What times do you need to walk onto Oregon's distance team?

Last I heard the walk on standard is a 8:50 2 mile. You have to run this right before the season kicks off. I however know many guys on the team that can't run this though so you probably shouldn't listen to anything I say.

If you want it go for it. Train as hard as possible your senior spring, write the coach, and put in a good summer. A lot of good highschool guys party the summer before college and aren't as good as they were the june of graduating.

I walked on in 1995 with a 9:45 and mid packer cross country in highschool (I was much stronger in cross than track). Dellinger didn't hand me nikes or anything, but you can just hang on, they didn't have cuts.

Of course it has been over a decade ( a couple coaches later) so things may be different.

Well, I'm sure the program has changed now.. I am very sure that a 9:45 would definitely not get you onto the team.

I'm hearing that the slowest guys on the team at Stanford are around 4:15/9:10 or so, so I'm guessing Oregon's standards are even harder?

The standard this year was a 9:00 2 mile, I believe. A lot of guys have gone and joined the club team on campus.

why don't you just got to a real university with decent academics.

"why don't you just got to a real university with decent academics."

Obviously the poster, rip, did not. "Why don't you just go to a real university with decent academics?"

Aside...The University of Oregon is an outstanding undergraduate school with a wonderful balance between academics and athletics.

jorvack wrote:

If you want it go for it. Train as hard as possible your senior spring, write the coach, and put in a good summer. A lot of good highschool guys party the summer before college and aren't as good as they were the june of graduating.

I walked on in 1995 with a 9:45 and mid packer cross country in highschool (I was much stronger in cross than track). Dellinger didn't hand me nikes or anything, but you can just hang on, they didn't have cuts.

Of course it has been over a decade ( a couple coaches later) so things may be different.

get with the times gramps. oregons the most stacked team in the nation now. and if your name was never on the front page of dyestat, its gunna be tough to make it on.

I 100% disagree. While oregon is certianly very very good, every top team in the nation allows walk-ons. You may not have an opportunity to race frequently, but the coach will no doubt provide you workouts w/ the team. Really, what it is the harm in allowing someone to walk-on. The worst case scenario is that you can't keep up (and they coach hasnt spent any extra time or money on you), but the best case scenario is that you become a valuable member of the team. There are cases of the later alternative almost every year for one of the top XC / track programs in the nation. I've know Lananna and GAGS for many years and I can almost assure you that they wont turn you down if you ask to walk-on.

Don't listen to the people on this board as the vast majority of the them never competed for a national caliber track / XC program and dont know what is takes.

Not really wrote:

every top team in the nation allows walk-ons.

Absolutely not true. I don't know about Oregon's policy, but Stanford last year just told the wannabe walk ons to race unattached at the Stanford Invite and if they ran fast enough then they'd talk.

Stanford currently has at least two walk-on on their team. Can you name them?

Worst case scenario is that you raise the ire of the Title XIers.

Generally, the plan should be (for any walk-on) to talk to the coach, ideally in person, with the help of your HS coach after a successful meet with as complete of training records and times as you have. Evidence a desire to take a long term look for building mileage (80 to 90 mpw your freshman year) and doing the workouts to the best of your ability. Don't bring up the topic of money, gear or travel and write down everything that the coach says.

Not really wrote:

.... I've know Lananna and GAGS for many years and I can almost assure you that they wont turn you down if you ask to walk-on.

Don't listen to the people on this board as the vast majority of the them never competed for a national caliber track / XC program and dont know what is takes.

This is true - almost every good coach wants to coach, not just manage talent. If you can convince the coach that you are serious about training, and if you're at least good enough that you won't be a problem to manage in workouts (i.e. so far behind that everyone has to wait for you), then most coaches would want to let you in. I'll add the caveat that it's not always up to the coach - when I was in school (not at UO) a lot of the walkons got dropped suddenly one year due to Title IX concerns....

In any case, note that from a walkon perspective it's really a sales game - you have to communicate with the coach ahead of time, it helps if you have an "in" or someone to vouch for you. You can't just show up and say, "Letsrun told me I could walk on with a 9:30 2-mile."

jorvack wrote:

I walked on in 1995 with a 9:45 and mid packer cross country in highschool (I was much stronger in cross than track). Dellinger didn't hand me nikes or anything, but you can just hang on, they didn't have cuts.

That's because they were sponsored by adidas then.

half the recruits don't even get to race that often. Why would you want to walk-on there so you can sit on around and never race? Training is fun and all but I'd rather race with a good group of guys.

hello wrote:

Anyone know what type of times you'd need to walk onto the Oregon distance team in terms of 800/1600/3200/5k/10k? Thanks.

I would look at where the Oregon guys raced last year in cross country and try to get in those races. You beat any guys with an Oregon jersey on then you have some serious bargaining power. You do it repeatedly and it would be hard to deny you. Your goal would be the same as every other college runner in the country, beat Oregon. But in your case it would be so you can join them.

If you don't live in or near Oregon this could hard to do. However if you want to go to Oregon anyway and you think you have enough talent to beat some of the guys on the roster I'd say go for it and good luck.

you cannot just walk on to oregons team. thats what the oregon track club is for. if you are good enough to walk on, you are good enough to pull scholarships at nearly any other school in the nation.

Not really wrote:

Stanford currently has at least two walk-on on their team. Can you name them?

Sorry, I should have qualified it that this was Stanford's policy this year for the cross country team. True, in the past there have been many walk ons make the team. But this brings up the more important point that a given school's walk on policy is not necessarily the same every year.

which is sad, because many ncaa champs and all-americans never graced dyestat's front page. so many of the best runners in the ncaa would not have been able to walk on to these schools as freshman. thus i find these standards absurd and close-minded.

runnar wrote:

you cannot just walk on to oregons team. thats what the oregon track club is for. if you are good enough to walk on, you are good enough to pull scholarships at nearly any other school in the nation.

Not really...