Large WI schools in D3

Herby wrote:

You need to be very out of the loop to think that enrollment is a factor in a schools success. Coaches recruit high schoolers. It’s not like they go around looking for people from the general student population to join their team.

Tell that to the MIAC.

Minnesota kids have 50,000 fewer spots available at the D1 level than Wisconsin kids do. And stating that kids would rather attend a WIAC school than one of the D1 schools is idiotic. Marquette is at full capacity every year while some of the WIAC schools are suffering from declining enrollment. The WIAC schools average ACT is 22. No kid with academic aspirations would attend which means they are missing out on many decent distance runners who are typically smarter than the average student.

I assume you are referring to these D3 schools:

UW-LaCrosse

UW-Platteville

UW-Eau Claire

UW-Whitewater

UW-Oshkosh

UW-Stevens Point

UW-Superior

UW-Stout

UW-River Falls

(There may be others)

In addition to those, Wisconsin has other D3 schools such as Carthage College, Beloit College, Carroll College, Lawrence University, Concordia, and several others.

The scholarship (D1 & D2) schools in Wisconsin include UW-Madison, Marquette, UW-Green Bay, UW-Parkside, and maybe others.

With all those D1, D2 and D3 schools in Wisconsin, one would think that the pool of talent would be spread so thin that none of the D3 schools would be competitive. Perhaps Wisconsin athletes are just overall better, their coaching is superior, and they have excellent facilities.

Perhaps you should quit whining about the superiority of the state of Wisconsin.

Yorkshire wrote:

WIAC schools main advantage is their talent base without much D1 or D2 competition to consider. After UW-Maidson, most Wisconsin kids would rather go to a one of the d3 schools rather than Milwaukee, Marquette, or Parkside, and don't need the ego boost by signing a NLI to go somewhere. Compare that to Illinois, Iowa, or Michigan where every 5:00 miler thinks he deserves a scholarship.

This. This is a valid theory.

D3 is slow wrote:

No kid with academic aspirations would attend which means they are missing out on many decent distance runners who are typically smarter than the average student.

This isn't necessarily true. Smart kids from Wisconsin will go there if they want to stay close to home for school, want to save money on school, and have no aspirations of leaving Wisconsin for work. WIAC degrees aren't worth much outside the Midwest, but are highly regarded in Wisconsin itself. I know Thomas Schultz won the elite 90 award this fall for having the best academic record of literally anybody at the D3 XC championship. Clearly a smart guy, and I bet he's not the only one.

The Starved Elephant wrote:

Actual D3 user wrote:

large enrollment Wisconsin "D3" teams steamroll the competition in every D3 running championship.

Hyperbole much?

WI schools' finish in recent D3 outdoor track championships:

2009: 2nd

2010: none top 2

2011: 2nd

2012: 2nd

2013: 1st, 2nd

2014: 2nd

2015: 1st, 2nd

2016: 1st, 2nd

2017: 1st, 2nd

2018: none top 2

2019: 1st

I'd say sweeping 13 of the 22 available top 2 finishes in this period is pretty dominant.

Looking through these results I'm also struck by how, with very few exceptions, WI state schools are the only ones that participate in D3. Where do the state schools of NY, PA, TX, CA and others compete? Perhaps the WI D3 schools could move there and see how they fare against schools with similar enrollments.

North Central doesn’t seem to mind the competition.

Maybe you should start a D4 league to compete against schools with similar thoughts on competition.

NCAA is not like high school. The different divisions are not based on enrollment, but school philosophy regarding the role of athletics and academics.

Actual D3 User wrote:

The Starved Elephant wrote:

Hyperbole much?

WI schools' finish in recent D3 outdoor track championships:

2009: 2nd

2010: none top 2

2011: 2nd

2012: 2nd

2013: 1st, 2nd

2014: 2nd

2015: 1st, 2nd

2016: 1st, 2nd

2017: 1st, 2nd

2018: none top 2

2019: 1st

I'd say sweeping 13 of the 22 available top 2 finishes in this period is pretty dominant.

Looking through these results I'm also struck by how, with very few exceptions, WI state schools are the only ones that participate in D3. Where do the state schools of NY, PA, TX, CA and others compete? Perhaps the WI D3 schools could move there and see how they fare against schools with similar enrollments.

First, a bunch of New York State schools compete in DIII. SUNY Geneseo and SUNY Cortland and both very good.

Second, how many XC titles have WIAC schools won recently? I count one.