Just wondering what mile/5k time you have to run to be at an average D1 school.
And the mile/5k time needed to be looked at by D3 schools.
And yes, before you say look at their runners and see what they run, I have but it is very scattered.
Just wondering what mile/5k time you have to run to be at an average D1 school.
And the mile/5k time needed to be looked at by D3 schools.
And yes, before you say look at their runners and see what they run, I have but it is very scattered.
You want to be 4:2x for D1 at the very least.
I guess anything under 5 will be fine for D3, some teams will let anybody on. I was a 4:40 guy and was the fastest guy on a pretty bad D3 team and the bulk of the team were running around 5:05-5:15s but we had 3 people that couldn’t break 6.
Just wondering ... wrote:
Just wondering what mile/5k time you have to run to be at an average D1 school.
And the mile/5k time needed to be looked at by D3 schools.
And yes, before you say look at their runners and see what they run, I have but it is very scattered.
Depends on the school. Some DIII teams take anyone.
My alma mater was pretty stringent- generally sub 4:30 or 9:40 or 16:15.
Each time was contextualized by the individual, however. If you were from the middle of nowhere, started running your senior year, and ran 4:35, you might have a chance of getting on the team.
Just wondering ... wrote:
Just wondering what mile/5k time you have to run to be at an average D1 school.
And the mile/5k time needed to be looked at by D3 schools.
And yes, before you say look at their runners and see what they run, I have but it is very scattered.
You are doing the right thing by looking at individual schools and seeing what they run there.
A decent D1 team will want a 1600 time of 4:15 and a 5000 of 15:20.
A step down D1 team will take 4:22 or so and 15:40.
D3 has a huge range. WashU has guys that are faster than many D1 teams.
I would say it's more about fit. You probably don't want to just hang on to a D1 team if you aren't that good. It would also not be that fun to be the best on a crappy D3 team.
If you can go somewhere and contribute to a successful team, that would be best.
So if my mile pr is 4:39 as a sophmore, and I still haven’t tapered yet so Im hoping to get 4:34ish , my 5k pr is 17:15 from XC. I’m amping my mileage up to 50 mpw this summer is D1 somehing to look at next year?
I’d look at both. Really only your junior year times matter for recruiting. Some guys go from 4:39 as sophomores to 4:35 as seniors, others get down to 4:05. Really depends. Keep your options open, don’t rule out D3 if you’re smart.
My PR was 4:50 in HS for the 1600. I walked on to a D1 team and made 10th man my senior year on a team that placed 5th to 8th in the Southeast Region every year I ran. I did some traveling including 2 conference meets. College PRs ~15:20 and 32:10, 33:xx in cross country. You don't have to be a superstar. One caveat here is this was an open team with no real cuts - there are very few of these left. Another school told me I could not work out with the team unless I achieved certain times.
This is where my son fit in. He graduated last year with PR’s of 4:22/9:24/16:21. He had some interest from mid to lower tier D1 schools, but didn’t pull the trigger for two reasons:
1. He would have been right in the middle performance-wise of his recruiting class, but didn’t feel like hardly ever running and being worried about always getting bumped out by the next recruiting class made sense.
2. Academics were most important. He ended up at a very selective D3 school that has a very good distance program and great financial aid.
His school finished in the top 15 at the D3 XC Nationals Meet, he got to run in that meet and he has some high level runners to train with. He has been able to run in the Conference meets for both indoor and outdoor track. He will graduate in 4 years (so no dealing with- and paying for- a redshirt year) and says he couldn’t be happier with the path he has chosen. This from a kid that during his senior year felt that “he should/wanted to be a D1 athlete”.
This is all to say go where the fit (athletic and academic) is best and don’t worry about what others think of your decision.
Just wondering ... wrote:
Just wondering what mile/5k time you have to run to be at an average D1 school.
And the mile/5k time needed to be looked at by D3 schools.
And yes, before you say look at their runners and see what they run, I have but it is very scattered.
It's very scattered because the programs vary so much. As people have said, there are very inclusive programs and very exclusive programs, and just because they're one way or another doesn't mean that they're all that much better or worse. There are some crappy exclusive programs and some great inclusive ones.
More often a D1 program will have more stringent walk-on requirements, and D3 programs will be open to all, but it varies tremendously.
Slow in college, still slow now. wrote:
You want to be 4:2x for D1 at the very least.
I guess anything under 5 will be fine for D3, some teams will let anybody on. I was a 4:40 guy and was the fastest guy on a pretty bad D3 team and the bulk of the team were running around 5:05-5:15s but we had 3 people that couldn’t break 6.
I feel this, I was the top guy my freshman year at my current school that was that bad then, although the team is much, much better now a few years later with some actual recruiting
Everyone on the team thought I was a beast and yet I’d end up getting like 200th at big meets hahaha
To be a real D1 runner who gets to travel to big meets in California every week, you need to run 4:15 and 9:15. Even those times don’t guarantee it. If you aren’t running 3:50 in the 1500 or 14:10 in the 5k, you won’t make the cut list for this meets. You will have a better experience in D3 if you are much slower than 4:20 and 9:20 in high school.
The division doesn't really matter, its the program that matters. If you find a D1 school that meets your needs thats awesome! But don't automatically discard any d2 or d3 schools because they don't carry the same bragging rights as a D1 school. There's any number of d2 and d3 guys that could run circles around most d1 guys. Look at Vincent Kiprop and Al Chelenga or North Central College. To tell the truth, after you graduate no one cares if you ran d1 or d3. They care about what times you put up. A d1 coach wont magically make you more talented; if you find a developed program with a good coach then you'll run whatever your talent allows for provided you're willing to work for it - regardless of what division you run.
Real D1 wrote:
To be a real D1 runner who gets to travel to big meets in California every week, you need to run 4:15 and 9:15. Even those times don’t guarantee it. If you aren’t running 3:50 in the 1500 or 14:10 in the 5k, you won’t make the cut list for this meets. You will have a better experience in D3 if you are much slower than 4:20 and 9:20 in high school.
+1
Honestly I would say if you didn't run close to 4:10 in high school, get ready to get sh*t on in college as a freshman. If you ran slower than 4:25, there's a good chance you will get sh*t on for your whole collegiate career.