<p>Hello,
I'm a male junior hoping to be recruited to run cross country and track in the Ivy League (Yale, Dartmouth, or Brown hopefully). My question is: Is it mandatory that you be equally strong at cross country and track? or would they take someone who has excellent track times, and prettygood/decent cross country times (in the low16/high15 3mile range)?
thanks for helping me</p>
<p>please help! if anyone has knowledge on my question, please respond!</p>
<p>The ivies recruit for all positions on a track team so they certainly don’t require recruits to be both … if you are a distance runner I would think it would be a BIG advantage to be a recruit for both. These guidelines may help you know if you’re in the hunt … [Men’s</a> Track Recruiting Guidelines](<a href=“http://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting-tools/College-Track-Recruiting/mens-track-recruiting-guidelines]Men’s”>http://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting-tools/College-Track-Recruiting/mens-track-recruiting-guidelines) … the better ivies are on the tier I/tier II border.</p>
<p>thank you, anyone else who has additional knowledge on my question, please comment!</p>
<p>Teddy, I’m not sure what additional info you need. There are 21 events in a college track meet and only 4 or 5 have any relevance to XC. If you are a truly superior miler, you’ll be recruited regardless of your XC times. As 3togo said, if you’re a great XC runner, well, that’s a bonus.</p>
<p>Teddy, what are your best track events? Being mediocre at xc is OK if you are primarily a middle distance guy or even sprinter and ran cross country for fun, for base training or because the high school coach wanted/needed you to. However, if you mean you are best at the 3200 but stink at the xc 5K, then yes it would be a problem.</p>
<p>I am strongest at the 800m and mile(based on my sophomore track season) i ran 2:03 800m, and 4:38 1600m. my current 3mile xc time is 16:28, which i know i can improve, hopefully by a minute(by senior xc season).</p>
<p>TheGFG, what do you think?</p>
<p>teddy, look at post #3. You aren’t quite fast enough yet for the schools you are hoping for. Make a plan with your coach for how you can get to the times you need in the winter indoor or spring track season.</p>
<p>Hey - you will need to get a bit faster. The freshman recruiting class this year at H has guys going 1:48 - 1:51 in the 800 and 4:05 - 4:14 in the 1600. I know H isn’t on your list - but they’re usually mid-pack in the Ivies as far as track times go.</p>
<p>^Agree. The Ivy recruiting classes keep getting stronger.</p>
<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>
</p>
<p>Sure, there is a lot of combined wisdom here on that very topic. If you have any specific things you’d like to know, go ahead and start a new thread - I’m sure you’ll get plenty of input.</p>
<p>Teddy … What kind of miles have you been running in-season. If you’re already running pretty heavy mileage making a big jump in your times might be tough … if your mileage has been lighter then a bigger jump is probably more likely.</p>
<p>FYI- there is a HUGE difference between what it takes to get a recruiting slot and what it takes to make a team as a walk on. When I entered Cornell a zillion years ago the formal recruits were 4:20 and below … that said I was (my term) a recruited walk-on; I was in contact with an assistant coach who encouraged me to apply and to tryout if I was admitted (on my own). I was a 4:27/9:43 guy in high school … then in my first week of practice realized there were about 5-10 guys with times very much like mine … and we all made the team after a tryout.</p>
<p>Thanks varska!
I will do just that :)</p>
<p>MDMom I’d suggest you check the link in post #3 … in general anyone who is an all-state track person in California is in the hunt to be a D1 recruit.</p>
<p>my mileage has been fairly light, around 45 miles on a “hard” week. even less during the majority of the school year. so i guess i can improve a good amount with increased mileage? and will an excellent transcript/extracurriculars give me a better shot (because i might not take up one of the “not academically qualified” slots which need extra help)?</p>
<p>teddy, sorry but brains and fast distance-running seem to go hand in hand. You will have to meet the recruiting standards for a coach to be interested. Then they’ll look at your academice stats.</p>
<p>[UP</a> CLOSE | Elis beat recruiting cap | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/sep/22/close-elis-beat-recruiting-cap/]UP”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/sep/22/close-elis-beat-recruiting-cap/)</p>
<p>This was in today’s Yale Daily News</p>
<p>they make it seem impossible to be recruited 
Do the coaches have specific standards (running stat-wise) for you to be even interacted with?
you said distance running and brains go hand in hand, but would a fast 800m/1600m runner be slightly more rare/desired? because those are more middle distances.</p>
<p>1:54 and 4:20 make you very recruitable at the Ivies.</p>
<p>teddy, I wish could say your strong academics will buy you some seconds but they just don’t, particularly in track. Coaches need to recruit the best runners they can, who also make the academic standards at their schools. Your times are good for many excellent DIIIs right now. </p>
<p>A year from now you’ll be deciding if you want to run in college or not. If the answer is yes, then use the recruiting guidelines in post #3 to see which division and league you are competitive in. If you decide to walk away from track, your entire approach to college admissions will be different, because your running will be seen as “just another EC” rather than “value added” and you’ll be evaluated strictly on the strength of the rest of your application.</p>
<p>For now, do your best in school, and see if you can get your times down. Don’t just run more- try and get some advice from your hs coach, or a club coach about training smarter to get faster. You need a mix of speed work, tempo runs and distance, and you need to keep your base mileage up through the winter. Core strength and cross training in a pool would also help, and save wear and tear on your legs so you’ve got some college miles left in them.</p>
<p>I know a lot of what we’ve posted here sounds discouraging. On the contrary, we are all hoping you’ll take up the challenge and do everything you can to be in position to be recruited to the schools you’re interested in. Best wishes.</p>