Best college for 4:30/9:50 high schooler to develop

Buildingateam wrote:

Lee University (DII program in TN) would be a good fit. They bring in 9:40-50 guys out of high school all of the time and have them running 14:30-14:40s for 5k within 2 years. Their coach seems like he really knows what he is doing.

First, make sure they actually ran those times.

Wartburg.

Haverford

East Stroudsburg. Joe Koch is the best coach in D2.

Wartburg by far. Have you been paying attention? Chapman's been there only 3 years. That place is going off.

Rhodes College sounds like a great fit where the coaching staff would help you improve throughout college. Would highly recommend getting in touch with Coach Shankman and looking at the progression of their runners through their time in the program.

Shankman is one of the biggest jags in the business. Ask the assistant coaches he runs off each year or all the athletes that quit (or even those that stay). Rhodes is an amazing school...but Shankman is not a good man. You have been warned.

Wanna be2 wrote:

I have run 9:57 for 2 miles and 4:33 in the mile as a junior this past year. I am looking at colleges in the south, I am from TN. Who has the best reputation for developing guys like myself at the collegiate level?

At this point, the best college for a 4:33 / 9:57 runner is the college that best sets you up for a life after running. I definitely think you should work as hard as possible and aim to be an amazing runner, but I don’t think you should make life decisions on what school can you to a 14:30 PR or a 15:05 PR. At the end of the day, both a fairly meaningless and won’t matter when you stop running.

I ran 4:06 for the mile and I feel the same as a 4:30 runner. Never made NCAA, never broke 4, never went to the Olympics. It’s cool to have a decent PR but that was 15 years ago and I’m happier with my life after all of that.

With that said, most really good schools have at least decent distance programs. Start running 60-70 miles per now, try to run 4:20/9:25.

Then, again, go to a really good school. Even the academic focused schools will have guys low 14s for 5k.

Warriors all the way wrote:

East Stroudsburg. Joe Koch is the best coach in D2.

This is the worst post I've ever seen on letsrun

Warriors all the way wrote:

East Stroudsburg. Joe Koch is the best coach in D2.

Worst post I've ever seen on letsrun

Only one really good answer...D3 North Central College...Al Carius

SomeoneWhoKnows wrote:

Ok, let's not recommend Lee University to this kid without mentioning the elephant in the room.

Lee University is a Conservative Christian college. Better be of like mind to go there.

No sh*t! It would be like advising a non-Mormon kid to attend BYU without letting them know a little more about the place and what is required and expected of them.

Truer words have neve been spoken. I did 4:09, 14:10, 29:52. At the end of the day...…….no one cares. Study hard and do well in school so that you can be successful when you get out of college. Then you can join the hobby jogger ranks like the rest of us.

I was a 4:30/9:50 guy myself in HS and passed up the opportunity to run at East Stroudsburg mainly because of my own desire to go to school in a city, but I can second this sentiment. When I went on my official visit to ESU I was really impressed by the coaching staff and facilities and would definitely recommend it to other people. Should definitely look into other PSAC schools too like Shippensburg and Kutztown

This was the exact conclusion I came to at the end of my career and really comforted me. When you have to answer the obligatory “oh you were a runner?? What was your fastest mile?” question from non-runners later in life, they really can’t comprehend the magnitude of difference between a 4:15 and a 4:30. Obviously the impressiveness of your PR’s to others isn’t what running is about but that’s all the more reason to get the enjoyment out of it for yourself. Don’t force yourself to run for a team that you don’t fit in with just because you think you’ll be fast (like I tried to do).

Libertarian Centrist wrote:

Liberty University, another strong, conservative, Christian, southern college.

A very far right wing, GOP loving, evangelical Baptist university run by Jerry Falwell and now his son who is the president of the university. This place is much more restrictive than even BYU. I'd think twice about attending a place like this. Don't be surprised after submitting your resume for a prospective job with Liberty University on it that you never hear back from them.

Archiebald Eagle wrote:

University of Southern Indiana, may be able to get a little money with those times. Hillyard is a fantastic coach. Several guys with similar times coming out of high school became multiple time All-GLVC or All-American in college, a few became national champions in various distance events including steeplechase.

They had a freshman kid come in last year from Tennessee and ran really well during XC. I think he made D2 All-American. Ran a 14:06 in an early December indoor meet. Never heard from him again the rest of track season. Not sure what happened to him. Red shirt? Injured? Academically ineligible?