As long as I get a second off of my best before I graduate (I am a junior, my best electronic time was a 26.72 in the beginning of the season, but unfortunately I had a hamstring strain and wasn’t able to compete in finals) I have some shot at running in one of the D1 colleges for track.
I was wondering what the practices were like? And if I get a great time now, should I contact schools now for my times or can I do that my senior year too?
Contacting coaches junior year is very important. If you wait till senior year, you will be late in the game. Contact coaches NOW and explain that you were hurt this year. Most juniors have already done this. In many cases good grades will get you more of a scholarship then athletics in non revenue sports.
My recommendation to you would be to go on tfrrs.org and look for programs where your times would make you competitive. Even a 25.72 (I’m assuming you’re talking the 200?) won’t make most big programs and probably won’t get you money at most D1 programs. But if you just want a chance to run and aren’t worried about scholarship money, then find schools that you feel would be a good fit for you and contact coaches now. With track being a spring sport, waiting until senior year to get the times you need is a dangerous proposition as most spots will have been filled long ago. Good luck to you! Track is such an awesome sport!
You should contact coaches as soon as you are close to required times for the schools you are interested in. Try to get on their radar, but make sure you are in the range of what they are looking for otherwise you risk that they will look at your times, determine you are not right for their program and then subsequently ignore any follow-on communications. There are charts with guidelines and times/performances for the different school divisions out on the internet, so you should get a feel for where you best fit.
To answer your other question…practices for D1 are at least on paper capped at 20hrs. week. This however does not include any weight training or team meetings. My son does a jumping event and has weight training/flexibility typically each morning for about an hour and then practice on the track every afternoon from about 3-6. Some days it is running /speed work with the sprinters, other days, it is jumping technique. Regardless of your event, expect 2x daily (M-F) practice sessions. He competes in both indoor and outdoor seasons and practice for track, for non-distance (cross-country) athletes starts in Sept., which for him is the third week into the fall semester. Official competition starts right after the New Year
My son is a horizontal jumper and sprinter at an Ivy League school. He is a freshman. They practice Monday through Friday 430pm to 730pm with a combination of weights, drills and speed work. Being that he does compete for both indoor and outdoor seasons it’s pretty much year-round practice starting the second week of school (light practice) with official practices starting in October.
For D1 level, 200m men’s times are in the 20.8-22.2 range and for women it’s 23-25.4
You may be a little late and out of range for a D1 track program at this point so you may want to start looking at D2 or D3; start researching schools that are a fit athletically and academically and start emailing and calling those coaches. I would also look into finding a good track camp this summer to get in front of those coaches. My son did the complete track and field camp which is held on the East Coast for colleges mostly in the East and Northeast. He got really good exposure at that camp and actually landed three official visits the summer before his senior year.
Good luck!!