Could I run on for a well known D1 team? 15:50, 4:31

Smaller D1 wrote:

You could walk on EMU or CMUs teams most likely. Hell CMU might even give you a scholarship depending on where they are at with depth at the moment. Major D1 programs you would have to get lucky to walk on or go to a school that has a not great program.

CMU is D3; they're not going to give you an athletic scholarship.

OP, are you a junior who ran those times sophomore year? If so, you could start looking at D1 programs if you get down to the 15:30/4:20 range; right now you're a bit short.

As of now, your times would help you to get some help in admissions from top D3 programs--Williams, the rest of the NESCAC, CMU, Pomona and the Claremonts, etc. Your times are not great for looking at big name D1 schools right now, unfortunately--also, consider that you probably wouldn't have the best experience as a walk-on clinging to the back of the pack each year.

Train you're ass off and get a full ride next year. The rejections can fuel the fire.

Whoops, just reread the first post. OP, you're kind of late in the cycle to be looking at good D1 programs, especially with those times. Unless you have a breakout XC season (think sub 15:30, near the top of your state), you'll be more likely to get admissions help with D3 (and you'd only be getting scholarship money towards the real lower end of D1).

MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, NYU, all of the NESCAC, all the Claremonts, UChicago, and a ton of other good D3 programs would want you. Your times are at a level where I'd highly recommend you choose a college based off academics more heavily than running, so use the fact that you're recruitable in D3 to your advantage with the academic heavyweights.

It totally depends on if your 15:50 is equivalent to your 4:31. If they are equivalent, meaning you ran the 15:50 on a lightening fast course, NO none will take you. BUT most of the schools you describe have club teams that will be happy to have you. If you improve over the years, you can talk to the regular team coach and see what happens.

If you ran the 15:50 on a killer course and finished high in a state meet or invitational with it, you most likely have a 9:2X 3200 time. At that point, you would have to ask each and every team and then maybe you would find one that would let you hang out for XC season to see if you improve a LOT.

Otherwise, there are 100s of mediocre D1 schools where you can walk on and 100s of lower tier D1 schools that will consider giving you book money.

You can run at any D3 school if you are a girl.

The quality of D1 programs is very uneven. Top D1 programs are much further from bad D1 programs than from good D3 programs. Sub 15:30 shouldn't be a problem for you this year and then sub 4:20/9:20 would get you a spot on plenty of programs but money only possibly at the middle tier schools. And by middle tier, I don't mean top 25. If you come from a bad state for distance running, run low mileage, and come from a lousy program, then coaches might be more interested. Wetmore knew that Pierce Murphy, coming from Hawaii and having run something like 4:20/9:18 without much training, had a lot more potential than yet another mid to low 15 minute guy from a high-powered SOCAL school. Work hard this year and you might be able to walk on at a top ten school.