Best universities in the USA for distance running?

I would check out the University of Phoenix. From everything I've heard it has a real nice balance of academics and athletics.

There are many threads on here by high school runners researching colleges that will provide insight.

UO is great. Easy classes. Laid back, unique 'methamphetaine appreciation' culture. Midterms and finals have questions right out of the textbook aka 'teach to the test'. Open enrollment sign up anytime for classes. Plenty of parking even on the 1st day of classes. Free food, room and board and free public bus transportation from the Euegene Mission but you have to do some light chores (you can't have everything).

TTUSA is Eugene wrote:

UO is great. Easy classes. Laid back, unique 'methamphetaine appreciation' culture. Midterms and finals have questions right out of the textbook aka 'teach to the test'. Open enrollment sign up anytime for classes. Plenty of parking even on the 1st day of classes. Free food, room and board and free public bus transportation from the Euegene Mission but you have to do some light chores (you can't have everything).

This coming from a guy who failed to get admitted.

anything in the SWAC

Open enrollment means every applicant is accepted. I thik they still have in-state tuition for border states students like most open enrollment schools have to attract students.

Carl Spackler wrote:

There are many threads on here by high school runners researching colleges that will provide insight.

Thanks! Could you please provide me with links to some good threads?

You should look at some Japanese universities. I hear they have quite a few that have better distance running programs than any U.S. school.

Better pass JPLT Level 3 before applying. My dad had to have two black belts before he got into a Japan sports college.

What's the English proficiency level needed to get into a good US school?

Try University of Ottawa in Canada. It's where John Halvorsen went.

Yes, he was posting to another thread and got the text in the wrong place. Ignore it here; Flagpole almost always makes sense and is worth reading and if it does not make sense, it is probably meant to be posted on a different thread.

I'm sure this kid is plenty confused by the idoits on here.

Here's my suggestions:

1. Virginia (greatest MD coach in the nation)

2. Oregon (if you want to be pampered)

3. Penn State (lots of big MD guys, not sold on the coaching)

4. Indiana (not pure MD but a solid group of milers)

Florida is excellent and just got the #1 girls distance recruit.

In fact, as a conference, the Big Ten is very strong in middle distance as both Wisconsin and Minnesota have a large number of good runners. For instance, Wisconsin had several in the 1:47-1:48 range and have a freshman coming in who ran 1:47 in high school. Of course, the Big Ten schools are in cool-cold climates but they all have good indoor facilities for training.

Did Vebjorn Rodal go abroad (either for university, or in winters to escape the ice etc.)? Whatever he did obviously worked out well.

Also some parts of the USA have fairly mild climates I believe: Oregon is probably a good example. But a lot of the midwest may have colder winters than Norway. And yet people do still run well at these places.

Even if you go somewhere cold, if they have a good indoor track and good team and other facilities, that could be more important. I get the impression that these factors are the best about the NCAA and scholarships.

There is no one best university, so anybody who says "you should go to X" has no clue what they're talking about.

What you need to do is

1. Decide on your priorities: school and running. How important is each? What do you want to study? What kind of a school do you want to go to (big, small, etc) and what kind of geographic location (the South? California? or somewhere colder?).

2. Honestly assess yourself as to your merits in terms of both running and academics.

3. Find schools that fit your priorities in light of your abilities. The Internet is a big place. You can look up race results and coach biographies going back many years to find out what kinds of results a team has. You can find academic rankings of schools in every field. Etc.

4. Start getting in touch with those coaches during your junior year of high school (or whatever the equivalent is in Norway). Ask them what kinds of runners they are looking for, and what kinds of academic qualifications are required.

Torsten,

Your English is quite good, but your trolling is weak.

-ItsAllGood

After 8 wrote:

Did Vebjorn Rodal go abroad (either for university, or in winters to escape the ice etc.)? Whatever he did obviously worked out well.

Also some parts of the USA have fairly mild climates I believe: Oregon is probably a good example. But a lot of the midwest may have colder winters than Norway. And yet people do still run well at these places.

Even if you go somewhere cold, if they have a good indoor track and good team and other facilities, that could be more important. I get the impression that these factors are the best about the NCAA and scholarships.

Rodal lived and trained in Norway almost the whole year (I believe he went to some short one week training camps, but other than that he only trained in Trondheim).

Rodal is an athlete who managed to succeed with very low mileage. I'd say that he is an even better example on a quality-trained athlete than Seb Coe. During the base training phase (october-mars) he averaged only 73 km per week (aproximately 45,4 mpw). The only places he could run during winter was on his super-quick threadmill and in a indoor speed skating hall. He also trained strenght and springy all year round.

Personally i would like to go somewhere fairly warmer than Norway, where you can run outdoors in the winter without being afraid of slipping. I never liked running indoors on the hard surface.