Running in college question

A

allsportsman

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My son is a high school sophomore and recently took the ACT. He is also a distance runner. While discussing potential colleges, to my surprise, he said that he would like to continue running in college (cross and track). He is not looking for athletic money. I know D1 is out of the question. What I am looking for is a range of high school times to be able to be part of the team in D2 and D3 Ohio colleges. I realize some teams are much stronger than others. I just want a general guide in the 1600, 3200, and 5K. Thanks for the help.

We may go visit some schools this summer. Any suggestions? Obviously, academics would be #1. Also, schools that are generous with academic scholarships.
 
 
Honestly, if your son wants to run in college, he can find a school to meet that need; regardless of how fast or slow his HS times may be. The competitiveness and seriousness of the running programs can vary widely amongst Ohio colleges. A quick look at past All-Ohio Collegiate XC Meet results will show you what I mean.
 
allsportsman said:
My son is a high school sophomore and recently took the ACT. He is also a distance runner. While discussing potential colleges, to my surprise, he said that he would like to continue running in college (cross and track). He is not looking for athletic money. I know D1 is out of the question. What I am looking for is a range of high school times to be able to be part of the team in D2 and D3 Ohio colleges. I realize some teams are much stronger than others. I just want a general guide in the 1600, 3200, and 5K. Thanks for the help.

We may go visit some schools this summer. Any suggestions? Obviously, academics would be #1. Also, schools that are generous with academic scholarships.
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Well, D3 doesn't have any athletic scholarships, but schools usually target athletes with lots "other" scholarships that effectively become an athletically-targeted package. D2 does have money (at least the last I knew of), but is a lot more competitive in the mold of D1 schools.

I'll give a plug to Ron Combs at Wilmington College. A distance runner & Wilmington Alum himself, he has 20 years at WC with the last 14 years as head coach. Well experienced and has had a number of good runners over the years.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
Honestly, if your son wants to run in college, he can find a school to meet that need; regardless of how fast or slow his HS times may be. The competitiveness and seriousness of the running programs can vary widely amongst Ohio colleges. A quick look at past All-Ohio Collegiate XC Meet results will show you what I mean.
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Those results are a great resource. I do know 8K times. Any sort of conversion to 5K?
 
Check out some of the OAC schools.

As a former Polar Bear, I'm partial to Ohio Northern. Jason Maus is a great coach who develops runners of all abilities. Rare is the runner that doesn't improve a lot under his training.

Maus also welcomes all abilities to the program. Right now ONU has guys running anywhere from 1:53 to 2:29 in the half mile, 4:08 (3:50 1500) to 5:10 in the mile, and anywhere from 14:50s to 17:00s in the 5k.

When I was there, we had runners who ran 4:20 in high school and guys who never broke 5:20. Everybody was given a chance to train and race.

Great academics in Ada, too. Particularly if your son is interested in engineering or pharmacy.
 
xcountry315 said:
Check out some of the OAC schools.

As a former Polar Bear, I'm partial to Ohio Northern. Jason Maus is a great coach who develops runners of all abilities. Rare is the runner that doesn't improve a lot under his training.

Maus also welcomes all abilities to the program. Right now ONU has guys running anywhere from 1:53 to 2:29 in the half mile, 4:08 (3:50 1500) to 5:10 in the mile, and anywhere from 14:50s to 17:00s in the 5k.

When I was there, we had runners who ran 4:20 in high school and guys who never broke 5:20. Everybody was given a chance to train and race.

Great academics in Ada, too. Particularly if your son is interested in engineering or pharmacy.
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Thanks. Sounds like one we should check out.
 
Ohio has a ton of DIII colleges. When you check out the OAC schools, also look at the NCAC schools (Denison, Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, Case Western, Wooster...). They'll put together a nice package. Don't know anything about any of their coaches, though.
 
It sounds like your son has a true passion for running. If he has a true passion, then I'm sure he is willing to work hard in the summer to improve as a junior. Don't count out D1/D2/NAIA schools yet. Many runners make big improvements from their sophomore to junior year. The improvements come from more training, better quality training, experience, confidence gains, and more maturity.

Here are ballpark figures for walking onto a D1 team.

800: 2:00-2:03
1600- 4:30-4:35
3200- 9:45-10:00
5000- 16:15-16:45
 
givetallugot said:
It sounds like your son has a true passion for running. If he has a true passion, then I'm sure he is willing to work hard in the summer to improve as a junior. Don't count out D1/D2/NAIA schools yet. Many runners make big improvements from their sophomore to junior year. The improvements come from more training, better quality training, experience, confidence gains, and more maturity.

Here are ballpark figures for walking onto a D1 team.

800: 2:00-2:03
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What D1 schools are you talking about??? there are too many D1 schools that would a 2 min half miler
 
I may be taking on the role of Captain Obvious here, but another suggestion I would make is that your son should take running out of the equation when he begins visiting schools. He should focus on which schools would make him happy if he was a non-athlete. From there, he should be able to find a school or two that also offers the type of running situation that he'd enjoy (e.g. coach he likes, teammates he likes, great place to train, etc.)

I'm telling you this because I remember many kids from my college days who chose the school because of athletics. In many cases, the kids quit their sports, and in their free time, they came to realize that they didn't like the school and either transferred or found less constructive ways to fill their afternoons and weekends. Things can happen during one's collegiate life that cause one to give up his sport, so make sure there's something else that led him to his particular school; especially if the running isn't defraying the cost of his education.
 
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Mount Union is probably the best place to start. Great team and great coaches. Strong and diverse academic programs. They just swept OAC championship and All-Ohio
 
RunFL said:
What D1 schools are you talking about??? there are too many D1 schools that would a 2 min half miler
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I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to say, but I guess an 800 meter time is irrelevant for someone who will be running an 8k primarily.
 
RunFL said:
I meant to say there are almost no D1 schools that would take a 2 min 800 runner on there team
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Yeah, you are right. D2/NAIA schools might. I think my other times posted are good ballpark figures though. I'm just talking about walk-ons who could be asked to tryout for a spot on the roster.

Anyway, the original poster didn't even ask for 800 times, so I'm not sure why I posted an 800 time.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
I may be taking on the role of Captain Obvious here, but another suggestion I would make is that your son should take running out of the equation when he begins visiting schools. He should focus on which schools would make him happy if he was a non-athlete. From there, he should be able to find a school or two that also offers the type of running situation that he'd enjoy (e.g. coach he likes, teammates he likes, great place to train, etc.)

I'm telling you this because I remember many kids from my college days who chose the school because of athletics. In manyl cases, the kids quit their sports, and in their free time, they came to realize that they didn't like the school and either transferred or found less constructive ways to fill their afternoons and weekends. Things can happen during one's collegiate life that cause one to give up his sport, so make sure there's something else that led him to his particular school; especially if the running isn't defraying the cost of his education.
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Yes, I agree completely.
 
apeg said:
Ohio has a ton of DIII colleges. When you check out the OAC schools, also look at the NCAC schools (Denison, Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, Case Western, Wooster...). They'll put together a nice package. Don't know anything about any of their coaches, though.
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There are a number of very good coaches in the NCAC. Denison has a good new track coach in Mark FitzPatrick and a very experienced CC coach in Phil Torrens. Lots of experience with developing good athletes, and they have a lot of kids on the team typically. (My brother ran there, and my dad taught there, so I know the program fairly well.) My brother still stays in touch with coach Torrens. Oberlin (my alma mater) has been on an upswing in T&F and CC since Vin Lananna's two years as AD there. They have an excellent coach in Ray Appenheimer who has been really turning the program around and developing some excellent distance runners. Dennis Rice at Wooster has been very successful at producing good distance runners since I was in college in the 80s. Duane Gomez has been at Kenyon since the 80s as well. I have had a couple of athletes run for him over the years. Craig Penney at Wittenberg is another very experienced NCAC coach (he was at Wooster in the 80s when I was running) and I have several runners running successfully there too. Kris Boey at Ohio Wesleyan has been there for about 10 years or so now, and I have had a runner who really enjoyed running for him and another athlete going there next year. Allegheny (Meadville, PA) has a new (withing the last couple of years) coach, but has a good history. I don't know much about Depauw, Hiram or Wabash.

Most of the NCAC schools have top notch academics. I will echo Mr. Slippery's advice about choosing the school first for the academics and the environment. Athletics played a roll in my choice, as I knew my chance to compete was much better at Oberlin than Cornell, but finding a place you feel comfortable at and which fits your academic interests are the most important factors.

Side note: CWRU is no longer in the NCAC.
 
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