Do high school girls realize how inflated the NCAA scholarship market is for them?

To the OP,

I feel you. Unfortunately that's just how it is and we aren't going to be able to change it in time to affect you.

So you know, 4:12.0 is equivalent to about 4:49.6 for a girl and 9:08 is worth about a 10:29.9.

Essentially, your times are about equivalent to theirs, but there are 40% more scholarships available on their side. Sounds like you'll need to get 40% better. And you can! Moving up from 30th to 18th is only a few seconds.

From a strictly athletic standpoint, I can tell you it's not just times that make you attractive. What people really want is someone who runs fast and wins. Not someone who is pulled to fast times by other guys who win.

This may sound illogical, but that's been my experience. Having coached two kids who went sub 9 last year, I can assure you the only one who got a lot of attention is the one who would almost always win his races.

Anyone remember the 60 Minutes segment on Title IX?

they showed girls getting full scholarships at places like University of AZ, Indiana, Iowa, for rowing, and these are girls that never rowed a day in their life. Why? Title IX, that's why. The list goes on and on. Title IX was a great idea at it's initial concept. But not now. It's abusive and ridiculous the way this Title allows men's existing programs to be cut and non-existent women's programs to be created and even give full scholarships to people who have no background or experience at any sport.

Eliminating Title IX and reducing women's scholarship opportunities doesn't mean there will be a sudden increase in men's XC/track scholarships. Let's be honest it's a non-revenue generating sport. The extra scholarships will go to football and basketball. There was a time when the traditional football powerhouses stockpiled talent just to keep them away from other programs.

Have you considered gender re-assignment? It's all the rage.

Let it go. Title IX has brought many women in the spotlight that actually won Olympic Medals, like Kara Goucher.

When was the list time an American Men won a medal? lol

Title IX is an obamanation.

You can be dismissive and call it "whining" but the fact is, you can be a 2nd or 3rd tier runner and still get a fat scholarship IF you are a girl. Also there's less chance your program will get cut.

Are you even filling out Recruitment Questionnaires for these schools? I know guys right now who are on full or close to full scholarships at D1 schools with times slower than yours. One of them has a 9:35 3200 PR. And I know a guy at a D2 school with a 3200 PR even slower than that, and he has a full ride. What has been your process? If you are just waiting for the offers to come in, yes, you will get some crap offers from some crap schools. Gotta do a little leg work, dude.

This is also a product of supply and demand.

When you look at high school boys, most boys are getting better by the time they are seniors. Therefore, across the nation big schools have their pick of top guys who want to be on a top level (big 5) team. Coaches know this and they can get boys for cheap. You also have to realize that 9:10 is not that fast for collegiate men. To score points in the 3k indoors, you need to be able to run 8:10 or faster in a sit and kick race. You can currently run 8:35 in your best race. Run faster and you will get more looks and scholarship opportunities.

When you look at high school girls, many are running slower by the time they get to their senior year. When you find a good high school girl that has been getting progressivly better, you throw a lot of money at her because it is far and few between. Coaches also realize that unless they give out half-full scholarship offers, these girls are just going to look somewhere else.

Is it fair, no, but it is the reality of the situation.

My advice. Go to a smaller school with a great coach. Hell, go run JuCo for two years and be a boss. If you progress for two years and become a JuCo all american, you may start getting some big looks from big schools. You will also be in zero debt coming out of JuCo.

Women don't have it so easy. Remember, dudes get to pee standing up. I consider that a HUGE advantage.

It's a shame that Football still screws up the Title IX ratio for men in the non-revenue/Olympic sports. Maybe someday before I day that will be adjusted/rectified!

so much whining wrote:

My guess is that a typical 4:55 girl understands collegiate recruiting and expectations just as well as you. Go whine about the 88 football full rides if you really need something to whine about.

The OP has a valid point, the standards for boys and girls are no where near equal. Obviously the main reason is simply depth, but the other reasons are the lack of progress a lot the blue chip girls make from high school to college which makes a 4:55 miler look pretty good. The progress is so slight that there is only about a 5 seconds difference between your top college and H.S. girls. In fact, over the last couple of years, the top H.S. girls have actually been almost equal to the top college athletes. A lot of colleges have had more success with U.S. 4:55 types than 4:45 types. Aislinn Ryan, Kaltenbach sisters, Dinsdale sisters, Nicole Blood, Danielle Truro, Christine Babcock, Marie Lawrence, Alex Kosinski, Chelsey Sveinsson, Laurynne Chetelat, Ashley Brasovan, Amy Weissenbach, Megan Goethals, Wesley Frazier, Cayla Hatton and Sarah Baxter, etc., didn't or haven't run much faster in college than they did in high school. While, athletes like Jenny Simpson, Emma Coburn, Marielle Hall, Shelby Hooligan, Brenda Martinez, Shannon Rowbury, Abbey D’Agostino, Angela Bizarre, Molly Huddle, Amy Hastings, Deena Kantor and Shalane Flanagan, etc., who never won national titles and were closer to 4:55 than 4:45, yet had outstanding college careers.

Also, a lot of those female 4:55 athlete are academic all-Americans, which assures college academic won't be an issue.

Sounds like you should be contacting more programs and there's a better scholarship offer out there for you if that's what you're after. Any mid-major coach reading this probably doesn't have your contact information so you should be sending e-mails and filling out questionnaires. Or if you're so bold just say who who are and see if they find a way to contact you. 4:12 would score at most mid-major conference meets.

There are not 90-100 girls who were juniors last year that broke 5 for the mile. About 100 total did it and only about 35 of them were juniors.

Asu Pac 10 and yeah we sucked, but we never had any women on the team who could break 5 for the mile and yes they got full ride scholarships. It sucked but that's just the way it is.

I tell my son study his rear end off and get an academic scholarship and my daughter is gonna do sports.

While I am in agreement about the need for title 9 and hate what its done to men's sports - especially track and field, the real culprit is Football.

There is a top line budget and football sets the line. The women's opportunity is due to that line.

The end point is that men's US olympic sports will dry up, while we'll still be able to watch our US women dominate in slow motion.

Too bad dude. but, looking at the big picture: women still make 79% of what men make. Women still do the majority of the housework and childcare even when they work the same hours as their male partners. Women still have to endure the pain of childbirth. female athletes do what they do without the advantage of testosterone and with the disadvantage of higher body fat, larger hip angles, and weaker bones.Women have a lot of challenges. They have an advantage in this one area though. Which means you may be less advantaged in this one area. If you wanted a lucrative sport you pocked the wrong one. So, run because you love it. work your ass off. Beef up your academics. Enjoy all the other advantages you have as a male.

This is nonsense. You must be a troll or have horrible grades.

I coached a boy last year who received full offers from mid major programs. He only ran 4:18 as a junior and a 15:20 senior fall.

Ofcoursetheydo wrote:

There's another dimension to this at some schools.

My female friend, lacrosse player from Baltimore, with a straight B average, interviewed at Stanford then went over and talked to the coach. Told him she didn't want an athletic scholarship.

Bingo.

What does Bingo mean? They took her.

At Stanford, I imagine the admissisons sports are more tightly controlled than the scholarships. Can you please explain what Bingo means?

OP, it's amazing to me that you don't think 4:12/9:08 is good. It's very good. HEre's an idea. 1) Go to an Ivy - they have need based aid.

2. Sit out a year and run unattached. Your run 4:01 and more people will be interested.

It's just tough. THere are what 12.5 scholarships for a whole track team?