<p>I have a Jr S who was All State last year as a Soph in CA.
He would LOVE to run in College and is looking at a few Ivies.
Does anyone here have any insight I could pass on to him?
He runs both the 110 and 300 Hurdles as well as the 4x400 relay.
He only competes in Spring Outdoor, so not sure if that will hurt his chances vs East Coast runners.
Thank you so much!!!</p>
<p>Well here is sort of a basic outline to get you started - </p>
<ol>
<li><p>He (maybe with your assistance) is going to have to be the one to initiate contact. Don’t wait for coaches to make contact. Email coaches directly with a brief note giving grades, test scores and best times.</p></li>
<li><p>Cast a wide net - he might want to go to Princetn, but they may be chock full of hurdlers. Make a list of 15-20 schools that may fit the bill athletically and academically and start contacting.</p></li>
<li><p>Take a look at the team rosters online. See what kind of times the current guys are running to see if he might be a good fit.</p></li>
<li><p>Run really fast this spring 
Junior year marks are the ones from which he’ll be recruited.</p></li>
<li><p>Obvs keep up grades and score high on tests.</p></li>
<li><p>Search this site for threads on “academic index” and “likely letters”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Don’t hesitate to ask more questions here - good luck!</p>
<p>Again, you have been very helpful Varska
To date, he has had some contact with the Coaches at Stanford and rec’d an interest letter from Brown the other day.
Grades are good so I am not to worried there.
When does recruiting heat up for Track? Is it in-season (Spring) of their Jr year or just after season?</p>
<p>In the Ivy league it seems like things go from a slow simmer during junior year winter and spring, step up in intensity after 7/1 once the coaches can start calling, go up another level once school starts senior year and they can host official visits - and pretty much reach an unbearable peak in October of senior year as the EA deadline approaches.</p>
<p>…you also mentioned Stanford, They seemed to work on a little bit later timeframe, but it coud’ve just been that D wasn’t quite as highly sought after by them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the time frame
I wasn’t sure how they (the schools) were able to go from the start of the recruiting process to OV in such a short time with it being a Spring sport.</p>
<p>MD, the official contact window for recruiting is July 1st following junior year. Many conversations between track athletes and coaches are very vague (for those who follow the NCAA rules very closely) until that date. Before July 1st you might hear: an athlete like you would be a very good fit at our school. After July 1st you might hear: YOU would be a very good fit…come visit.</p>
<p>Thanks RR. Looks like S will need to have a good season then
What about the difference in Indoor to Outdoor? Will it hurt him to only compete in Spring Outdoor?</p>
<p>from the standpoint of whether a coach will care when and where the fast race took place, no. Coaches will expect college athletes to compete three seasons for distance kids (XC plus indoor and outdoor) while in college, so it’s good to show you have the discipline and commitment to do so in high school, but lots of kids don’t have the opportunity or interest, and run fast enough in spring season to be recruited. No coach is going to ignore a kid who can run fast, just because they didn’t spend time on the indoor track!</p>
<p>Many kids run indoor to stay fit and run just one race per indoor season…</p>
<p>Thank you again RR!
S pulled his Hamstring last week, so training has turned into rehab 
Coaches are being VERY cautious with him, so we know he is in good hands.
This is the first injury for S and he is a bit frustrated and overly anxious to get back to training, but it will have to wait.
Season doesn’t open up until March 3rd but once it does, it is packed with League meets during the week and Invitationals on the weekends.
Plenty of time and plenty of opportunities :)</p>
<p>so sorry, MD. Athletes don’t do well waiting on healing. This will be a chance to rest and recover. High school runners who learn the signs of impending injury and then how to recover and ramp back up to full power are very valuable. He will need to treat this as a training challenge: how can I stay fit AND let the hamstring heal? Hint: it involves a swimming pool.</p>
<p>RR…you must of read his Coaches mind!! Today, he has some time in the pool before Water Polo gets in. (Which is pretty rare at our school…the Boys Water Polo Team won the National Title last year )
He will then get on the bike by the end of the week.
Coach has a very slow but well thought out rehab for him. And S learning curve when it comes to injuries and how to prevent/rehab has greatly improved.</p>
<p>I’m amazed at how fit runners can stay if they will do pool running. It’s really boring, but it works. There are now pool-friendly ipods that make it more tolerable, if he’s the kind of kid who would appreciate some distraction while he puts the time in. This will all be fine. Just a bump in the road.</p>
<p>S has been sending back the questionnaire’s that he has been receiving and the Coach from his #1 choice sent back an email asking for his transcripts, projected Sr class load and if he plans on applying ED.
Is this a formality or a positive sign?</p>
<p>That’s a very good sign!</p>
<p>Thanks sherpa! I will stay cautiously optimistic then :)</p>
<p>If the coach is asking for the transcripts, that surely indicates he likes your son’s times. Has your son taken his SAT/ACT and two SAT II tests yet? </p>
<p>You may want to google Academic Index and start filling in the numbers to see what his overall number looks like. Beat of luck.</p>
<p>Fauve: He is scheduled to take the SAT/ACT in early Dec.
The SAT subject test will be in early May. (This one was tricky planning around Track season.)
His overall GPA is 4.3 and he is ranked in the top 1% of his class out of 486 students.</p>
<p>I will definitely take a look at the Academic Index. Thanks for the tip!</p>
<p>He’s doing all the right things, getting on coach’s radar w/ good times, good academics, and timing his tests well (Dec/May makes sense on multiple levels). And the coach is responding positively.</p>
<p>Kudos to both of you.</p>
<p>S took a look at the Academic Index this weekend.
Does anyone know how accurate it is?</p>