<p>I have learned much from reading posts here on CC ...eg. it appears top LACs recruit many student-athletes. I am interesting hearing from those with experience in D3 track recruiting.</p>
<p>For instance, when should a student start contacting coaches at prospective colleges? Did you apply ED, EA, SEA, etc? Are successful applicants generally top ranked in their division, state, or region? How accurate are the NCAA D3 recruiting guidelines?...it seems in our state that these are comparable to state qualifying times (and there are dozens of kids who make these marks in each event every year). Do coaches look for superb talent in one event or competitive marks in multi-events? </p>
<p>Are recruiting services necessary for track recruiting? Waste of money?</p>
<p>Any thoughts would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks,
Mom of a junior girl</p>
<p>You should look at the times posted for meets at the schools you are considering to see if you have a realistic chance of being an asset.
You should fill out the recruiting forms on the individual web sites any time now, but unless your child is a superstar, don’t expect much til the first SATs are back.
I don’t think recruiting sites are worth it, but it depends on your athlete and how wide a net you want to cast.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Have your daughter fill out the prospective athlete forms for the schools she’s interested in after her spring season, then follow up a few weeks later with an email to any coaches you haven’t heard back from. </p>
<p>Our experience was that summer seems to be time off for many of these coaches and the serious contact did not begin in earnest until the end of the summer/early fall. I think track recruiting has a later time table than many other sports. </p>
<p>Whether your daughter applies ED or commits early will depend on a lot of things–mostly her times and grades relative to the schools she’s interested in, as well as finances.</p>
<p>Our daughter did not go ED. She is a candidate for academic scholarships and several of the schools she’s applying to and we want to weigh those offers. That has not been a problem for any of the coaches she is dealing with.</p>
<p>Thanks Minoafrau…it helps to know that the time-frame for track is a little later than the other sports I see being discussed here. I will suggest to D that she wait for her spring SAT scores before completing prospective athlete forms.<br>
When you made college visits did you speak with the coach/visit facility?</p>
<p>OldbatesieDoc, we did look at the results of a few D3 northeast invitationals and see a wide range of talent in her events. D would be a top scorer at many of these colleges but not all (esp. the top LACs like Amherst and Middlebury).</p>
<p>Hi pathways,</p>
<p>First, don’t pay for recruiting services. Track offices quickly “recycle” mass mailings about athletes. They’d much rather get a sincere email expressing interest from a real kid, outlining her academic and athletic stats.</p>
<p>Now is a good time to contact DIII coaches. Is she intereste in Ivies? The athletic and academic recruiting standards aren’t all that different, and if she’s at/near the top of the DIIIs, she might also match Ivies. If she has her heart set on DIII, I understand.</p>
<p>The reason to contact DIIIs or other schools’ coaches now would be to set up unofficials this winter or spring. Your daughter can contact coaches by email and let them know when she would be visiting the campus and arrange for a meeting with him/her. If you have the time and ability to make a spring break visit to schools of interest, I’d do it. You’ve probably read some of the threads about OVs in the fall of senior year. Anything you can do to fine tune your daughter’s final list of colleges before September would be worth the effort. </p>
<p>Check each school’s indoor and outdoor meet schedule, and spring break. If the coach encourages you to stop by, make sure you are visiting when they are on campus. Set the time of the coach meeting at his convenience with regard to his team’s practice schedule, but make sure you also have time for a campus tour and info session if you haven’t been to the school before. Often coaches will suggest a time immediately following the tour and meeting.</p>
<p>Even if you live far from the schools she’s interested in, I can’t tell you how much help it can be to get a good look around and a feel for the coach before “real” recruiting begins in July.</p>
<p>Others have commented on the later timeline for DIII track, and I agree with that. In general, the DIII “slots” seem to be less reliable than Ivy LLs or DI LOIs. If she wants DIII, she will need to be well-positioned for acceptance academically and keep lots of options open so that she can make a good decision once she sees where she is admitted.</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>Excellent points about how to schedule visits in the spring …sounds like you have been through this before Riverrunner.</p>
<p>Yes, we have! PM me if you wish. I don’t like to post specifics about my kids on CC :)</p>
<p>We did not visit schools in the spring because it was too busy during track season. </p>
<p>After making initial contacts, we started visits in the summer. Here’s the thing–if your kid is a good match in terms of grades/ times, they all want you to come back in the fall for an overnight. So on a couple of farther flung visits, we tried to broach that up front, because we weren’t making two trips. </p>
<p>Daughter did a number of overnights this fall. </p>
<p>Personally, I think you should wait for test scores and junior-year times (unless your daughter is a superstar already) before you make contact.</p>
<p>We did some previsits and met with coaches at few schools in the winter-but they(top LACS) wanted to see his first round of SATs before making any serious overtures. My s could only stand to do 7 official visits before “burning out” on them, plus it was affecting his grades, which needed to be top-notch, so the “previsits” helped him set his priorities. We did not previsit schools that required a plane trip-did a NE sweep and then 3 Minnesota officials in October senior year.</p>
<p>^ Don’t let NCAA find out, as the max number of officials one can take is 5.</p>
<p>Interesting. I didn’t think D3 had rules on that, as no money is involved.I think that is only D1.</p>
<p>Oldbatesie, you’re right. xfx, DIII doesn’t pay the travel bill for OVs, the student does. There’s no limit on the number of visits, and strict limits on what the coach can provide for the student during the visit.</p>
<p>5 visits is the limit for DI, and the coach must report all visitors to NCAA, which is why they always ask for your NCAA registration info before they will book your travel. NCAA doesn’t hear about the visit from the athlete, but from each coach. Coaches are quite motivated to follow the NCAA rules about this. No sneaking around the NCAA!</p>