Walking On at Colorado?

Call or email Wetmore.

Tell him you can help him keep up with the Badgers.

Ask him for the Ziegle' phone numbers too

As I understand it, standard procedure there is to have all runners wishing to walk on run in that first home meet of their's, and depending on your performance you may be selected. I think nominally anyone who breaks 27:00 is supposed to be allowed on the team, but I think usually you can get away with being a bit over 27 and still get on.

Hope your training at altitude this summer...

I know a guy that walked on with a 4:26 1600. Albeit, that's an altitude time, so it was more like a 4:20. And he barely got on. I think normal for them is like sub 4:20 walk-on. I knew an 800 runner who was told he'd need to run 1:54. And they do a little race at the beginning of the season like the guy above said, that's true, although I don't think there is necessarily a time limit on it depending on how the guys have been working out for the prior few weeks. But regardless I can't imagine them taking you if you're too far above 27.

Secondly, I don't think many people like Wetmore anymore. Even his athletes. Thus, you might want to meet with him or talk to him in person to make sure you are making a quality choice.

V8 Juice wrote:

I know a guy that walked on with a 4:26 1600. Albeit, that's an altitude time, so it was more like a 4:20. And he barely got on. I think normal for them is like sub 4:20 walk-on. I knew an 800 runner who was told he'd need to run 1:54. And they do a little race at the beginning of the season like the guy above said, that's true, although I don't think there is necessarily a time limit on it depending on how the guys have been working out for the prior few weeks. But regardless I can't imagine them taking you if you're too far above 27.

Secondly, I don't think many people like Wetmore anymore. Even his athletes. Thus, you might want to meet with him or talk to him in person to make sure you are making a quality choice.

That is so stupid! I dont understand why people get this misconception about wetmore. He is a really nice guy and all of his current athletes love him. I have met the guy on several occasions he was always nice. He is a little introverted but other than that he is a great coach and like I said his athletes love him. Also 27 minutes is about the time he will let you walk on. I think nick miller last year walked on with like a 27:15 so just make sure you run with the CU pack and hold on for dear life until you cross the line. Good luck.

I walked on an XC team in Colorado, not CU. But, if the requirement is under or just over 27 minutes on the Rocky Mountain Shootout course than here is my anecdote for you:

fresh out of high school:

10:20 high school 2 miler, 4:34 miler at sea level, did 50-60 miles a week when I ran these times.

1st year of college:

trained 1 year at 60-80 miles a week, had a 3 month long injury, and ran 27:30ish on course

trained a 2nd year at 80-100 all summer and ran about 27 flat on the course.

I would consider myself a very very average runner. You can make the team if you can get in some consistent training. I'm not gauranteeing you'll ever make varsity though.

I'm not so sure all athletes love him - maybe his current athletes are okay with him, but it is a little ironic that none of his athletes stay with him upon graduation, and that he has a pretty terrible relationship will 99% of them after they leave. You can point to specific examples and say they weren't Wetmore's fault but who's the common denominator? Over the last few years athletes have been transferring from CU and they have next to no big name recuits coming in. that could also be attributed to Heather taking over the recruiting.

Speaking from painful experience, I would advise you to rethink the whole idea of "walking on" at CU, unless the Boulder community and CU's academics are your higher priority. As much as I like Boulder and CU, the traditional running mystique is overrated. Take the proper advice my own high school coach gave me at your juncture, which I unwisely dismissed: Go to a program where the coach actually WANTS you and will keep tabs on your progress, health, etc. Otherwise, you risk getting ignored, lost in a big sea, and fading away. I went to a top three returning college cross program out of high school as a walk-on hopeful, despite getting recruited in my own region, and I was chewed up and spit out. I'm not sure the coach even knew my last name, much less cared about the fact that I was struggling.

Go somewhere where you can get the entire experience -- great community, great academics, great overall environment with a coach that has shown a real interest in you. You will fare much better. Nineteen out of twenty kids take the route you are considering and fail. Do you really want those odds?

I am not going to get into details. But my post wasn't stupid. Period. First of all, I never said he wasn't "nice." And secondly, all his current athletes DO NOT love him.

Extremely talented athletes like Jenny Barringer do, though. But it drops of precipitously from there.

I don't know who your source is, but from my experience, you do not have any idea what you are talking about. I ran for a rival college for four years and I have a lot of respect for CU and their program. Many of my friends who ran for CU had great respect for the guy, and a relative of mine who worked for Wetmore had nothing but good things to say about the man. He is probably more concerned with coaching collegiate athletes than post-collegiates, but isn't that what he is paid to do anyhow?

Take a look at the accomplishments (both during college and after college) of runners who have run under Wetmore and you will be extremely hard pressed to find an equal. The man lives and breathes cross country and track and field from sunrise to sunset. From 1993-2005, there were only three American born male runners who won national cross country championships, and they all ran for Mark. He has taken every single male foot locker champion that he has recruited and trained them to be a national champion. No other coach can say the same.

That being said, I don't know if it is the best place to walk on if you are a talent that will need a couple of years to develop to become a contributor to the team. There is always an under developed talent waiting to be found, but with the restrictions of title IX in place, it is almost impossible to have anyone but the best make the team.

Mark or one of his assistants will still likely write up work outs for the club type team (those who are not official members of the team due to title IX restrctions but are still allowed to train in a club type structure), but you probably won't recieve the level of attention that you might receive somewhere else. CU is a top caliber program that is vying for national championships year in and year out, so if you are a couple of years away from making that level, you might want to consider some place else. You can still do it, you just have to be more self motivated than you would someplace else.

Fortunately, there are a lot of other options if you want to run for a very good program in state. CSU is an excellent place to train, and they have excellent coaches. Academically, it is a well respected school (the same cannot be said for some of the other in state schools with good running programs like Western and Adams, unless you are looking to become a teacher or nurse). At any of these schools, you would have the opportunity to contribute to the team, have good coaching, and if you still wanted to go to CU later, it would not be as difficult to transfer since you are not in the same conference (and if you are not on scholarship anyhow, there is usually no problem getting a release).