I’m a junior and I have a 200m time of 26.40 and a 100m time of 12.80. I also have a long jump distance of 17 feet. I know running in a D1 college will be difficult but I want to go try it out. I was injured a few months ago making me rest completely. I know at this rate I am extremely close to getting in the 25’s for the 200m and shaving off a few milliseconds for the 100m.
I know a lot of people say I can’t make it at this point for D1, but how come there are people at SDSU + LBSU with worse times than I have?
Recruiting is a matter of finding a coach that wants what you have, plain and simple. Our daughter emailed lots of coaches that by looking at what their athletes were running/jumping, the coaches should have been falling over themselves to recruit her - but many were not interested. It’s a process of finding that right fit with a coach that is interested. Do you need scholarship money or do you just want an opportunity to run / jump in college? Now is the time to start emailing these coaches. They cannot initiate contact with you yet, but they can respond to your emails and calls. If you wait until next spring, it will be too late.
As jumpermom has said, the athletes you are looking at may have met the requirements for what the coach was in need of at a particular time. Maybe they were walk-ons. There may not be on any type of scholarship and they were the best in their event from the pool of admitted athletes and the coach is not prioritizing that event with any type of recruiting or scholarship dollars. For some athletes, adjusting to college; new schedule, new coach, new responsibilities can also degrade performance. The transition is not as easy as it seems. So maybe they did have good times in hs and have not improved.
If you have any interest in a particular school contact the coach now and see what he/she is looking for. If you have solid grades, and look like you may improve, you might be able to find a good fit. You need to take the initiative, because even if your times improve, it is unlikely that you will receive unsolicited contact from any school you are really interested in. Coaches just don’t have the time to do a lot of blind recruiting.
You’ve received good advice, and I agree that you should contact the coaches. Just to add a few points: 100/200 specialists at schools like that are probably running sub-12 and sub-24 (and the scoring ones probably run faster than that). Comparing your PRs to performance lists can be deceiving, as you could be looking at heptathletes competing in open events, hurdlers or jumpers in short sprints for training purposes, or races run in adverse conditions. College coaches will generally be most excited about recruits that might score in a conference meet. Be aware of where you likely fit in and adjust expectations accordingly.