note: i couldn’t find a better category to put this under, but if there is one better then please move this :).
Hi! I am a high school senior who has applied mostly to D3 schools.
I run XC and TF, and really want to compete at the varsity level in college. I was wondering what walk on times look like for women’s d3 schools. Specifically, what are competitive walk on times for NESCAC and other SLAC schools like Swat, Haverford, etc? I’m not looking to be the best or a recruit. I just want to know what times would be considered decent, ex: competing in meets.
I will share my current times if that makes it easier to judge where I’m currently at/where I need to improve.
Reach out to the coaches at the schools you are interested in. Most coaches will set up a call or respond to an email. At least, the good ones will. It will also give you a chance to gauge whether or not you’ll like working with that coach, even as a walk on it will matter. Good luck.
Emailing coaches is certainly the best route. They make the ultimate decision based on a number of factors, including budget and spots available. Some schools may post their recruiting times, so check their websites. And, regardless if they do, this is what we did:
Look at a school’s track (not XC) roster, since track times are far easier to compare.
Find freshman and sophomores that run your events. You are looking for the average or below average runners, not the stars.
Check their bios to see if they list their high school PBs.
If PBs aren’t listed, use tfrrs or athletic.net to find their high school junior year PBs and senior year PBs.
The PBs will give you some idea of how you stack up.
You will walk on with your senior year times, while their recruits used their junior year times.
Give some thought to running steeplechase, if you can. I’ve seen a number of slower distance runners make a team because they were one of the few that were willing to run steeple and had a time.
I’m not completely sure from your post what you are aiming for. Is your goal to be allowed to walk on? Is your goal to be good enough to compete in meets? Is your goal to be one of the athletes who score (i.e. top 5 for cross country?)
In T&F and XC, different schools have different policies. There are top notch SLACs where the policy is that anybody can join the team and nobody is cut in these sports. The XC team may have 40 runners all standing together at the starting line for almost all the races (although for the conference and regional championships, this might be limited to 10 etc.)
Yes, I do understand. I was just sharing that walk-on times are often available on individual college & university websites, but I should have stated ‘regardless of NCAA division’.
Independent sources provide recruiting, walk-on, & tryout times for many schools:
Scroll to bottom of page for additional schools standards.
T&F/XC is, I believe, a pretty good sport for walk-ons. My son, who graduated in May, was a walk-on (T&F, not XC) at a strong D3 school and had a great experience. To give you an idea where you fall on the spectrum, take a look at the TFRRS times for the schools you are interested in. Also,when you visit schools, always reach out to the coaches in advance and ask for a chance to chat. We found the coaches to be very welcoming even though my son was not a recruiting target, and he really chose his school based on his meeting with the coach and members of the track team when we visited. Things you may wish to ask include not only whether you will be able to train with the team but also whether you will be able to compete with the team. At my son’s school, he generally had the opportunity participate in almost all meets, but I understand that at some schools there is a cut - that may in turn depend upon how much/what kind of travel is required for meets in the relevant conference.
mostly to compete in meets. my times aren’t recruitable, but they’re okay. i only did xc this year but i got all conference so i expect to improve a lot.
Or perhaps slower depending on school and conference. Looking around a different conference (the MIAC in the Midwest) I am seeing times more like 7 min mile pace in a 5K XC event being possible (not as a recruited athlete, but a time typical of the slower non-recruited runners.)
I am not sure. Back when I was a MIAC athlete (30 years ago though) the MIAC didn’t cut in sports such as swimming, XC, T&F, nordic etc. I was in 2 of these sports, was never cut despite some pretty slow times indeed. In one of the sports I traveled and competed with the team at all meets except Nationals. In the other sport, they only brought me to meets that didn’t require hotel/overnight. Not sure if the policy has changed. It would be worth emailing individual coaches.
It probably depends on the conference. The schools in my son’s conference (NCAC) were located pretty close together, so not much overnight travel, but he was able to compete in almost all meets, including conference championships.
I do xc but i’m mostly a middle distance runner…so like 800-mile and 3k ish.
i ran 2:40 in the 800 at practice, but not in meets since i only started getting into middle distance over the summer
also 5:45 in the 1500.
it’s only the beginning of the year really, and i’ve improved so much in the past month alone that i think going sub 2:35 in the 800, sub 5:30 in the 1500, and sub 12:00 in the 3k by the end of the year is very doable. I’m aiming to get under 3:10 in the 1k this winter.
I can’t do steeple. I’m 5’1 and tried hurdling (i used to be a sprinter) and couldn’t even get over the lowest height. My team also has the county champ in girls steeple so it’s not like I would be the main focus anyway.
like i said, the goal is not to be recruited. i just want to be able to practice and hopefully compete in a few meets.
Congrats on all your hard work paying off with rapidly improving times!
Personally, I would email the coaches at the schools you have applied to and ask them about what times would realistically be needed to walk on and have the opportunity to at least sometimes compete. If you think you will meet these times, then great! But if you discover these times are faster than you realistically will be able to run, then you have a few options: 1) you could attend these schools anyway and just run on your own 2) you could start a running club and perhaps host some low key races and/or enter local road races. 3) You could expand your college search beyond the NESCAC and apply RD to schools that have more attainable walk-on times (for example consider conferences like the MIAC that have terrific schools like Carleton, Macalester and st. Olaf, but may allow slower times (unless things have changed.)
Yes I was thinking kinda about that. If i don’t get into my ED school, I have some other safeties lined up that are pretty low tier D3. I’m actually recruitable based off my XC time alone at a few of them. Since I applied ED, if I get in and can’t run varsity, i know they have club. however i’ve heard from ppl at that school that some people end up walking on after freshman year. so even if i can’t run at first, it could happen later. if i don’t get in, when RD decisions come out that will be a question i ask for sure!