D3 XC champ or last D1 All-American

Last D1 All American.

Because I would know that I challenged myself. I gave myself the stiffest competition and I did my best to beat them. If I was D3 I would always question where I would have been in D1 and if I would have been faster in D1

Fun Question. I would rather I could say I was a champion against competition of my own ability. I would still have to work extremely hard for it and there are no guarantees but it would be a title rather than a forgotten competitor. Obviously, there can be only one winner at any level and All-American status is pretty cool too so either one would be a pretty great accomplishment but it's the title that would be hard to turn down for me personally.

There was a time when the D3 & D2 national champions were allowed to participate in the D1 championship meet. I thought that was a nice gesture on the part of the NCAA but that was an extra race after an emotional and physical high that never really produced better results because of the short turnaround time from a Saturday to a Monday.

DI AA

brah, even though i was a multiple time DIII AA and i currently make 250k/year, i would gladly trade in those AAs (definitely not the 250k/year) to be on a top tier DI team where i got my butt handed to me.

on the DIII level, brah, you actually have people running solely for the social aspect, which is very, very similar to high school.

i wish i would have had a full team as passionate and hard working and as good as i was (if not better), brah. i really truly do. no joke, brah. no joke.

Brah, you chose poorly. Apparently there isn't any professional language usage that comes along with the 250k that has no bearing on your qualifications to speak to this issue, brah. And being a 2 time AA in D3 in a social experience isn't comparable to the original question. Champion or D1 AA. Sorry your poorly chosen coach wasn't able to run a program to help you enough even though you apparently felt committed to it for x # of years at the social club, brah. Sounds like you fit in there pretty well though, brah. There's a difference between doing something and talking about it as if you could have done better, brah.

D3 champion. You don't need to have your butt kicked to challenge yourself. And in fact when you're D3 you still race a lot of D1 guys, especially if you're good.

Years ago you could do both, in 1974 Dave Moeller from the UIniversity of Rochester won the DIII title on Saturday, finished as an All American DI on Monday(17th?) and was top 20 at the AAu's the next Saturday. The Division III Champ had the option of running the DI meet if he chose and could get there. Don't know when this practice ended exactly.

killarney wrote:

D3 champion. You don't need to have your butt kicked to challenge yourself. And in fact when you're D3 you still race a lot of D1 guys, especially if you're good.

I agree, but only if we are talking about men's XC. Women is a completely different scene.

stuff you like to pee out wrote:

DI AA

brah, even though i was a multiple time DIII AA and i currently make 250k/year, i would gladly trade in those AAs (definitely not the 250k/year) to be on a top tier DI team where i got my butt handed to me.

what was the point of including that you make 250k per year?

really is a good thought provoking question. More history - in 1977 Joe Sheeran of Eastern Illinois was runner-up in D2 and then 18th at DI and in 78 Dan Henderson of D3 Wheaton College won at D3's and finished 10th at D1's. It was a cool thing to see back then - I really don't think it harmed the reputation of any d1 school but in reality it was a nice recruiting ploy to be used by the d2 and d3 coaches to get high caliber kids to come to their schools so i guess you can't blame the d1 gang for doing away with it.

A better comparison might be D3 record holder vs D1 All-America or D3 XC Champ versus also ran. D1 AA is much more impressive than D3 XC champ, without some sort of serious course record.

lol

I graduated from a school in the highly prestigious Ivy League and currently make $250,420.69 a year.

The top DIII 10k this year would be 16th in DI.

The top 5k would be 130th

Seamus McElligot of Haverford College was the last d1 AA from a d3 school (1990 in xc and 1991 in the outdoor 10k). That Saturday to Monday double is crazy, probably having to travel sunday and hopefully getting to run the course once. For most d3 guys that would be their first xc 10k as well.

Actually they discontinued allow D3&D2 champions to compete at D1 National because they D1 kids were getting beat from time to time.

Clam Evans wrote:

The top DIII 10k this year would be 16th in DI.

The top 5k would be 130th

probably because it was run at conference in hot/humid conditions and d3 teams don't spend exorbitant amounts of money flying to stanford

The only people that could realistically answer this question would be a D3 CHAMPION or a D1 All-American. The rest is just make believe. Good luck to all of those still in the "running" to achieve either.

Stem wrote:

As above. if given the choice, would you rather be the D3 national xc champion or the last person to be named All-American in division 1. Why?

I will gladly take my 2 DI All-American honors over a D3 champ any day. I have nothing against D3 and I hate it when they get so defensive, but for me the D1 All-American is much more prestigious than D3 national champion.

I am an ex Division I athlete that qualified for the NCAA's in Cross Country, ran at an elite Division I program, and missed being an All American. I wouldn't swap that for a Division II or Division III championship any day.