Injury Ends Spring Track Season Early -How to Get Recruited

My son is a junior and would like to run in college. Had a fantastic xc and winter track season (sixth in state in the 1600). Unfortunately, he had a season ending injury last week just as championship season is starting.
Interested in Ivies, WashU, Duke, Wake,and Boston College.

Academic stats are ACT (35), SAT (1570 superscored), and SAT Math 2 (800).

Any advice or experience on how to get coaches interest while injured? Do you think any coach would recruit him? Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated.

A short term injury isn’t going to prevent a coach from recruiting a qualified athlete. Multiple stress fractures could be a red flag though. He should email the coaches to let them know of his interest, and explain the details of his injury. He won’t have the advantage of the faster times he might have achieved in the next several weeks, but he can’t do anything about that now. The coaches will tell him the marks they’re looking for if he asks. Ivies are probably looking for at least sub 4:20, likely prefer closer to 4:10-15. WashU would be less competitive but my understanding is that coaches there have very little influence on admissions.

He does have a stress fracture but it is his first one and there is no reason to think that he won’t make a full recovery… He ran a sub 4:20 this winter on an unbanked indoor track but never really had a chance to see what he could do outdoors this spring.
Thanks for your response.

Does he compete in any summer meets? Will he be healed in time? If so, see if he can get into a National meet like New Balance Nationals or another meet where lots of coaches will be. Otherwise, just have him email coaches and explain the situation. Good luck!

I’d email all of the coaches of places he is interested in, expressing interest in running there, and explain his injury situation. Some of the schools have camps he could attend this summer, where he could meet coaches and if he is healed up run some, or at least learn some tips. Good luck.

Speak to the AD in his school. This sort of situation isn’t at all uncommon; the AD MUST have dealt with it before.

Fortunately he’s in a sport where his stats speak for themselves.

I have a feeling I know who you are—my S18 competes against yours occasionally. Your S is a phenomenal runner and will have no problem getting the attention of coaches. Have him email the coaches of the schools he is interested in with his times in indoor and also his Fall ‘17 time in the XC state course (coaches know the course). The coaches will surely look up his times on Milesplit and can see his progression. The coaches can tell you what times they want but I suspect your S is in the ballpark. Missing the rest of outdoor is a minor setback but should not hurt him too much with the times he already has. Also keep in mind that track is a late-recruiting sport. He can throw down some good early season XC times in the fall when he is healed to reassure coaches of his health.

My son had an injury and was still recruited (D3). The coaches had asked him to email every 2 - 3 weeks with updates, so he included that information. He also focused on some academic updates to balance it. Your son’s stats will really help. I think communication will be the key. Good luck!

We used a college athlete placement and consulting firm that we were very pleased with when our son was being recruited to play football. He ended up with multiple Ivy, Patriot League and NESCAC offers and now attends one of the Ivies. PM me if you are interested and I could connect you with the consultants we worked with.

Your son’s impressive times and academic credentials are what is going to get coaches attention and allow him to explain the injury situation. As others have stated, I think you fill out the recruiting questionnaires and then email the coaches per typical process.

I suggest casting a wider net at high academic DIII schools where the 4:20 will stand out. I suspect your son’s 1600 PR may not make him a “first round draft choice” at the Ivy/ACC schools so having a few more excellent “athletic safety schools” in play can take some pressure off your son/family during the recruiting process. Then you can plug away at the DI options and see what happens in the fall.

BTW, I hope this thread doesn’t devolve into the typical NESCAC-Ivy argument on level of athletics. My point above simply acknowledges the fact that the times needed for recruiting at the high academic DIIIs are not as fast as the Ivys and well below most power five schools.

eastcoast101,
What a small world! If indeed our sons really do know and race each other I appreciate your comments.

Thanks to all for your responses. If all goes well son should be able to ease into training in June. His coaches have helped draft a cover letter to send to coaches so he is starting the process of completing the online questionnaires.

Startingblock
No doubt he would not be a first round draft choice but we had hoped that his grades and test scores might make Coaches interested in him. The NESCAC schools along with WashU, Rice are appealing and I have encouraged son to consider them…

IvyParent6794
I can’t figure out how to PM. I believe that this site requires 15 posts before you can send a private message.

@3boys4m3 – seems like you are doing all the right things and casting a wide net. I am sure your son will land somewhere great.

FWIW, my son was in a similar position a few years ago, with a strong academic profile and track times that made him a “good get” in DIII but not a first round choice in the Ivy’s. He really wanted a particular Ivy, which ultimately offered him a slot, but to get it required turning down offers from some great schools and rolling the dice that things would work out very late in the typical recruiting timeline. While my son’s outcome was great, the experience was stressful and it took a lot of fun out of what could have been a very easy process had he committed much earlier to different school.

Thanks, Startingblock. Wish I could figure out if it is possible to PM because I have some questions I would like to ask you. I think we are going to end up in a similar situation.

If you are interested chatting offline let me know. I can give you my email

Track recruiting for men (non-Ivys) goes well into senior year. My son (now wrapping up his last year at his D1) did not even get any contacts until January of his senior year of hs. He had a strong indoor season his last year in hs and ended up with lots of interest. Don’t worry, most athletes deal with injury at some point during their career and if he comes back strong for cross country it will go a long way to show his character and commitment to the sport.

E mail the coaches of the schools he is interested in and consider applying to schools he likes and wants to attend whether or not he has heard back from the coach at the time applications are due. We got the best offers as a mix of both academic and athletic monies.

OnTrack, good to hear. Had your son already applied to the school that showed interest? Or did he apply to them after he heard from the coaches?

We had my son apply to all the schools he had an interest in well ahead of hearing anything from coaches. We initiated contact in the fall of his senior year and most coaches did not get back to him until after he wrote and said he was admitted.

He applied to about a dozen schools total – a mix of D1 & D3 that had the major he wanted and a coach for his event. He is a vertical jumper and not all schools have a coach that knows what they are doing ! He was admitted to all, 8 awarded him academic money due to intended major and his grades/test scores, all partials. He had actual phone calls with only 4 coaches, most communication was done through email. Initially he was not offered any athletic money, but after telling coaches we had a set budget, and their school was over it, he got athletic offers which varied from books/fees to ~ 50% COA. So we focused on the ones where he got some academic money and some athletic money. He took 2 OVs and picked the one he liked best at the time, but out of pocket cost for us was about the same.

3 schools with good athletic programs/coaching for his event told him they never award money for male freshman track athletes, if you want to be coached by their coach and part of the program you will go there and pay full price, and maybe qualify for athletic dollars as an upperclassman. These schools unfortunately were State Universities for states other than our own, and came with a higher price tag than we could justify.

At the end of the day, there were 2 schools that he was admitted to, where he never heard anything back from the coaches, even though he sent at least 3 emails to the coaches (1- I am applying, 2- I am admitted, 3- Could I be on your roster?)

My son ended up accepting an offer out of hs from a strong academic school (it is on your short list) that gave him a mix of athletic & academic money. This first school was not a good fit, for a variety of reasons (all athletic) and he transferred to another D1 school that had hired a new event coach during his freshman year at the other university. This second time around he again receives academic money from an academic transfer scholarship that is awarded to all students with a given GPA and the coach gave him an athletic scholarship to cover the balance of his tuition. We still pay for room and board. During the entire time he was looking to transfer, my son was on again/off again injured and having a terrible year, but coaches looked at his entire performance history and understood that injuries happen. So I think you will be fine. just be honest with them so they don’t misunderstand his current situation.