Successful X-country team without track program

shawnee state naia

Canisius doesn't have track and they have a pretty good women's team. There are quite a few men's programs like this. Check NCAA rules for what you can do in the spring. DI rules are very different than DIII rules for this. For a long time, Wellesley (DIII like you) didn't have track but they still ran in a lot of track meets in the spring. If you play up the track part and what you are able to do in the winter/spring, that might make it easier to recruit.

I'd have to think that Boston is one of the best places you could be if you're in this sort of situation. You've got indoor meets happening all the time during the winter so your runners can have an indoor season even if they aren't officially part of a team. I know outdoors is a bit leaner but I'd think most coaches in the area would allow your kids to run unattached in some of their meets.

Yes, but with so many programs that have both it is tough to recruit against.

I looked into a school with a similar situation. During the spring you'll get 1 month worth of a special season with them. You won't really be able to make a big deal of it, but you can at least use it to gauge whether or not they are keeping up with their training.

Now, your coaching philosophy may differ, but I think in that scenario you may need to recruit certain kinds of athletes more than others. Don't think of not having a track as a weakness. You'll find a few types of athlets who may be attracted to your situation:

1) Athletes who claim to like or be better at cross country than track. It gives them the rest of the year to do whatever they want to improve their XC performances.

2) Track sort of forces speed work on the athletes, but quite a few XC lovers would probably rather use all spring to build up. Many college athletes have to do their build ups in the summer or winter when their peers may not be as plentiful (home for the holidays or vacations or whatever), but having all spring to train on their own as a team can often lead to huge mileage boosts you won't see any other time of the year.

3) Many D3 athletes don't take it as seriously. This is a sad fact. But you might be able to get a few good athletes who are glad to not have to do it all year. Good luck dealing with their desire to train, but trust me when I say that at a D3 school you're almost guaranteed to have to accept some of these kids to your squad each year.

4) Everyone knows what event they are doing. They know what the focus is. Nobody tries to score points in the mile and risk sacrificing XC.

5) Maybe they want to do a different spring sport. They'd probably rather go to your school without the track team than another one where the XC coach will constantly be annoying them about not doing track.

6) The freedom to do their own thing especially if they are super motivated. Your kids could run a spring marathon if they wanted. How many other programs can let their kids do that?

If you're a coach who is pretty interval and speed oriented, then I can see where not having the track season is a drag. If you're a coach who believes in huge base building, then this might be a great opportunity depending on how motivated the kids are.

Lots of good ideas from Shoebacca.

I would add the following:

1 - look at high schools that also seem to have a lot of kids that run XC but not track (famous example Fay-Man has a bunch of kids that either do other sports in the spring or do not do a lot of track meets)Easier sell to these kids.

2 - Recruit within the school itself both spring sport athletes and the general student pop. This will work better with the women's team but you can find some DIII kids you can develop

3- If you can form a track/running club at the school for the off season - esp. if this will give you access to any funds and/or give the opp to raise money to do stuff out of season that keeps things interesting.

It might have to be a "build it amd they will come" sort of thing. If you can show recruits that the athletes you have are getting as many competitive opportunities at your school as people at schools with a track team are getting I'd think they'd be more receptive but they may need to see that first. But, yeah, that's a tough one.

Just a thought, but maybe you could sell them on the road racing scene around Boston in the spring to some extent.

It is very difficult at DIII for a few reasons. 1) You are limited to eighteen (18) weeks of contact with the team. That means if you have a typical season (preseason of one (1) week and a ten (10) or eleven (11) week season) that only leaves you with about six (6) weeks of a "nontraditional" season. Here you are limited to a max of three (3) competitions. That would be about right as it is almost a meet every other week. It can work if you have motivated individuals. 2) Rules are not real clear on who can be on your "nontraditional" team- this may prevent you from using students who are not on your xc roster and if you do not open it up to the school it is unlikely that they will fund it. 3) It get even less clear as to what is a competition. It is very difficult to find xc races in March, April or May. Many college track meet will not allow your team to enter a college meet unless you are an NCAA team (which most do not consider you to be during your "nontraditional" season. Some of the other schools that are in the same boat can (and have) set up spring xc meets so your team could compete. 4) You sound like a motivated individual and that is great, however many of the schools that field only XC do not have that going for them. Therefore the coach is not available (or willing) to help the team in the spring. I know of several that coach at the high school level for outdoor track. Bottom line is it can be done, but you need to be very aggresive and persistant (both with the school and your team). Good luck and you are not alone in your quest to help your team