<p>How good do you have to be to get recruited by an Ivy League for track. How much would getting recruited for track could help someone get in. I am a sprinter and my times are pretty good. Do the Ivies have truoble finding sprinters who are able also competative in the applicant pool?</p>
<p>I don't claim to know much about athlete recruiting, but if you are recruited, then I daresay you will stand a good chance of getting in. Anyway, I seem to recall that someone asked a question similar to this in another thread on the Harvard board....I think it was one of the "what are my chances at Harvard" threads. I suggest you look through those, and I believe you will find your answer there.</p>
<p>The Ivy League sits at the low end of Division I athletics. They do get a few people talented enough to later go on to big time track, but not too many. Craig Masback, the current CEO of USA Track and Field, ran for Princeton back on the late 70s, but he didn't really become world class until he was in grad school at Oxford. Meredith (Rainey) Valmon was a US Olympian in the 800m in '96 I believe, and she came out of Harvard. The 2004 Olympic team had a recent Harvard grad (whose name escapes me at the moment) on the women's relay squad.</p>
<p>Being a good sprinter can certainly help, but you are going to have to offer pretty good academic stats too. What are your PRs?</p>
<p>Last year as a freshman I ran an 11.7 100M. I am hoping to get down to 11.4 or 11.5 that year as a sophomore. My grades are really good and I may be able to get in even without track. I think track would greatly increase my odds though. Do the Ivy Leagues coaches put more emphasis on good grades than on the best athlete. (e.g. If I had better grades than someone who had a little bit better times would the coach recruit me over the other person.)</p>
<p>Being recruited helps tremendously. I had pretty good scores and grades so I will never really know how much being recruited actually helped. It is however very likely that a recruited athlete will make it in. This year, we had at least 10 recruits for the distance squad and all but two got in. Most likely this was because of a catastrophic meltdown. Unless you run indoor you times this year wont really mean anything so I say if you had some good junior year times and you dont crash and burn academically, you should have no trouble getting in. Obviously you have what it takes being recruited by a top school such as Yale. </p>
<p>I too am curious about the PRs. I hope to see you next spring.</p>
<p>I am a sophomore. My 100 meter PR is 11.7 sec. that I ran this last spring as a freshman.</p>
<p>Holy smokes, I missed that last post. I also was unaware that you were so early in the process. Those times are very strong. We recently picked up two kids who run the 100 in 10.83 their senior year. That seems like a good number to shoot for in a few years. I had no idea what I was doing my sophomore year and you are well ahead of the game. You have the unique position of being able to give coach a huge hand. The way I understand the recruitment process, coach submits a list of the kids he wants and the administrators formulate how much help those kids will need getting in based on their scores and grades. If you have high scores, you are coachs new best friend. Coach would have to spend very little of his allotted help points (for lack of a better word) on you. This allows him to pick up other kids for the program. Your times matter a lot but not as much as your grades do. Keep up the grades, stay consistent; you will be a Yalie in no time. </p>
<p>On another note, I highly recommend going on a recruiting trip your senior year. Of all of the kids who visited in the spring favoring Stanford or Harvard or Princeton, not one left without making Yale their first choice. I hope all things go well for you, I hope to see you a few springs from now.</p>
<p>I feel I forgot to mention, Yale is establishing itself as a power in Ivy League running. Believe me it is happening. Yale is slowly getting more selective in recruiting because they are attracting faster kids each year. The older guys joke that the times they have been running each year in practice are consistently faster than the last years but the freshman all stay the same age. We all run the same workouts so it seems that each year is getting faster. I say that the academics have gotten more important as well. Dont worry about it though, if you run the fast times in the spring you will be sure to attract attention. I know I will be paying attention in the spring for some potential for the future, coaches will be as well. Stand out, run fast, be smart.</p>
<p>I'm applying Yale RD; so you guys think it's a good idea to talk to the track coach? Think I'd get recruited if I run 51.xx in the 400 and 1:26.xx in the 600? As an applicant and not a recruited athlete I think I have so-so chances of getting in...lots of ECs, lol. Well, I think there's a lot of luck involved too...</p>
<p>The current freshman class at yale has an assortment of 400m guys. We have some state champions and some very highly ranked runners. I can tell you now that the sprint portion as well as the 800m freshman have all run under 50 for the 400. These times were probably run their senior year though and coachs usually only have the Junior year times to recruit off of. I don't know how to compare the 600 time however. Anyway, I think it is always a good idea to talk to the coach just to express your interest in the program. The coaches are all great guys and will be able to tell you where you stand and maybe even help out. </p>
<p>This link should take you to the 2004-2005 track and cross-country guide:</p>
<p>Yale track athletes who made the Olympics.</p>
<p>Not many in my memory. Kate O'Neill made the women's 10K squad in 2004. I believe she was the first Yalie to make the Olympic track team since Frank Shorter did it in '72 and again in '76. Kate's twin sister Laura is also an excellent athete, placing 7th in the 10K 2004 Olympic trials.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the valuble info. Do you run at yale? What do you run?</p>
<p>I run the 400 and the 800 as well as dabble in hurdles and anything else coach will allow me to do at Yale. I am having a great time here and would not regret my decision at all. In fact, meeting the team was what made me decide to come here over other top schools (United States Military Academy at West Point, Stanford. . . ). Good luck to all.</p>
<p>nor*cal400 : I visited the Harvard athletics website and noticed there was an app. for recruitment...do you think it will be good to send it?...although I need to input my SAT scores as well.</p>
<p>I think it is a very good idea to talk to the coaches of all the places your are applying or thinking of applying to. As for the app for recruitment: I dont see why you would not just send the coach an email or do both. An email, or better yet a letter, seems a little more personal than an app and would accomplish the same thing. I think it is always good to talk directly to the coach. Depending on what year you are currently in, the coach may or may not be able to respond to you. A lot depends on the NCAA regulations but there are also more stringent Ivy Leave regulations to contend with. I think that the coaches will be able to at least mail information to you. Nothing is cooler than receiving that Ivy League letterhead.</p>
<p>RunningManiac, you'd need to be lower than 1:23 in the 600 to be recruited. In terms of which school has the best track program, I'd say Dartmouth for distance. I'm not too sure about the other areas.</p>