I think this was the case during covid when everyone was getting extra years of eligibility, but not sure it will continue as now we are back to ‘5 years to play 4’ but once you actually play 4, you are done. If an Ivy athlete got a red shirt/injury extra year, they could finish an undergrad degree and still have eligibility left, but not sure it will be common any more.
Two years ago yes, there were many lax players who were grad students who’d transferred from Princeton or Penn to Duke, DU, Notre Dame because they had a year or even two left to play. I don’t know how many Ivy athletes red shirt.
I think there were around 15 or so Ivy grad transfers in TFXC this year (and probably a few more that I didn’t hear about). To schools like Stanford, Duke, NC state, UVA, Wisconsin, Wake, ND, Georgetown, and a few others.
I don’t know if I’d say redshirting is common in TFXC but it’s probably more common than in other sports. A fair number of athletes complete 4 years with a season of eligibility left in indoor, outdoor, or XC. The actual competitive seasons are fairly short so a bone stress injury or moderate soft tissue injury at the wrong time is enough to scrap the season and retain eligibility.
The numbers of grad transfers from Ivies (and other schools) in Track did pick up during Covid but I think these numbers reflect the new reality of funding being available at top programs for proven athletes. We’ll probably have to wait a few years to be sure though.
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This is my take, too. Its just a sport where people who are trying to perform at the highest level will loose a couple of seasons to injuries over the course of 4 years. We have had 4 full years since the lost covid year. Any grad transfers from the Ivy League this year had the chance to get 4 years of competition in since covid. Any extra eligibility this year is due to missed seasons.
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Are they considered 3 separate sports and can they have eligibility left in one season but not in another?
I’m only used to a sport with one season, although D did play fall ball but she wouldn’t have gotten extra eligibility if she’d missed fall ball due to an injury or illness.
Yes, that’s correct. They’re separate for eligibility. So an athlete can miss an XC season but compete in every indoor and outdoor track season and graduate after 4 years with 1 XC season of eligibility remaining.
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