slightly better than mediocre in hs wrote:
So are you guys saying that if I can't make it at a top 50 D1 school, that I should look at D2 and D3?
If I have 3 schools where I like the college and the coach and in both programs runners progress... if options were:
A. D1 school ranked 50-100 nationally or
B. D2 school ranked in top 20 nationally or
C. D3 school ranked in top 10 nationally
Given those 3 options, if my focus was at least 75% running and 25% education, and I live the dedicated athlete lifestyle: eat healthy, get sleep, don't party, don't smash every girl I see (sorry that's a joke as you'd understand if you saw me), and really give running my all, am I making a mistake by going to school A?
It depends on where you like to fall in the pack. If you like being a big fish in a little pond then go DIII. You would be a solid DIII recuit, but still have lots of people ahead of you in DIII and likely good workout partners at a top 10 DIII school. If you want to be pushed against the best, go DI. You want to find out what it takes to travel at the DI though and what opportunities they have for those who don't make the travel roster. It sounds like you might be top 10 on the team as freshmen at the mid level DI which is a good sport to start at, but you still have to watch out at DI that it's possible you would get less attention and individualized coaching there and if you don't make the travel group, you might not get to race as much. If you're really dedicated to running, I would be hesitant to pick the DIII because the budget and access to good competition if you get good in college is going to be less and might limit your potential. The top 20 DII might be your best mix of being a contributor right away with people still better than you on the team, and DII athletes tend to take running more seriously in general than DIII. A top DIII team probably does take it very seriously, but there still might be some less serious people on the DIII team. DII tends to have less good academic schools though, so that might be a factor for you as well. I think any of those school choices could be a good fit for you depending on what you're looking for.