Can I run in college meets independently on my own?

try directathletics.com they list tons of meets open to individual athletes, also if you know of a collegiate invitational ask the meet director if you can enter. Good luck, training solo for a year is tough but makes you stronger mentally.

Of course. Many schools host open meets/invitationals that will allow unattached runners. Definitely check Direct Athletics. Look at the athletic page of the schools near you for their meet schedules. And at the very least, shoot an email to the coach of the team hosting the meet and see if you can jump in.

see if your school has a running club. If it does look at the runners times to see if they might be worth running with and if the club competes in the NIRCA.

I suggest focusing your energies on your studies instead, so that you may learn to decrease the redundancy of your thread titles.

Sorry grammar nazi. "Can I run in college meets on my own?"

Happy now?

Thanks for the replies so far. I'm glad to know this should be fine. So will this be the equivalent to if I redshirted at a school for the season?

No NIRCA club at the school I'm attending in a couple months.

There are open runners who run in meets that Cornell puts on both indoors and outdoors.

I plan on running only in meets on the west coast this Fall for cross country.

it's not 'very unorthodox'. Quite a few athletes run unattached at lots of college meets. Not all meets allow unattached runners, but plenty do..

Generally, yes. I graduated in 2012 and ran a handful of meets this past year

XC meets are easier than track, for sure. One coach didn't charge me, the other said I didn't have to pay if I didn't cross the finish line, and if I did, it was $10 (which I paid, since it goes toward the program).

Track was up in the air. North Central wouldn't let me run any meets until the Last Chance meets, but a few other schools would let me run unattached at theirs.

Don't forget road racing though. With prize money (and gift cards) it can be pretty nice to actually win something (and occasionally without much competition)

I know runners run unattached often, but that's usually people redshirting. I'm sure my situation is unique because I will be own my own but am still looking to run collegiately with a team in the future.

I do not necessarily want to do road races because the prize money will interfere with my amateur status for NCAA eligibility. And I feel like if I run at the cross country meets, I may get the attention of coaches and be able to talk to them at meets don't you think?

illinoisphotographer, do you run for a college team now, or just casually? I have a friend who went to North Central in Naperville.

I am only worried about cross country meets right now, not looking at track yet.

Redshirts are required by NCAA rules to run unattached, but that's not most of the unattached. Most of the unattached in NCAA meets are post-collegiates, and you are required to run unattached in USATF meets unless you are a member of a USATF-registered club.

I'm an NCAA coach and I run unattached in NCAA and NAIA meets on weekends when my team isn't competing. It will not affect your NCAA eligibility. It may help you with NCAA coaches if you can run in meets listed in TFRRS.

Cool thanks coach. I also have seen that recent grads run unattached. I guess I just know I'm probably the only college freshman running unattached on my own with no team really. I don't mind that though. I'm glad to hear it is fine with eligibility.

I will look into finding meets that are TFRRS listed. Thank you for that advice.

What are your PRs, we have space for you.

1. contact coaches in your area

2. consider Jr College meets -

3. Depends on how fast you are

FreshmanQuestion wrote:

Sorry grammar nazi. "Can I run in college meets on my own?"

Happy now?

Don't be so defensive. You made a mistake and it made you look like an idiot. Own it.

stainless wrote:

I suggest focusing your energies on your studies instead, so that you may learn to decrease the redundancy of your thread titles.

still lol!

Yes. You can run college meets independently on your own, just be sure to run unattached and not affiliated with a team when you run independently on your own unattached for yourself.

Redundancy FTW

Seriously though, thanks for the help everyone.