College commitment

4:29/9:40 is not going to do it for tôp 1/3 of D1. You will need to have a good xc season. Time irrelevant, it's your place at State and big meets that counts.

You would, however, be well received at D3 level. That can be great academically and fun at the right schools.

Totally agree. Dk if you're just reaching out to D1s OP. There are a lot of coaches out there that just don't respond which can be frustrating. Think about what you want to do after college & go from there. Find bigger schools that match that or do some research and find some schools who have good/responsive coaches & maybe decent sized XC rosters. But don't be afraid of reaching out to some D3 schools with strong academic pedigrees.

What part of the country are you in?

There are thousands of colleges in the US. You can run at 75% of them. You will need to provide more info if you want meaningful help. You are too slow for D1. That's likely your problem. D1 coaches rarely respond unless they are very interested.

Why does it have to be D1?

California

They have what I’m looking for, good schools, good running teams, facilities etc.

Run faster then. Your times are D3.

I have been looking at some d2 schools and some d3 too. Overall, I look at d1, top d2, and top d3 schools rosters and compare times to walk-ons or other recruits who had similar times their junior year. I wonder how they got in the team.

How long have you been running and are you currently in a good high school program? You can improve but it all depends what your history is. If you have been running for years and those are your times you will still improve but your jumps will be very small. College coaches are more interested with track times. Most cross country courses are off if they are not courses like Mt SAC or Clovis in California.

I’ve done other sports like swimming, cycling, soccer, that I feel have translated well to running. Missed out on running freshmen year xc, ran track but times were slow such as a 5:20 mile from running less than 15 miles a week. Soph year got more mileage around mid 30s for xc and ran 16:50, for track mileage was relatively the same and dropped a 4:47 1600 and 10:17 3200, almost all track meets were rainy or 89 degree weather. Junior year for xc I was running high 40 miles a week for xc and dropped a 15:40, got injured for the whole preseason track so was only able to do around mid 30s. This senior season, I’ve been focusing on higher mileage for xc, around high 50-60 with easy weeks being high 40s. Want to do the same for track.

All of my xc prs are from Woodbridge since it’s all flat.

D3 Pomona-Pitzer College, CA - (very) strong XC in the past few years. Have you looked into their program?

use TFRRS. you can look up about every college team out there. look up the all performances tab. that will spit out every time at every meet for every athlete on that team. that will give you an idea what times they run and where you might fit in.

in terms of a vague sense, at current performances, 430 is probably not getting you a scholarship D1. you might be able to get on a very weak D1 as a walkon at a school in something like patriot league or swac.

d2 if you have good grades and tests you'll find few strong academic options, maybe something like mines, but mines is also good at running.

i think you'd fit in fine and be recruited for D3. the back end of D1 and the front end of D3 overlap. it comes down to big fish small pond vs. small fish big pond choice. you will get smashed by dozens of seconds against D1 but if you pick just the right school maybe be on the team when that happens. if you run D3 in some mediocre conferences with some improvement you might score. in others you'd have to get a lot faster. there are some D3 conferences with strong academics and strong track (UAA, Nescac, some SCIAC). but those are also as good as weak D1. you would probably make the team but have a ton of work to do to compete. there are some conferences with strong academics but mediocre athletics (out NW, south, midwest). there you could compete for points soon and long term maybe chase the conference medal stand.

Look at the team and conference in Tfrrs. Don't look at times of recruits. Coaches have friends. Kids have donor parents. There are many reasons why a slow kid got onto the team. But you are cold calling. You want to be around the middle in your event. No fun being slow. No fun getting cut if you find a coach willing ro take you as one of his slower guys. So many kids go searching fpr those situations.

if you have serious d1 dreams take a gap year and train your butt off. if a D1 school takes you as a 9:40 guy they are a bottom of the barrel program and your running career will go to die. If they are a good program offering you a spot you will get no attention and be cut at the very first inconvenience.

i would let your academic and location interests drive the schools you look at and contact. you're not going to win olympic gold anytime soon. so look at good academic schools where your GPA and scores could get you in, with majors you want pursue, in locations where you'd like to spend 4 years or maybe even set up shop when you're done. academics over athletics.

then cross-reference that by researching the track programs. d1s likely have a cut. ask the D3s if they do and where it is. some smaller schools take anyone who shows up.

my advice is start with schools that fit the academic bill who want a 430 miler. a constant mistake of dreamy kids on here is to want to chase colleges because they think they can run 420 next year. the colleges want to know what time you run now. they don't care what you think you can do in the future. if you are too slow for the team now save your approach for when you have the time they want. don't be the kid writing only 420 schools because he thinks he'll be a 420 getting his emails tossed in the trash bin for being too slow, pouting on here that "no one returns my emails."

if you want your emails returned, approach schools where your time fits in the team. i agree with the guy saying ideally be at least mid-team if not one of the better ones. unless you just badly want to go to school x even if you're the worst guy on the team, it's a rough situation to be the roster bubble guy. every year they are recruiting your replacement and you can get cut any time. they also aren't likely doing anything for you, no scholarships, no admissions help, maybe not even an assured roster spot. it's apply, get in on your own, and then if you are admitted, we'll have a tryout and if you win you make it. that's a lot of ifs. to me it's more fun to be on the team where they badly want you and you get attention.

i'd make a list of schools with some variety, like ones where you are the best, are average, or would barely make the team. of different types of schools, state, private, big, small. figure out what you like.

if your times do improve next year, you can move your target. i suggest making a lengthy list of schools that interest you because some will say no on academics or sports, or you will decide the place is a dump when you visit. and maybe make some additional lists of "reach" schools where if your tests or grades or times improve, you can adjust your application/recruitment pool. just don't be the idiot where every application you send out is to a reach school where the coach has no idea you exist and you are 10 seconds too slow.

last point, XC times can help you get in places but TF times are likely too late for admissions deadlines in the winter. so your XC times will be more useful than TF times next year. TF times might help for scholarships or getting on the team, but for admissions purposes you may already be an admit or deny and get no new help. if you apply in january a march time won't help get in.

you want lists and options because some schools are going to let you in or turn you down, some schools you will visit and love or hate, you may figure out you like a type, coaches are going to have varying interest or none at all, schools are going to make financial aid offers that vary, etc. don't decide things now. for now just "date" a bunch of schools and see. you want choices at the end.

the kids on here who settled on one school that doesn't want them on the team -- not enough choices. the kids who can't figure out how to afford the school they focused on -- not enough choices. give yourself choices.

Thanks for the advice. Will start looking into more d2 and d3 schools, still not sure which ones.