What is considered an average time for the mile/1500m in college?

IC4A qualifyin last year was 3:50 for the 1500. That's seems reasonable . . . under 3:50 -- quality.

I think it depends on what division you are talking about. average for d1 isnt going to be the same as average for d3 or naia. I think you have to take that into consideration.

The great majority of college runners, like the great majority of high-school runners, are thrilled just to be able to say that they can a mile in "four minutes and mumble-mumble seconds." Your 1,500 time might not get you a varsity letter at Stanford, but it would make you one of the top runners at most colleges.

From my experience as a Divison I athlete and a Division II coach, I would say "average" in the 1500m:

Division I: 3:54-4:00

Division II: 4:00-4:05

Division III: 4:02 - 4:10

Its hard to say what "average" is, but in most meets those times would fall in the middle of the pack.

I agree with DivI and DivII times, but in DivIII 4:02 is anything but average for a 1500. I'd up that a bit and say 4:07-4:12 as average for DivIII.

if you were to average every 1500 run last year by a collegiate male(all divisions) im going to guess that the average time would be 4:25-4:30 or 4:45-4:50 for the mile...I don't think you guys realize how many slower runners there are on collegiate teams...i have gone to competitive invitational meets where the slow heat of the 1500 will have a least 10 guys running over 5 minutes! 4:06 is pretty good, not outstanding by any means, but better than MOST collegiate runnners

I agree with math-man. The replies seem to be confusing "average" with "good." Someone who runs 3:54-4:00 minutes for the 1500 would be considered a good D1 runner, hardly great- but definitely good. My guess is that the original question had more to do with being a better than average runner. It would be safe to say that a 4:06-1500 meter runner (roughly 4:21 for the mile) is substantially better than average.

Man, I've never seen that many guys run a 1500 in over 5 minutes, I mean I've seen maybe 1 or 2 finish right at 5 minutes, but over 10 in the slow heat!?

In some of the larger invitationals I was part of, it would be common for the winner to run anywhere from 3:57-4:03 and then others would follow. The 1500 was too short for me so I never ran it in college or even ran a 1500 ever for that matter. I did run some indoor miles in college though.

In the 80s I was above average(around 8th out of 23) on my college team, and I ran a 3:59 1500. My team was D1, and we were in the middle of the Big East standings for T&F and XC. The median guy on our team could have run a 1500 in about 4:04. Based on how our team was average for D1, and the team's average runner's time, I say around 4:05 is average. I wouldn't consider the guys who can't break 5 for mile OR 1500 in the analysis.

Middle of the pack for Big East XC and Track hardly qualifies you as belonging to an average D1 Program. The Big East is one of the power conferences There are over 300 DI Track/CC Programs- if you were middle of the pack in the Big East that would probably put you in the Top 100 Programs. Therefore, your team was above average which would make your average runner (4:05) better than average for all of D1.

There are zillions of colleges out there where nobody gets a scholarship for the privilege of running. At these schools, the "average" runner is someone who doesn't know who Geb is, doesn't know who Meb is, may not know who Seb is, has never even touched a copy of Track and Field News, and isn't wondering whether he should take a year off from school to train with Arthur Lydiard in New Zealand. This "average" collegiate runner is never going to break 4:30 for the mile, and that's O.K., because nobody is telling him that he's going to have to pack up and leave if he doesn't get his times down.

It amazes me how bad a lot of D1 runners are. I started at a JUCO where they would only let me run the 1500 at scrub meets with my 4-4:10, I had to run the steeple and 5k at championship meets. Our good guys were in the 3:45-3:55 range.

People in D1 competition have no business running any slower than 4:05 in competition. Stick these guys in the 10,000 or tell them to get a part-time job and do aerobics at the rec center. But get off the track.

ASiemers wrote:

From my experience as a Divison I athlete and a Division II coach, I would say "average" in the 1500m:

Division I: 3:54-4:00

Division II: 4:00-4:05

Division III: 4:02 - 4:10

Its hard to say what "average" is, but in most meets those times would fall in the middle of the pack.

Nice place to start ASiemers. What qualifies as average seems to float about a bit and depending on the time of season. My bets:

Div 1: 4:05-4:10

Div 2: 4:10-4:15

Div 3: 4:15-4:20

Juco same as Div 3.

both you guys are certainly "in the ballpark". i'm sure someone could research stats (if they had a few weeks to blow) and come up with a definite number, but i would expect it to be somewhere between your two estimates. based on what ?? ... a guess ... my school was NAIA in 1987 (later Div II, and still later dropped men's T&F) but there was a 3:54 guy who certainly didn't win conference, probably placed 3rd or 4th, and i don't think that time qualified him for nats (if so just barely). i wouldn't think you could run at all at the DI level if you're much above 4:00. of course, there are always some exceptions ...

scott hubbard wrote:

ASiemers wrote:

From my experience as a Divison I athlete and a Division II coach, I would say "average" in the 1500m:

Division I: 3:54-4:00

Division II: 4:00-4:05

Division III: 4:02 - 4:10

Its hard to say what "average" is, but in most meets those times would fall in the middle of the pack.

Nice place to start ASiemers. What qualifies as average seems to float about a bit and depending on the time of season. My bets:

Div 1: 4:05-4:10

Div 2: 4:10-4:15

Div 3: 4:15-4:20

Juco same as Div 3.

4:24.76 mile

and 4:06.17 1500 are the mean averages of all Division 1 performances combined during the 2002 indoor/outdoor track season.

a 4:06 is no where close to a 4:21 mile. how do you think they will cover the last 109 meters in sub 4 pace after they just went as fast as they could for 1500? i think you have to add more like 20 seconds to convert 1500 to mile

Its a 17 second conversion. You must remember, when racing a mile, you don't run 1500m all out (assuming a kick around 1400 meters or so) and then stagger through the last 109m. You run a mile.....kick after 1500m. Since the races are so close in distance, pacing doesn't really change so you typically take the average time per meter in the 1500 and multiply that by 1609 to get the conversion. The distances aren't different enough for the average pace per meter to change for any athlete more than perhaps .001 sec per meter. A 4:06 in the 1500m is a 4:23 mile.

well that's what I want to hear! That even though I wished I could have run faster, my 4:06 was at least an average D1 time in the 1500. My time put me about 4th or 5th fastest on my team. We had some guys on our team that weren't even good high school runners, but our coaches still let them run. Yes these were the back of the pack guys who struggled to get much under 5:00 in the mile. But at the other end we might have some guys competitive in the conference.