<p>I'm going to be a sophomore in high school and have pretty good academics, probably the usual asian credentials for harvard/mit applicants if that helps. I'm probably going to have high sat scores, valedictorian, lots of AP's, math awards, etc. </p>
<p>But, sinced I've become involved in 3 sports (cross country, winter track, spring track) at my school, I've wanted to pursue an athletic career in college along with my academic one. I think I have what it takes to be a pretty good runner, maybe even go to nationals before I graduate. My mile time as a freshman was 5:00, I think that's pretty fast. But, college is as far as I'll go with my hobby. Anyway, I have a few questions.</p>
<p>How good do you have to be to be recruited to an ivy league for sports? Maybe post a good time for the 1600 or 5K if you're familiar with distance runnning.</p>
<p>Which Ivy League schools, or other top schools like stanford or MIT, have a good cross country or track team?</p>
<p>Do only students wishing to pursue an athletic career continue sports in college? Will I have time to manage majoring in medicine or business along with being on a college sports team?</p>
<p>I would be glad to give you more information than you ever wanted to know if you send me a PM. I know quite a bit about distance running and the Ivy recruiting process. I'm still learning!
If your junior year outdoor 1600 time is under 4:30 you will get mild interest. It should be under 4:20 to really help you. Junior year 5K cross country needs to be close to 16 minutes on a recognized course. You can make up for a weaker junior cross country season by some strong senior early season performances. Running national meets like Footlocker regionals is important.<br>
You should contact coaches and make some visits starting late spring junior year- after you get some times to discuss. Harvard has a pathetic men's program and barely recruits. Princeton recruits some really top runners, as do Penn, Brown, Yale, Dartmouth and Cornell. Columbia is really strong in cross country, but one of their top coaches (mainly on the women's side) just bailed to go to Brown and become the head of the whole track/cc program.<br>
If you really get your times down, a sub 4:30 will get you extreme interest from great DIII programs like Williams, Haverford and Chicago. These schools have excellent coaches, great academics and the runners who go there report wonderful experiences.</p>
<p>Thanks, I'll make my goal time for junior year a 4:20. It's going to be hard, but I think it's not completely out of reach. I have almost two years to get it down there. I started freshman year with a 5:30 and chopped it down to 5:00. As for my 5K time, I'm not sure if what level I'm at now, since my cross country season was my first distance running season ever, so I was only a beginner. My PR was 19:00, but this season it'll probably be a lot better, since I've improved a lot.</p>
<p>If I have any other questions I'll be sure to PM you, thanks.</p>
<p>My impression is that the those teams are strong, but we are DIII, and the teams (and competition) reflect that. People do sports at MIT because they love what they're doing rather than having a desire to pursue sports professionally... academics, additionally, always come first for MIT athletes.</p>