How to contact a D1 coach about walking on the womens xc/track teams?

So I want to run at a D1 college next year, but I’m not fast enough to be recruited. But, my 5:08 mile pr is good emough to walk on at most of them I think. I have contacted college coaches in the past, some I got responses saying I need to be faster, others just didn’t reply.

I’m now a senior in hs, and I’m starting to hear back from colleges I’ve applied to. How should I go about contacting coaches to walk on their teams? Should I wait until I’m accepted to contact them? And when I’m accepted, what do I say in the email?

Also, my performances have dropped the past year and half due to an injury, illness, and lack of summer training, so will this cost me my chances of running at a d1 school?

I would wait until you are accepted and the you are sure you can afford it. A walk on spot will not get you money for the sport. After that you can call and/or email, that you will be attending next year and would like to know if the team has walk on try outs.

When you contact the coach, ask what you need to do to walk onto the team, if they have try outs, if they allow walk ons. Not all coaches/teams accept walk ons. You are not going to be able to walk on at Oregon, Cal, Colorado.

So should I wait until I know where I am going, or just until I’m accepted and still deciding?

I think you should get as much information as you can if it will make a difference where you attend. Will you attend School X if they have walk ons and try outs for the team over School Z if it doesn’t allow walk ons? Will you attend School Q if it has a club level team? Schools that have cross country or other organized competitions in the fall over one that doesn’t?

All the schools I applied to have xc and track teams, I just don’t know about the walk ons, so I guess I’ll email the coaches about that for the schools I get in

Many D1 post Walk-On Stds., just like Partial and Full-Scholarship Std. - a 5:08 mile is right at the Walk-On Std. cut-line at D1 ACC Wake Forest - http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wake/sports/c-track/auto_pdf/2017-18/misc_non_event/RecruitingStandards.pdf

Yes, coaches will likely want to see those marks in Junior Year. That said, roster spots may not be available even if a Walk-On Std. is achieved, so yes best to reach out to coaches. A lot of it will depend on the level of D1 school / what Conference it is in.

Fill out the prospective athlete questionnaires at each college that interests you. You can find the questionnaire under athletics for each sport. You can also email the coaches.

Agree with @hjbmk about filling out the online questionnaire that some schools have for prospective athletes as a pre-screen and a way to make sure NCAA compliance/contact is handled properly. Also, I think you’ll find that some coaches are very responsive to email outreach.

My question for @Ind5677 would be why wouldn’t you reach out? If you’re a runner with a mile time that might be even slightly attractive to a coach, that might just end up being a bit of a “hook” at some of the more selective schools (if you’re targeting reach schools). I can’t really see any downside to contacting a coach, and who knows, if you hit it off, s/he might send a quick email over to admissions saying you’d be a potential asset to the team.

I’ve filled out questionnaires for every school, all during junior year or beginning of this year. I also reached out to all the coaches by email, during junior year and some again at the beginning of this year. Some I got responses from, most I did not. I appreciate all the feedback and I’ll definetly becontacting the coaches for the schools I’ve gotten into immediately

If it helps for reference, I’ve applied to Brown, Cornell, Northeastern, Boston College, uconn, Dartmouth, Princeton and Villanova. Thus far I’ve been accepted at BC, Villanova, and Northeastern

All are going to have very, very competitive teams. Best to look at the results from the current roster to see marks being put up.

Villanova wants a consistent 5:00 miler as a Walk-On - http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nova/sports/w-track/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/walkon-standards.pdf

@Chembiodad That’s very interesting that the cutoff is so fast. Athletic.net only has records of 16 females running under 4:49 for the 1600, and 25 sub 4:51 in the mile. Many of those are probably overlaps, so I guess to get a scholarship for running at Villanova you’ve got to be one of the best in the entire country. Those numbers go down to 4 and 10 when you restrict it to seniors. So they’ll only give you a scholarship if you’re one of the very best in the entire country? Of course the best in the country will end up somewhere, but those standards are far from the norm. Villanova and Wake Forest seem like outliers to me. The ivies are probably outliers as well for obvious reasons.

I run track and XC as well but I’m far from being a recruit so I can’t really help you here. But I would say a 5:08 is recruitable, you applied to some very very fast schools but the vast majority would love to have a 5:08 girl. A 5:08 girl from my team got recruited by Northeastern and some other schools, although her 2 mile/XC times were even better than her mile.

@DogsAndMath23, Villanova is a XC/Track powerhouse as their women’s team was ranked #13 this past Fall.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/cross-country-women/d1

Dartmouth ranked #26- they are looking for a consistent 5:05 miler.
http://www.dartmouthsports.com/downloads2/1262202.xlsx?ATCLID=205003576&SPSID=48783&SPID=4701&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=11600

Remember top D1 runners are sub-4:46 in the 1600 - there were 200 that achieved that mark last Spring (I converted 1500 times to 1600 for comparison).
https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/1912.html

And top D3 runners are sub-5:10 in the 1600 - there were 200 that achieved that mark last Spring
https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/1914.html

@DogsAndMath23 your numbers from athletic.net are way off. Maybe you’re looking at 2018? There were probably several hundred girls under 5 in the 1600 last spring when you add in converted 1500s. @Chembiodad has posted good guidance.

@politeperson You’re right that I failed to account for the 1500s. I wasn’t talking about sub 5 though, I was talking about sub 4:49 in the 1600. Which is about a 4:51 mile/4:29 1500. Athletic.net doesn’t include every single meet, of course, but it should have the big ones that top athletes run in. For outdoor 2017 it only shows 11 sub 4:29 1500s run by high school girls in the U.S.

But since the conversions make it confusing, Villanova’s 800m scholarship time is 2:08. Athletic.net has records of 19 sub 2:08 and 32 sub 2:09 HS girls in the U.S., of which 11 and 18 are seniors.

Sorry for distracting from OP’s question, wasn’t my intention. Just amazed at the calibre of the athletes at some of these schools.

@DogsAndMath23 Got it, sorry I thought you were suggesting that the nova walk on standard of 5 wasn’t realistic. It actually includes a lot of girls. I agree those are fast times!

Many of the D3 conferences have very fast teams - the D3 NESCAC Conference schools, in particular, are a great choice for those looking for highly selective schools that also have strong competition.

Top-50 NESCAC females ran a sub-4:55 1500 / 5:16 1600, with the top-25 putting down sub-4:47 1500 / 5:08 1600 marks last Spring.
https://www.tfrrs.org/lists/1737.html

Email the coaches (head coach, distance coach and XC coach if they are not one and the same) at all the schools you applied to again, tell them if you are admitted or are still awaiting a decision and ask them what they do to fill their roster. Some D1s have try-outs, some take walk-ons, some have try-outs for only invited walk- ons, etc. The point is that until you hear directly from the coach, we are all speculating as to what they may be looking for. Only the coaches will know what the status is at their school for the upcoming year and your times are close enough to have the discussion.

Give them your stats, and be direct and tell them you are only interested in going to a school that allows you to continue in xc/track, and ask if you will have a chance to be on the team at their school. You are not asking for money and it is a fair question. Keep asking until they give you an answer.