I feel like I may need to help him some–I’ve started updating recruiting surveys for him (which he hadn’t done since last summer or fall). The crunch is so real on these kids and email organization is not his strong suit. He has a spreadsheet, but I don’t think he’s updated it since he made it! Maybe I should ask… I suspect things will get a bit better in two weeks after the AP Exams are over.
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Actually there is only one D2 school that he’s reached out to because of general lack of academic fit, but right now if he could get traction at that one school, I think he’d be very interested. Still not there though.
Yes, this is a distinct possibility! I think he was finally feeling pretty good about his finding his fit in high academic D3, and now he had to go and get faster!
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Sure. The Ivies have exploded lately, especially on the girls side. Some top Ivy distance kids are and will be Olympians. But I didn’t assume OP’s kid was in that category. I assumed 1:55-ish (pretty close!) and looking to improve from there in college. My point was that if you’re in that category, there’s plenty enough competition out there in D3. And lots faster. Top NESCAC kids could score at Heps. Academic D3’s sounds like his sweet spot.
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Or beach bag, like at Nike indoor.
I mean, its up to you and you family, but besides the competition, there’s the fact that many of the coaches will be there, providing an opportunity to connect in person. Different when you’re a rising senior running individually versus an underclassmen running on a relay.
Again, up to you and your family, but other folks will be taking advantage of that proximity.
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I’m not a fan of the only outreach being the online recruiting questionnaires, assuming that’s what you mean by surveys. Too many coaches don’t pay attention to those.
If you want to do them fine, but always immediately follow up with an email to the head coach, event coach, and/or coach in charge of recruiting. Like cinnamon1212, I drafted emails for my kids and kept a spreadsheet of contacts and conversations.
Email tips: action oriented fact based subject line: junior miler with X time, X GPA, X ACT (highlight best times/scores). Keep email relatively short. Include academic details including senior year classes, test scores, event times, and video if it makes sense for his event(s).
Good luck!
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He’s definitely been sending emails too but right now that is the rate limiting step!
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I get it, junior athletes in season are overloaded right now, but it’s also time critical in terms of making contact. There is no way my kids could have kept up on everything without adult assistance.
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Not in distance events except maybe an extreme outlier in a random year. Top 1500 and 5k guys at the NESCAC level would barely be in the top 20 at the Ivy level. Ivy distance is just faster and there’s more density at the top end in every team. The reason this matters for distance kids at that level is that they are more likely to have multiple guys at their level to train with.
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I think if you are talking top D3 vs Patriot League, the academic and social experiences can be remarkably different, and for us that was a driving factor. He ultimately walked on at and Ivy, but never really engaged with other D1 leagues because it was not what he was looking for outside of athletics.
It also bears remembering that time based sports are getting increasingly faster at elite D3 schools as kids get squeezed out of top programs due to roster limits and budget cuts.
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If he is sub 9:10 already I’d definitely continue reaching out to Ivies and Patriot league schools. That’s getting into territory where there will be interest.
Distance runners typically peak at the end of the season. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was close to 9 flat or even under in the right conditions. If the racing schedule isn’t conducive to a good performance at the end of the year I’d look at post-season meets. Most areas have good distance meets after state so kids can run fast times. It doesn’t have to be a national meet.
Honestly, if he finishes HS with a sub-9 3200 he’s going to find that most of the kids in his range are running at D1 schools. Not all of them, but most. That is not to say D3 wouldn’t work for him. But at some of the Ivies and Patriot league schools (or other D1s and probably a few D2s like perhaps Colorado Mines) he’s going to find a lot more teammates at his level to run with. That can make for a much better training and social experience.
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Was thinking more middle distance/half. Clearer now that OPs kid seems a distance kid with good half-mile speed.
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That has been another challenging part of the process. I think he may be evolving into a more mid-distance kid - when he was a skinny freshman, the XC/3200 times were definitely stronger but as he has put on muscle the 1600 and 800 times are catching up to them. I think part of it is gaining confidence in the foot speed too. In the past he was always a patient race-from-the-back kind of runner but he is getting better about pushing the pace earlier (or keeping up with the fast runners). It will be interesting to see if the 800 drops more (he was only in the high 2:0Xs as a freshman). He doesn’t have very high mileage right now (<50 mpw), so I suspect he has room to improve in college.
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There is a state all-star meet but he may have a conflict with that date. That would be the logical choice (and would still allow him to take his week off early enough to give him a good lead up for XC).
I think that is what he is starting to realize when he looks at rosters. It’ll be interesting to see how things evolve. I’ll try to get him moving on those emails!
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My D21, so now a college graduate (!!) was in what sounds like a similar boat, with times straddling high D3 and mid-major D1 programs, although in a different sport (swimming). Her club coach pushed her toward D1 programs, which was frustrating for us since I really wanted her to swim D3. At the time, she thought that I was ‘holding her back’. Her experience looking back now is that she’s SOO glad she went D3.
She had a blast swimming in college, was an All-American, is nominated for her school’s athletic Hall of Fame, double-majored and graduated on time with a 4.0 despite studying abroad for both a full semester and another summer. (Her coach was NOT happy about that, but coaches don’t ‘own’ kids in D3 like they do in D1.)
Meanwhile, other swimmers on her club team or in her graduating class who went D1 often quit or got cut (in some cases despite being much faster than D21) due to program cuts. And even those who swam all four years didn’t get to do all the fun stuff and get all the glory that D21 did. If T&F is anything like swimming (which I suspect it is), D3 has gotten crazy, crazy fast. It was plenty of competition.
Of course, YMMV. A friend’s kid in her recruiting class had a great time and college experience while swimming D1. (But, she did nothing else for all 4 years. No travel, including summers. Just swam. That’s not what we wanted for our kid, and in the end neither did she. Ours was never going to be an Olympian.)
Best wishes on your family’s recruiting journey, and buckle your seatbelt: it’s going to be a roller coaster!
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This is one of the things that I fear. The portal situation scares me, and I’ve seen cut D1 athletes self-destruct emotionally and academically before finding more welcoming D3 environments. I realize that Patriot League and Ivy are likely different in this regard. Maybe my (very) little bit of knowledge about this process is making me more wary/protective than I need to be?
Thanks. This is such a great analogy. I feel like he had a good sense of where he was and the progress he was making, and we’ve just gotten slowly to the top of the big hill. Now comes the descent and completely losing control!
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I have a NESCAC runner and it really is the best experience. She did not consider D1 options, but at this level there are totally D3 athletes who could be at lower ranked D1 schools but love being with smart, high achieving, civically-minded students in a small nurturing environment with really attentive faculty.
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It’s so, so hard to get real info on each program’s team ‘culture”. Coaches are great salespeople: if not, they wouldn’t be at their jobs.
Two tips:
First, look closely at not just the team roster, but also at the conference roster at each school your kid is considering. Is the conference team mostly underclass(wo)men? Then the drop out/cut rate is high. (Coaches will often keep upperclass(wo)men on the roster to look like they have more four-year athletes than they really do).
Second, on recruiting trips: Does the coach only allow your recruit to talk to the first-years? It’s common to stay with them, so that’s not a red flag, but I would have your kid at least talk to some upperclass(wo)men as well. If the coach demurs/deflects on that, walk away.
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Wow! I would have never thought they would do that!
You might also want to think through your financial goals.
If you qualify for FA or get merit, at D3s, it will remain if your son stops running for any reason. If D1 money is linked to sport, it could be trickier to replace it with FA if he stops running. (My understanding is that there are fewer $ for runners, but having known some who got athletic scholarships at our state flagship, there is clearly some.)
If you don’t qualify for FA and are looking to lower costs, the D1 route might be better. Just another factor to throw in the mix beyond the sport itself.
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Education is a very high priority for our family (my husband was 1st gen and my father was also 1st gen). We’ve been maxing out our 529 savings since our son was born so we are in good shape financially for college to make any of the options work. We weren’t counting on $ regardless of the level for the athletics. Depending on the school, he might be eligible for merit (or tuition exchange), but we don’t need to make a decision based on that.
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