Here is where to post questions and share experiences about the recruitment of runners, particularly from the high school class of 2018.
My daughter is in communication with a handful of coaches by phone and email. She has had one full ride offered to her from a fine D-2 school. She will be visiting a D-1 coach on campus over the summer, and another D-1 coach plans to visit us at home. 2-3 coaches have invited her to summer running camps unaffiliated with the school but hosted on or near campus. I would have have to pay the camp fee and transportation costs. Although these coaches seem like they are genuinely interested in recruiting my runner, I am skeptical about the camps. I imagine they invite lots more kids to these camps than they are truly interested in recruiting in order to fill up the camp. Will anyone share their experience regarding summer running camps suggested by college coaches, home visits from coaches, experience with summer visits to campus or even official visits (which won’t be starting until school begins)?
Also, feel free to add your own track/cross country questions to this thread.
Campus visits during the summer are still great as she’ll get to spend a lot of theme getting to know the coach.
Running camps are for making money. That said my DD did a well known Nike XC camp every summer and found it both great for training and teaching and had a lot of fun so all good - but more than one seems like just depositing money in the meter…
OV’s that include an overnight are very important as it gives the prospect a unique opportunity to get to know team and more importantly the vibe of the school.
Thanks, @Chembiodad! I think my runner has to skip the coach-suggested camps since she will be running with her high school team. I am glad that your perspective on these camps is along the lines of what I had been thinking.
Yes, I agree that overnight visits are crucial. My son had a full-tuition scholarship offer at one school, but was distressed to see team members drinking the night before a meet. He ruled the school out without a second thought.
@Sam-I-Am, I know HS teams attend the Nike camp; my DD went will 2 other girls and this summer I think they have 5 of the starting 7 attending together.
@MaineLonghorn, agree and the same can be said at opposite end of the spectrum as my DD did an overnight at a pressure cooker LAC,
and after watching her host get up at 5:00 AM to study, before she worked out at 7:00 AM, and then she studied again before her first class at 10:00, my DD said I’ll pass - she was good with everything but the 5:00 AM part…
@MaineLonghorn and @Chembiodad, can you clue me into the timeline and process of recruiting for runners. For instance, if my daughter was recently asked to produce her junior year transcript, senior class schedule and standardized test report for the coach, is is safe to assume she is being recruited…and is safe to assume that the coach will share these things with admissions for a pre-read? My daughter and I are trying to figure out where she stands with different coaches and she is currently reluctant to ask. If she is given a “pre” or “early” read, when is that most likely to take place? Thanks.
@Sam-I-Am, runners almost never commit earlier than end of Junior year as too much is happening physiologically to push the process earlier, even Sydney McLaughlin didn’t commit until NLI day in her Senior Year - if she had been a lax player (prior to this year’s rule change), she would have been wearing a college commit armband in the 8th grade.
If you look at all HS girl runners, most are fastest in 9th and 10th grade and then body changes take hold. Those that get through those changes and keep getting faster are the ones coaches want.
DD should definitely ask for both a pre-read and where she fits in the recruiting class for the position spots the coach is looking to fill, understanding that D1/D2 limit contact from coach to athlete until after July (she can call, they just can’t call back) and D3 NESCAC limits pre-reads until after July.
There were a handful of 8th and 9th graders who committed early in lax, but really they were outliers. Gary Gait made a stir when he told an 8th grader she’d have a spot at Syracuse but that was just for show and I’m sure the girl continued to look at other schools (she’s still in high school and I haven’t seen her name on any list for Syracuse yet). The superstars from McDonough and SSSA hold out for Maryland, UNC, Duke, Hopkins but know they’ll have spots at other schools if they want them. No rush.
@twoinanddone, until the rule change this year, as our girls HS team is nationally ranked they had a half dozen commit to nationally ranked D1 and D1 Ivy schools in the 9th and 10th grade - all held and all are transitioning this summer, but that was lax and before the rule change.
For a rising Senior runner, it’s all about pre-reads in summer, overnights in the Fall and then the decision to either sign in November or wait for Spring for NLI D1/D2, or an ED for D3. ED isn’t required in D3 to get a coaches support as in the end they want the best runners so if they need to keep the courtship going through RD they will do it.
Thanks for the info. Do cross country positions fill up during the November signing period, or are there spots left for the spring signing period? If there are spots in the spring, are there still scholarship dollars? or are the scholarships mostly offered in the fall? Do you know whether it is true that pre-reads don’t occur until July? I also read that early reads occur in October. However, that sounds late to me considering that OVs may start when school starts.
@Sam-I-Am, D1 slots can still be open in Spring, but those are likely only partial scholarships - my DD had a teammate last year go ACC in the Spring, but only a partial. That said, I think fulls at top D1 academic schools are limited as they just don’t have to for runners.
Only D3 NESCAC is limited to July 1st, other conferences will definitely do them earlier - my DD did so. Early reads for D1 are official in October Year, but yes soft reads happen all time in Junior year or how else could a coach ever plan OV’s.
It can be a challenge for athletes who participate in Fall sports to get those Official Visits in, but I agree that they are crucial. My dd is a sprinter/jumper but played volleyball. She was committed to signing in the early signing period so she had to get her visits in during volleyball season. With weekend tournaments it became a scheduling nightmare, but these visits opened her eyes to what she wanted. She took her 6 official visits and we did 2 unofficial that we paid for ourselves.
Summer visits are OK, but you need to go back when school is in session. For athletes it is more than just finding a school that is a good fit academically and socially. A good rapport with the coaching staff and teammates is crucial. For our family, the scholarship amount was important as well. There were a few private D1 schools that she loved but even with a hefty scholarship they were financially still out of our league.
We asked many, many questions as we didn’t want any surprises. Sometimes we had to get blunt with the coach and tell them that we were looking to sign by the early signing period. It’s such a stressful time. We wanted it to be fun for our daughter and parts of it were, but ultimately, until she made that final decision, it was nerve wracking.
OVs were extremely insightful for my son, he went on two and they completely changed his opinion of both schools after the visits. The school that seemed the best on paper was anything but after he met with head coach and academic advisor. We also sent a parent on both visits and that was money better spent than on a camp. His recruiting happened late in the cycle and he went on his visits in Feb. of his senior year. With only one exception, he had already applied to and been admitted to the schools in the mix in order to be considered for academic dollars. We knew that it was unlikely he would be offered a full athletic scholarship anywhere he wanted to go, since he only does one jumping event.
He is a D1 athlete (non-ivy) and transferred after freshman year. In both recruiting cycles we found that coaches will talk dollars up to July 1st (when they have to commit to returning athletes what their scholarships amounts are).
Almost all schools we spoke with said the only full scholarships given out for men or women are to athletes who can compete/score in multiple events for the team. Examples we were told (and son has seen this to be the case at his school) a sprinter who does 100, 200, long jump plus a relay or a cross country athlete who does 800 and or 1500 meters and a distance medley leg.
Prior to OVs we made sure that coaches knew what the budget was and could meet the amount. He ended up declining several OVs because we found coaches often wanted him to come visit, fall in love with the school and expect us to pay for him to attend. Being offered an OV does not mean the school is offering athletic money. He ended up with a combination of both academic and athletic dollars, and while not on a full scholarship, we are able to stay within budget. This turned out to be even more important than we realized at the time, since he will take 5 years to get the degree he wants (Engineering). The 5th year is needed in order to balance academic load (he only takes 12 credits in Spring), maintain grades, team practice and travel commitments and he was red-shirted when he transferred, so he will still have eligibility his 5th yr.
@OnTrack2013, do you mean that if my kid does not firm up scholarship dollars prior to July 1st (Saturday), that none should be expected in the future? Were you involved in coach conversations prior to July 1st after junior year? I have not inserted myself into the conversations (it seemed to early to do so), but perhaps I should? What do you think? Your advice sounds good, thanks! My kid is also planning to major in engineering.
I didn’t understand the July 1 date for incoming freshmen. We didn’t even have any OV or discussions with coaches until after July 1 going into senior year, so of course they were talking to us about money, making the offers.
Sorry to have caused confusion. The conversations that happened up until July 1st where for the year he was going into the school. So the July 1st AFTER his hs graduation and the July AFTER his freshman year of college, when he was transferring. Both times coaches were still negotiating offer amounts with my S because they had not locked in dollars for the rest of the team yet. Even as a returning athlete my S is not officially told his scholarship number until mid-June.
However, once in writing and provided with an NLI the athletic amount is set. My point of mentioning the July date was to point out that if a coach tells you he wants you and needs to work on the finance package, those conversations can keep going well into the summer. My sons recruiting and coaching conversations didn’t BEGIN until the January of his senior year when he posted strong performances during the start of indoor season. Other than questionnaires, he did not hear from any coaches before his senior year.
Just my two cents, but my daughter completed her freshman year at a highly regarded NESCAC. She was heavily recruited as a top 20 distance runner in our state. I urged her to stay away from D1 due to the partials and the fact that if she got injured she may lose any money promised or I she chose to quit, no money at all. She listened and stuck to NESCACs exclusively. Thank goodness as she had an injury and sickness that kept her out of almost all events for all three seasons. She is better now and should be ready for the upcoming cross country season as a sophomore.
As for OVs, VERY IMPORTANT! My D went on several NESCAC visits. On one where she was the number one recruit, she was very disenchanted with the team chemistry and chose not to pursue. After the OV at her current school, I went to pick her up and it was like she had been friends with these girls forever. Knew it was the right fit.
Hope this helps. It is an exciting process but you need to stay involved as they are only 17-18 yo and need parental guidance. Good luck!
So she went D3 and took no money at all, and that’s better than D1 because of the possibility of a scholarship not being renewed? My daughter is entering her senior year. She has had the same scholarship every year, and it even went up a little this year. Girls on her team who were hurt had their scholarships renewed. Not every coach pulls the scholarships because of injury.