NCAA Cross - Would you trade in your 45th place finish in Div. I for a 2nd place finish in Div. III?

pass, pass, pass. do not collect $200

If I could do it over I'd mop up at D III. In the real world nobody cares if you finished 25th in D I. But if you were a national champion in any level the chicks come a runnin' and the boss buys drinks.

Nah, I'd take d1 any day. Just to say u made d1 nationals is a huge acomplishment in itself. I have a ton of friends I ran with in hs that competed at d3 nationals in college and I'm on a pretty similar level as them. I ran d1 in college and always remember getting wrecked at the regional meet. So finishing in the top 50, let alone making nats, would have been amazing.

DI 45th place = full ride

DIII any position = you're paying for school

Choice is pretty easy

Scholarship in DI wrote:

DI 45th place = full ride

DIII any position = you're paying for school

Choice is pretty easy

DIII solid runner = special "grants" that make up for no true athletic scholarship

Remember, most of the kids that go Div III weren't great to start off and developed into solid runners. Most top 45 guys at Div I nationals were already really good coming in. The two situations are totally different.

Being a smaller school runner, I would have loved to beat on the top 45 of Div I when I was a senior.

A guy that went to my high school a few years before me ran for a DII school. Was All American in the steeplechase twice. I ran for a D1 school, had a faster Pb than that guy in the steeplechase and my Pbs in all other distances were better also. Made it to nationals once and was totally destroyed at the race. (Would have been All American in DII though)The other guy is in our high school hall of fame and I am not. Would be nice to be recognized the same as him.Still, for personal accomplishments I would still go D1 to compete against the best.

hind sight wrote:

If I could do it over I'd mop up at D III. In the real world nobody cares if you finished 25th in D I. But if you were a national champion in any level the chicks come a runnin' and the boss buys drinks.

What division you run is all about personal preference too. Personally, and yes I am a D3 runner I like running at a smaller school atmosphere. I see a lot of very good runners at the nearby d1 school (Ohio State, sorry to pick on them) not develop to what I feel is there potential or end up quitting. See people like Levi Fox (footlocker qualifer, 9:10 2 mile) who quits after first year, and well yea people I think should have been able to develop better but they just got swollowed up by the sheer competitveness. I've actually heard from several d1 runners personally that they wish they could have just gone d2 or d3 instead.

The whole scholarship thing bothers me because it makes running your job and ups the pressure a bit. If you go to a small d3 school, you are running because you love running and it's benefits. And more importantly, if I ever lose interest in running over the next 4 years (i am a frosh) then I can walk away with no reprecussions.

and about the whole 45th in d1 vs. 2nd in d3. Not entirely sure how you can base the transfer between the two divisions on where you would place its hard to call except for in track when times are all legit. In the end, it all comes down to a personal choice and where you feel is the best fit.

Any word on why Levi Fox quit?

like i said, I heard he just didn't really feel like running anymore and his heart wasn't into it.

you will also have different training in different programs, so you cant put yourself at a different school and say you would have done so and so. and 45 at d2 nats would definately not be 2nd at d3 nats. there are plenty of fast d3 guys to deal with.

good excuse though, side stitch with 1k to go. Or maybe it was the fact that you couldnt handle the pace. woulda, coulda shoulda, i hate people who say that stuff. you can never say that you know how you would have finished without the side stitch, because you dont.

if you dont want to be controlled by your school and forced to train your entire college career, go d3. if you want to make running your life, go d1. d2 is pretty much a waste of time. not sure who would chose those schools. academics arent good, and running isnt good. What is the perk?

How are you in college and fail to use the proper form of their when denoting possession?

I've always had a problem with their since as long as I can remember. I assure you I am not one of THOSE people who are in college.

I heard he became an alcoholic and just stopped running...

What I would do is start a thread on LetsRun designed to backhandedly bash DIII runners in order to make myself feel better for choking at the end of a race. Oh and I call the choke a "bad stitch" to make it sound like I didn't choke.

think about it wrote:

if you dont want to be controlled by your school and forced to train your entire college career, go d3. if you want to make running your life, go d1.

So if you want to train like a mediocre runner as well with mediocre goals, go DIII. Is that what you are saying?

so cliftys wrote:

I assure you I am not one of THOSE people who are in college.

What does this mean?

Yeah, it does seem a backhanded way to lash at dIII, but I'll play.

Anyway, I got top 20 in d3 xc nats, and by comparison with d1 runners I ran against during the year, would have been top 35 in d1 xc region but not anywhere near qualifying for nationals.

that said, I would take d1 over d3 for sure. I regret not running d1, but it wasn't really an option coming out of high school, I didn't really get recruited seriously by any d1 (or really d3 schools for that matter, seems like a good majority of d3 xc programs dont even recruit).

Captain Ahab wrote:

What I would do is start a thread on LetsRun designed to backhandedly bash DIII runners in order to make myself feel better for choking at the end of a race. Oh and I call the choke a "bad stitch" to make it sound like I didn't choke.

Well if you've ever had a serious stitch you might understand. It's not really much of a "choke" to go from 30th to 45th in the last part of the race. Choking would have been never being up there or being there at halfway and fading. Stitches do actually happen, only twice for me, but they do happen.

I've finished better than that anyway.

My point is that it all doesn't really matter unless your in the teens. It might have been fun to be up in the front of the race instead of 25, or 45 spots back. You're still just as fast, but in the D III race you're a factor, not just a number. That's my point. So which would you choose?

Speaking of backhanded critics, I like it when d3 supporters use the argument that only d3 runners 'develop' and become better runners, while d1 runners often fail to 'develop'. There are not many cases of where a d1 top talent ran slower in college than in high school. In terms of not reaching potential- well here is my rant

d1 runners , in general , were the more committed runners who put in more work,or the exceptionally talented ones. Thats what got them to d1. d3 runners finally found a coach and an environment where they had to train harder to improve- and started realizing their talent. It doesnt mean d3 runners are developed better, they are just further(in most cases) behind the curve and have more room to improve.