<p>Hi, I am currently a sophomore and I run sprints in track. My goal is run D1 track and while my times currently aren't superb, I have much potential to unlock. I was wondering if anyone here could post a timeline of what I should sophomore, junior, and senior year to get noticed. I'd appreciate any help</p>
<p>Do you want a timeline of the coach contact / recruiting process or a timeline of what sort of times you should be hitting in soph/jr years to be a viable D1 recruit?</p>
<p>I’d like more of a contact/recruiting process timeline. I have a pretty good idea on a timeline for actual times, but you can add that too if you’d like</p>
<p>Sophomore year, just put up the best times you can and keep your grades up. Academics can be key in getting the best financial package possible.</p>
<p>In the fall of your Junior year you can register with the NCAA Clearinghouse plan on taking your ACT/SAT early to allow time to retake if you wish. Check out the websites of the various teams that interest you. Look at the times of the current runners in the program to see if you might be a good fit. Also, take note of whether the sprinters are upperclassmen (which may mean the coach is looking for replacements). Don’t limit this early search to your dream schools, collect info on at least few dozen schools and compile it all in a spreadsheet. Fill out the online recruiting questionnaires and send emails to the coaches introducing yourself, listing your best times, GPA and test scores if you have them.
Once you have established contact, plan on visiting the schools that interest you the most. These are unofficial visits, paid for by you, so you can take as many as you wish. Spring break of Jr. year is a good time for this. Make sure to contact the coaches in advance of your visit to arrange a meeting with them. </p>
<p>After July1 of the summer after Jr. year the coaches can make phone contact with you. Prior to that they are limited to email and letters (although you can call them as much as you’d like)</p>
<p>Summer after Jr. year is a great time to hit some of the national track meets (New Balance, JO’s etc). If you attend these meets make sure to let the coaches know you’ll be there. The stands at the big meets are full of college coaches with clipboards - you want to make sure your name is highlighted on their heat sheets.</p>
<p>If all goes well you will be offered official visits in the fall of your senior year. These are paid for by the school and you are allowed up to 5 visits. Once you’ve made your decision, you sign your Nat. letter of Intent in the spring of you Sr. year (Early Feb?). By the time your senior year track season rolls around, you will most likely already be committed somewhere. </p>
<p>A couple things about T&F scholarships that you should be aware of. In a fully funded D1 program there are 12.6 track scholarships for men and 18 for women. These are spread across the entire roster (which may be 50-60 or more of each gender), so coaches tend to dice and slice the scholarships. Sometimes it’s a percentage, sometimes it’s just books and quite often it’s just a walk-on spot, with the assurance that they’ll revisit the money issue after they see how you perform freshman year. I know of a track athlete who never lost a HS meet in his event, was a national record holder and could walk onto any D1 program and score 10 points in just about every meet. His state flagship U offered him a 50% scholarship. Sooo, take the tales of “full rides” with a heavy dose of salt.</p>
<p>Hi Trackkk,
Varska’s done a great job with this timeline.
I’m going to add that a great resource for you is going to be dyestat. [DyeStat</a> Meet Central - ESPN RISE | HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS RANKINGS, RESULTS, TRAINING, PERFORMANCE, COLLEGE RECRUITING | HOW TO WIN](<a href=“ESPN - Serving Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere.”>ESPN - Serving Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere.)</p>
<p>You’re probably already aware of this site, but if not, there are a couple of ways to use it. First, if you have fast times, you should submit them to the performance lists. This will increase your visibility to coaches.<br>
You can also look up current recruits on dyestat, and the schools they’ve signed with. Compare your PRs to theirs, and that will give you some ideas about where you might fit.<br>
dyestat also has some good general info about recruiting for high school track athletes.</p>
<p>As varska says, once you see where you fit athletically, and shorten your list to schools you think you can get in to (a range of academic safety/matches/reaches) and that you’d like to attend, send those coaches an email and tell them about yourself. Coaches want kids who bring talent to the program and are excited to go to the school. Don’t worry too much about the money part yet, but do make sure you are contacting “financial matches” like state schools where you live, as well as reaches that you know you’ll need a scholarship to attend.</p>