college recruit girl

collegerecruit wrote:

i am a hs junior girl with 5k xc pr of 20:00 and for track prs 1600: 5:30 and 800 relay split 2:20. i have only run like one open 800 and won by 15 seconds with a 2:28 my academics are quite good i have an unweighted gpa of 4.0 and have taken 8 ap classes (most my school allows) i got a 34 on the act aspire and a 1380 on the psat. assuming. i do well on my act/ sat could i run for a good academic d1 school such as northwestern or colgate, etc? i hope to get my open 800 to a 2:20 this upcoming track season which will help too. i am also only on 20mpw

Definitely choose a school based on academic merit, assuming you can afford it. Your grades and test scores are quite good obviously.

Having said that, you should attempt to get your mileage up to 30 mpw this winter and then 40 mpw next summer to see how much you can improve. A low-2:10ish 800 and 18:59 5k, e.g., look much better than your current PRs... see if you can get there.

If you want to run in college, then you should, but you also need to be serious about your training.

Don't listen to all of the naysayers on here. You have the potential to run at lower level d1 schools, particularly if your academics are paying your way. Put the work in and see what happens. Choose a school that you would be happy with it you were not running, and contact the coach.

I was in a similar situation to you in high school. By my senior year, my track PRs were a bit faster, but not by much. I ran low mileage, and focused primarily on the 800. I never performed well in cross. I only had one offer from a D1 school. It wasn't a big offer by any means, but my strong academics helped make things easier financially.

By the time I graduated, I had track PRs of 15:45 and 33:00 in the 5k and 10k and was a 2 time All-American.

As an undertrained middle distance girl, if you can stay healthy and focused, I imagine you will have plenty of room to get faster. If you want it bad enough and can get your foot in the door to a program that's a good fit, you can improve a lot at the college level!

Hope this helps and best of luck!

collegerecruit wrote:

i am a hs junior girl with 5k xc pr of 20:00 and for track prs 1600: 5:30 and 800 relay split 2:20. i have only run like one open 800 and won by 15 seconds with a 2:28 my academics are quite good i have an unweighted gpa of 4.0 and have taken 8 ap classes (most my school allows) i got a 34 on the act aspire and a 1380 on the psat. assuming. i do well on my act/ sat could i run for a good academic d1 school such as northwestern or colgate, etc? i hope to get my open 800 to a 2:20 this upcoming track season which will help too. i am also only on 20mpw

There are some D1 programs-mostly sprint based though that would take you. Remember to keep your major and career path in mind as well.

collegerecruitgirl wrote:

my coach forces us to do 20mpw. i do not feel the need to go d1, i just was curious whether i should even bother applying for the team at the few d1 schools i am applying to. i will apply for the team at the d3 schools i am applying to though. i know d3 can not give athletic aid, but will being on the team make me more likely to receive academic compensation?

There are only a few D3 colleges that wouldn't want you, and even those still might, especially if you get faster before you graduate.

I have seen a lot of runners attempt to hang on to a D1 program that really weren't ready for it, and they either transferred or stopped running for the team. It's not shame not to be ready for D1, but as we sit today, you are not ready for D1 training and racing.

If she was running more than 20 mpw she WOULD be ready for D1 training. You have potential OP, you are just not reaching it due to your coach. IF you know what you are doing then do some training alone, you’re quite fast.

Ignore all the jealous trolls... for 20 mpw what you're doing is super impressive. There definitely seems to be D1 potential in you. I'd encourage you to start looking at schools and contacting coaches sooner than later!

Have a look at Davidson. A top academic college and a small size but still D-1. At the A-10 Meet there top 800 woman was a 2:08 then they had one in the mid teens and the third was 2:23.

Great financial aid program- no loans, just grants.

https://www.davidson.edu/about/distinctly-davidson/davidson-trust

Results:

https://www.tfrrs.org/teams/NC_college_f_Davidson.html

It's a terrible financial aid program if you make decent money. If poor, it is great. D1 is not for the OP. She will get lost and get frustrated.

Don’t listen to all these posters saying you can’t go D-I. You are only in the fall of your junior year and only running 20 miles per week. With your times based on that low mileage it shows you have a lot of potential. If you were running those times off 50-60 miles per week it m ay be different.

Like others said, gradually increase your mileage between cross country and track, and then again next summer leading into your senior year cross country. With some increased mileage you will see more improvements.

Also, while you might not be able to compete at an Oregon or Stanford, there are many other DI programs that would be happy to have someone like you run for their team. Especially since you will probably qualify for academic aid so you won’t need athletic aid.

Figure out the colleges that you are interested and contact the coaches. I had slower times than you out of high school on probably the same mileage and walked on a DI team. I improved enough my first 2 years to earn an athletic scholarship. I wouldn’t trade my college running experience for anything, so don’t sell yourself short and assume you can’t run DI if you really want to!

Go to the best academic public D-1 university that fits your needs and your likes. Some people do okay attending a college in the middle of corn fields. Others like universities which are in the heart of big cities such as UCLA, University of Minnesota or University of IL at Chicago. D-3 institutions are not worth it. Getting in $250,000 of debt at a D-3 school is crazy.

Hi I am in my final year of highschool

I run 2:12 and so far 0 offers from D1 after reaching out to 20 coaches.

you need more miles and a better coach.

good luck.

mntrackgeek wrote:

Ignore all the jealous trolls... for 20 mpw what you're doing is super impressive. There definitely seems to be D1 potential in you. I'd encourage you to start looking at schools and contacting coaches sooner than later!

I re-read the thread, and there’s only maybe one troll response. All others reflect a diversity of seemingly well intentioned recommendations.

Sounds like the consensus is there is a potential for d1 success, based on performances achieved out of low mileage training. Increasing to 30mpw in senior HS year might begin to uncover additional potential.

Higher potential for success at d2 or d3 level. This makes sense. Doesn’t sound like OP is necessarily hung up about d1. D2 or d3 might be better especially if paired with better aid and/or academic options.

I was the poster who originally asked if it was coach limiting you to 20mpw. Maybe have a conversation with him/her about bumping up mileage and also developing a race schedule that optimizes your performances. Looks to me like you could have potential as 800/1500 runner or 5000/1500 or 10000

Good luck

please read! wrote:

Go to the best academic public D-1 university that fits your needs and your likes. Some people do okay attending a college in the middle of corn fields. Others like universities which are in the heart of big cities such as UCLA, University of Minnesota or University of IL at Chicago. D-3 institutions are not worth it. Getting in $250,000 of debt at a D-3 school is crazy.

D3 athletics does not correlate with middling academics:

MIT

Johns Hopkins

Washington U

Carnegie Mellon

U of Chicago

Oberlin

Amherst

Brandeis

Etc

please read! wrote:

Go to the best academic public D-1 university that fits your needs and your likes. Some people do okay attending a college in the middle of corn fields. Others like universities which are in the heart of big cities such as UCLA, University of Minnesota or University of IL at Chicago. D-3 institutions are not worth it. Getting in $250,000 of debt at a D-3 school is crazy.

This is great advice. You have excellent test scores but assuming you are not part of the aristocracy, you won’t get into Ivy League and their financial aid structure. Don’t fall into the trap of middle class high achievers and pay full price and the next tier down. 50k/60k per year with sucky merit aid isn’t worth it. Try to find merit scholarships at the best state schools that meet your academic future.

I would agree with a lot of posters here who have said that you do have plenty of potential. A 2:20 is good, especially when put into perspective of only 20 mpw, but on that same notion it won't impress a lot of D1 coaches. The coaches it might draw interest from are not from very competitive programs.

Obviously your academic track record is quite impressive, and I don't think anyone here is really doubting that. You should try to look at the some of the really elite academic institutions and maybe consider including some of the D3 schools people have mentioned earlier, as most of them happen to also have outstanding track/cross country teams in D3. These would include UChicago, MIT, Amherst, Johns Hopkins, etc. The academic experience you'll get at one of these would be pretty similar with the Northwestern/Ivy type schools.

I think a lot of high school runners try to pick schools based on where they can thrive the most in their athletics, but over 99% of them won't be a pro so they need to have their academics to fall back on. So I would advise you pick some potential schools based on the academics first and foremost, and then use the running prospects at each school as a way to differentiate between them. Don't immediately pigeon-hole yourself into D1 programs where you might have some interest from the coach.

There are plenty of d1 schools that you can run at. They won’t give you money but you can certainly be on the team and not get overwhelmed by the talent level around you. These won’t be very good teams but who cares? You mentioned Colgate, unless things have changed drastically from when they recruited me, I’m guessing they would be happy to have you on the team.

seniorrecruit2002 wrote:

Hi I am in my final year of highschool

I run 2:12 and so far 0 offers from D1 after reaching out to 20 coaches.

you need more miles and a better coach.

good luck.

You need to explain yourself here. A girl who runs 2:12 would be wanted by a lot of D1 schools.

Here are possible reasons why no one has bitten:

You ran 2:12 as a freshman or sophomore and have gotten slower since then.

You have a weight issue; either too much or too little, and they all see it.

You have a personality issue they all know about, or you have a helicopter parent who they know about or who does all the contacting for you, and that's bad.

You are only going after the very best D1 colleges and you are too slow.

You are going after schools that are academically well above your reach.

You haven't reached out in the right way. Best way is to fill out recruitement questionnaire and then also e-mail either the head coach or the recruiting coordinator.

You could probably get on the team along the eastern seaboard or the south. Go onto USTFCCCA and look for the teams at the bottom of the NE, South, Mid-Atlantic and regions. A lot of the lower ranked schools actually have fairly decent academics (and those that do not might be more inclined to give you academic scholarships). Ultimately the academics will do far more for you than the athletics, so choose some place you like and enjoy the college experience. As others have said, there are a slew of D3 schools with good academics you could run for, but they also tend to be more expensive as they are pretty much all private. Think along the lines of places like Valparaiso, Loyola - Chicago, Colgate, Binghamton, Brown, etc.