I’m a junior who has run track and cross country every year of high school, and I’m pretty good but not exceptional (I.e. not recruitable). My school is somewhat of a track magnet program - we had about a dozen state champions and nationally ranked runners the past two years - so officially making varsity is nontrivial. There are enough top runners on the team that making varsity is contingent on not only winning races, but also things like attendance at spring break practices (which I would have to sacrifice several other opportunities to be available for this year). Having the varsity designation has no effect on my position and opportunities on the team; the only difference is that I would be able to report a varsity sport this year. Is this something that matters at all for college, or do they even care? It’s not like football or something where varsity actually entails a whole different level of commitment, but do colleges understand that? How would a 4 year JV sport be perceived?
You don’t have to specify. Just say Track and Field, 9-12. Since you aren’t looking to be recruited, it is an EC like any other and your participation shows commitment, effort, teamwork.
What do I put in the giant box where it asks to explain my involvement etc. then, if I haven’t done anything distinguished and the activity is so self explanatory?
Their understanding is probably quite different than your understanding 
HS kids pass around a lot of rumors about ECs. Truth is most colleges give them little or actually NO weight. You can find out how important they are at a given college from their Common Data Set report on on the college website discussing admission factors. As you rise in selectivity they become more important, but there are a heck of a lot of schools where just being a member of the Spanish club is more than enough.
If you are targeting very selective schools, know that they are not much impressed by mere participation. Not that its a bad thing, but the competition is such that a helpful EC is one that demonstrates leadership or accomplishment. It doesn’t really matter if colleges know how many hours JV track takes; even if they know, member of the team is not the kind of EC that helps at very selective colleges. And at less selective schools it lets them check off the “involved in ECs” box.
@mikemac I’m not really understanding what I’m supposed to do within track then, seeing as I would have to be nationally competitive to have a leadership position on this team. Are you saying a varsity designation is more helpful, or that it doesn’t matter either way? Does varsity qualify even a little bit as what you call “accomplishment”?
I am targeting very selective schools and while track is not my primary EC, I’m not about to not put it on my application when I participate for over 400 hours every year (not even including summer training etc.) Are you suggesting that I not even put track in my app, or just that it won’t be a trump card either way? Because I’m not expecting track to push me over any edge, I just want to know whether a varsity designation is enough of a slight advantage to be worth spending an extra maybe 30 hours (of time to study for APs) and forgoing some college visits. Because I’ve had some people tell me the difference means literally nothing.
I agree with @twoinanddone just put in that you did track and field all four years. You are not a recruited athlete so if you made varsity/what your time are etc. doesn’t matter. Colleges will get that you participated in the sport and stuck with it.
You might as well list it since you did it, even though it won’t be a trump card. As to whether that varsity designation is worth another 30 hours, I can’t predict what every adcom out there will think. But in general for very selective schools being a member of a sports team isn’t really going to be a big boost, regardless of whether it is varsity or not.
When I discussed accomplishment or leadership, it didn’t have to be on your team. You like track, right? Suppose you started an after-school track club for the kids at the local middle schools. You’d arrange practices, meets, get sponsors, school approval etc. You don’t need to be a state-caliber athlete to do it, just have a whistle and initiative. That, my friend, is leadership (and probably a heck of a letter of rec).
The question about impressive EC’s comes up regularly on the forum. There is a thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at The post is at [“Those ECs are weak…”- So what’s good?]("Those ECs are weak...."- So what's good? - #3 by Northstarmom - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums)
As you will see from that thread, at the most selective colleges they are looking for depth more than just participation. Stanford, for example, says
Put on an adcom hat; if that is your criteria, what do you think when you see “track team, 4 year member”?
And here’s the unfortunate thing. Unless your HS is regularly sending kids to the schools you are applying, the adcoms probably know little about it – including the time your track sport takes. Heck, at my HS track was no-cut sport and anyone who wanted to run a few miles got a letter. How do the adcoms know your school is different?
Well that’s unfortunate… Hehe my district doesn’t exactly have a need for further running programs, seeing as we have track clubs already established starting in kindergarten
If I were to attend a DIII liberal arts school I would probably have some interest in joining the team there (I’m not good enough to get faux- “recruited” but I could definitely walk on). I’ve heard that in such a situation it can be helpful to get in contact with the coaches in order to demonstrate interest. Although adcoms probably won’t know my school, track coaches might be familiar with our program since we’ve been nationally ranked the past few years. Might this get me some traction?
if your school is kinda a track magnet school then your coaches ought to be very familiar with recruiting, including D3 walkons. Talk to them. Also you might want to post in the athletic sub-forum here.
My suggestion of a track program for kids, though, was just an example of what someone could do. Saying “I’m not a state-level track athlete so I can’t get leadership positions” is just making excuses. Whether its to raise money for needy kids, organize volunteers to visit people in the old-folks home, rebuild a park, set up a tutoring program, there are just tons of opportunities for HS kids to make a difference. The kind of difference that the most selective colleges delight in seeing.