing more and more juniors commit now, earlier than normal, because of the roster limit stuff. Anyone else seeing this?

first off, you don't say if you're healthy or not. if you're still hurting there isn't even a real debate here, you protect the moneymaker and try to heal for fall.

second, you don't really say what your times are, you imply you're d1 material but give nothing to verify that. i say this because if you are sitting on d1 times from soph TF and junior XC you might be better off writing the season off and doing normal summer work prep to the fall. if you don't really have d1 times yet and are far away from the standards, same answer. if you need 10+ seconds to minimal d1 it was a dream anyway and you have to be realistic.

but if you are very close there might be some value to extending your current season out now to do club track. if you've done your research you know what team want and where you stand relative. if you've not done your research, do it now. there are all comers/club/AAU/junior olympics/nike outdoor nationals meets from now until late july. some of which you have to qualify from one meet to another, or have a qualifying time in the right time period. you could train a month or so and try to set a time at those meets. only if you're healthy. treat it as a spring track replacement.

last, you need to let go how it's gone and be positive and rational. positive in the sense of optimistically looking forward, getting well, and doing your best in the future. rational in the sense that recruitment will go better if you accept your times are what they are, and look for schools with those times. if you set up recruitment based on dream times you don't have, because you're angry or in denial what just happened. recruitment will be no fun.

last last, put your brain to use and try to figure out what might have happened this spring. shoes, surfaces, diet, workouts, mileage. don't repeat the issue. make some changes. example, when i had an ankle sprain from getting slide tackled in soccer, i bought dorkier shin guards with ankle protection and a bigger, tougher shin protector. the kids on here who heal but then repeat their previous workouts and choices, tend to just start repeating their health problems.

also, i would be honest with college coaches but i think it's counter-productive to send out cover letters or questionnaires emphasizing you were just hurt. kids want to start putting a spotlight on "i ran 430 mile but i think i'd be even faster but i got hurt." you think you're selling your upside. the coach may start getting durability concerns relative to other kids he's looking at with similar creds. i think you're better off saying here's my best times, do you want me, and leave the injury discussion until later.

They really don't mean anything.

What are your rough track times?

re "drumming interest back up," what you do is dwell in reality and email schools that recruit kids with your current times. if you thought you'd make 450 this season but are stuck on 5, write 5 or worse schools. if you thought you'd be d1 easy but instead are marginal d1/d3, that's where you live for the moment. accept it. the kids fighting reality are the ones who end up homeless or watching.

verbal commits are not binding on either party.

notice how football and basketball recruits verbally commit and decommit all the time.

schools in these sports 'release' recruits from verbal agreements all the time too if they want to use that roster spot or $ on a ' better' prospect.

If you pop off, you might still be fine. I ran against some kid who was pretty mediocre til his senior year, where he then got top 5 at state in the 100m/200m and he ended up running Big Ten

Thanks for the helpful reply. Not healthy yet but expect to be within a month or so to possibly catch some races in June/July. Will look into club track. Currently maintaining fitness with significant cross training.

Sitting on sophomore track times that are mid-to-low D1, but experienced a big leap by overcoming a health issue over the summer before junior year and sitting on junior XC times that are high D1. (NXN qualifier, ranked by Dyestat well, well within the top 100 in their final XC rankings.) Been contacted by 30 or so D1 programs (without even filling out their interest questionnaires), including some very, very good programs.

Problem is, they mostly seem to take the approach of, "we're interested, but we want to see proof on the track." Based on preseason track workouts, very, very confident to run low 4:50's for 1600 and 10 teens for 3200. It's natural that coaches have skepticism though, so mostly looking for ways to prove it even though high school track season is over.

If healthy, very, very confident in big senior XC season (e.g., NXN, contending for state title). Just seeing a lot of girls committing already and getting nervous of roster spots filling up, given roster limits.

Are you healthy now? There are some open meets you could run like track smith 5000. If that isn't an option or you don't have the fitness to run well yet, just focus on xc. Most coaches will consider a good time from Sept or Oct.

if they want you they will make room. (assuming you run as fast you expect)

remember no one actually can sign anything until november. so nothing is actually filled until then.

Your situation is highly unusual. Two juniors on my team have run about 5:02 and 4:52. They have reached out to the same schools. The slower one has received little interest and the faster one is being told to be patient for a few months. But neither of them had any coaches initiate contact.

Not quite healthy yet, but expect to be in a month or so. The Tracksmith 5000 suggestion looks like a very good one. Do you happen to know about any others similar to that one? Especially mile/1600?

Talk to your HS coach about your short-term and long-term running goals with regard to college recruiting. You don't want to risk your recovery from an injury by getting in summer races as soon as possible, and you don't want to risk your Fall XC season either. Even when healthy, there is a lot of burnout and fatigue with HS running that can affect your racing performance. D1 is not everything, so talk to a HS counselor about the college search process, then try to fit in running around that.

GET HELD BACK

Sure, but I can't think of one early commit in track & xc, who reopened their recruitment, or was not honored by school.

Leah Stephens moved late from FSU to NC St, but got out of her NLI due coach change.

A commitment with a nice instagram announcement from both athlete and team is pretty 'binding'. Especially, if the record shows no one is backing out. This then is formalized in sr yr November with ED acceptance and signing of NLI/new contract.

There's decommits in football and hoops, because it involved 6 and 7 figure sums.

Why announce early? 1- lock up roster spot in current confusion. 2- be done early to relax and enjoy sr year. 3 - looks cool, it's the current prestige move.

It's actually surprising that more decommits don't happen on both sides, as we have a sport where an athlete can radically improve as sr, or have career threatening injury / illness.

Thousands of football players commit early. Dozens of track runners commit early. The percentage of changes is likely similar. Addy Wiley was a 5 stat recruit who changed her mind. Some elite guy also went D2 rather than stay with his commitment but I can't recall his name.