Collegiate XC/TF Runners - What's your teams attrition rate?

I'm a junior. My class had 6 of 14 quit by junior year. The class of 2019 had 5 of 9 quit. The class of 2020 has had 4 of 9 quit.

Total 15/32 = 47% drop-out rate.

Our girls team was way worse though. Only 8 girls left and only one freshman and one sophomore left. Double digits of freshman and sophomores qui in the last two years.

Our program is a bit of a meat-grinder though, so a lot of people don't find it enjoyable.

Quitting Epidemic wrote:

My college's xc/tf team has been experiencing a high number of individuals quitting this year and it got us thinking about why. We typically bring in 4-5 recruits a year for the xc/distance program and typically 1 or 2 make it through all 4 years.

What's you teams rate of quitting? How many people do you bring in/make it through all 4 (or 5) years?

I attended a small D-1 school, here is the attrition rate for the classes I can remember. Distance runners only

Class of 2013

6 initial recruits, 1 finished his senior year on the team but virtually did not compete at all last two seasons so thats 83%

Class of 2014

5 initial recruits, 2 left on roster at graduation both injured senior year. 60%

These were typical honestly compared to those before and after - sad!

Freshman year: 8 distance runners.

Senior year: 4 distance runners.

So 50% did not make it all 4 years.

Used to run at a school in the SEC. By no fault of the coach our attrition rate was pretty bad. The huge student population boom (almost at 60K undergraduates alone now) made an irresistible party scene. Got to experience it pretty often during my injury woes. Have to say it was one of my best semesters ever when I was out for 6 months. But getting back to competing again was pretty great as well.

30%ish overall. 25% in my grade. 80% for last year's freshmen women.

Also do you count people who literally never run with the team? We have 3 of those. Eternally "injured" meaning 20 lbs too heavy and way back out of shape. My coach somehow doesn't understand that if you don't push the envelope they will stay that way.

Quitting Epidemic wrote:

My college's xc/tf team has been experiencing a high number of individuals quitting this year and it got us thinking about why. We typically bring in 4-5 recruits a year for the xc/distance program and typically 1 or 2 make it through all 4 years.

What's you teams rate of quitting? How many people do you bring in/make it through all 4 (or 5) years?

Can you guys posting here at least list the Conference (if not the school) so we have some perspective. Thanks.

Top DIII team

Distance guys: probably about 1/2 of the guys coming in competed all 4 years. Some would take a year or two away from the team in the middle and come back at the end of their careers. Some would quit after a year or two.

Sprint/Jumps/Throws: Probably 85% would make it all 4 years. We had a good, close knit team so that helped.

My class at a large D1 had 11 guys in our class Freshman year. Senior year down to just 2 on the team. Freshman year one stopped with injuries, sophomore year myself and another were cut at the end of cross, two more gone after track season, junior year grades took another few, one transferred their senior year.

The kids we have lost have all been pretty back of the pack runners and it's probably a good thing for moving the program in the right direction going forward but we aren't a huge team ( down to 10 guys for xc next year) so it feels pretty huge

Good topic. I went to a small school with a pretty good program. Six of us started (counting xc and track). One quit almost immediately to join a fraternity, one quit to join ROTC after freshman year for financial reasons, one quit to join a fraternity at the beginning of sophomore year, and one quit during the middle of sophomore year because he got an STD. Two of us made it all the way through.

It has been ~25 years since I graduated. Seems like the attrition rate back then was ~50 - 60%. Our first coach for 2 years liked to shop for bargains. He would recruit athletes who were relatively successful on low mileage or athletes who were chronically injured. With this in mind, I think that this practice pushed up our attrition rate higher than that of other schools. Our second coach sold his system (high mileage = success) and recruited athletes who would wanted to develop under his program. Attrition was lower and he had more success.

Undergrad wrote:

Also do you count people who literally never run with the team? We have 3 of those. Eternally "injured" meaning 20 lbs too heavy and way back out of shape. My coach somehow doesn't understand that if you don't push the envelope they will stay that way.

Or that particular battle just isn't worth it. Between administrators likely requiring a certain number of women (WAY more than you'll ever actually find to be competitive) on the roster with those same administrators also not wanting to have to deal with the aftermath of telling a woman (and sometimes a man) she (or he) has gained 20 lbs...it's just one of those battles that most coaches pass on because there are more important things to worry about. Sure you can always run up the mileage on them/"force" them to workout harder, but have you ever done that to an athlete 20 lbs over-weight with hips as wide as a tank? That's a good way to keep them in the training room their entire career...and women's body's don't exactly work like that either.

Trust me kid, this phenomenon drives us coaches crazy, but we just suck it up, invite just about any woman with a pulse on to the roster, know that half of them will quit within the year, and that half of those we put on big $$$ are going to flush it down the toilet (and yes, this happens with men too, just not as often - partly because there just isn't nearly as much money out there for them). Just a necessary pain in the a$$ associated with the job.

Small, small d2 program, not sure there is been more than a couple years with more than 10 guys in the team ever. The people who come here and can survive school stick around. If say its something like 75-80%.

When I was in school at a solid D1 program it was about 50% in the first year and a half then a third of those who made it through that point wouldn't make it to graduation. So 33% made it all the way through.

the current ratio. size of the class seems to matter as well. big classes will lose big numbers.

senior class 100%

junior class 60%

soph class 50%

fresh class 100%

That's funny you say that about recruiting low mileage kids. Our coach does that and I feel like a lot of programs because they are seem having a large "upside". Meaning moving from 30mpw to 60mpw will result in them getting a lot better.

Angry Willy wrote:

It has been ~25 years since I graduated. Seems like the attrition rate back then was ~50 - 60%. Our first coach for 2 years liked to shop for bargains. He would recruit athletes who were relatively successful on low mileage or athletes who were chronically injured. With this in mind, I think that this practice pushed up our attrition rate higher than that of other schools. Our second coach sold his system (high mileage = success) and recruited athletes who would wanted to develop under his program. Attrition was lower and he had more success.

messi wrote:

Quitting Epidemic wrote:

My college's xc/tf team has been experiencing a high number of individuals quitting this year and it got us thinking about why. We typically bring in 4-5 recruits a year for the xc/distance program and typically 1 or 2 make it through all 4 years.

What's you teams rate of quitting? How many people do you bring in/make it through all 4 (or 5) years?

Can you guys posting here at least list the Conference (if not the school) so we have some perspective. Thanks.

Big South Conference

I ran for a D1 program in the Pac 10 (later Pac 12) from 2008-2012. Our attrition rate was really high. Off the top of my head, here is some data on our team starting with the class a year above me listed by the year that the athletes began school (male distance runners):

2007- We started with 8 recruits, 2 more walked on. 2 people finished all four years on the team and one of them was a walk on. Attrition rate 8/10- 80%

2008-We started with 8 recruits and 1 walked on, at the end of four years two people were left and one was the walk on. 7/9- 78%

2009- We started with 8 recruits and 1 walked on, at the end of four years 5 were still on the team. 4/9- 44%

So in those three recruit classes we had 19/28 (68%) people fail to make it through 4 years on the team. There were many different reasons for athletes leaving. We had a high incidence of injury. A few people quit to focus more completely on academics. More left to join fraternities or simply got caught up in the more "typical" college lifestyle while they were injured and never made it back. I was one of the kids who didn't make it all four years. I ran for 3 years (6 seasons counting xc and track). I was injured for 4 out of those 6 seasons. I simply got sick and tired of dedicating my life to something and still failing to improve, or even make it to the starting line to see if I had improved. It was all fun and games in high school when I ran PRs every season and was competing for the win in the majority of my races. It was hard to justify the sacrifices it takes to run at a high level when I hadn't even been healthy enough to race during the season in years. College running is a great experience for those who are healthy and running well, for anyone else it can be incredibly depressing.

Malemute Kid wrote:

messi wrote:

Can you guys posting here at least list the Conference (if not the school) so we have some perspective. Thanks.

Big South Conference

Must be a Big South thing to bring in smallish groups and have maybe half finish at best. I also ran at a Big South school and had the following results:

Before My Freshman Year - 4 guys, all 4 finished

Freshman Year - 4 guys, I was the only one to finish at that school (one was injured and transferred for his final year of eligibility)

Sophomore Year- 4 guys, none finished (one did stick around the program, he just got sick)

Junior Year - 2 guys, neither finished

Senior Year - 4 guys, I think one finished