@Booajo, I think a XC/T&F athlete that can put down a strong mark in a pre-season tryout would be offered a spot on a D3 team, but many, including schools in the NESCAC and Centennial conferences, are filling their 4-5 spots per year via recruiting so they may actually be weeding out through a pre-season tryout for all athletes - at least I know this happens for XC.
@mimisdad Now is the time for your daughter to be making her list of schools she is interested in and getting her information in front of those coaches. Fill out the recruiting form on the school website and follow up with an email. As much as you’d like for schools to find you, it just doesn’t usually happen that way. Coaches are actively recruiting for '18 grads now and you need to get on their radar. Research what times would score at whatever conference meet the schools are in and if your daughter is within that range, she is likely to be considered for scholarship money. Sometimes its eye opening to realize what times it takes to place in big college meets. Good luck to your daughter! It’s an exciting time!
@mimisdad, it’s best to look at Milesplit USA rankings by event as inter-state performance/times vary greatly across the country and the top runners are mostly coming out of 10 - 15 states. Also agree with @jumpermom that getting in front of coaches is critical to do now.
@CALSmom yes he is a XC/distance runner. He is emailing the coaches of his top schools again tonight with a mid-summer update so maybe they will show some interest. At least one coach told him in June that he takes the month of July off so maybe some others do as well.
@eastcoast101 sorry I just re-read your post and saw all the details you provided. With XC most schools try to offer the NLI in time for the early signing period of November. They prefer to have recruits apply ED to lock them in and seal the deal so to speak. You’re looking at hopefully getting an OV sometime in September- October. My opinion is that unless an athlete is Olympic caliber, student should choose the school based on academics even if it means trying to walk on. This is hard (not unheard of) and it depends on if the D1 school has a high level program or not. I don’t know what distance your son runs but if he is planning to do track as well (I’m guessing 5k) he must at least have comparable times to kids on the desired school’s roster or in the conference.
Check out athletic.net
https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/College/NCAA/D1.aspx
That said, there are so many schools out there with lots of potential for a good fit, so keep researching because you never know what you’re missing 
Regarding the several questions about walking on to the track or XC team… l have noticed that some D1 & D3 schools actually have a web page labelled “recruiting standards.” On that is listed the times/marks for various distances or field events. There should be columns for “men,” “women,” “recruits,” and “walk-ons.” This will give you an idea of what it would take to be considered. Also, be sure to get in touch with the coach in advance both to see if they can help at all with admissions and that there will indeed be space on the team in your event(s) should you be able to make the walk-on standard. If there is one of these charts for the school you are interested, it can save you a lot of time.
I have a question that is a little off track here but maybe some of you can help.
What about D3 schools where XC/Track isn’t super competitive? We’ve looked up the times at some schools that S19 has visited and he’s in the range for the XC races and the 800. He is NOT a superstar at his high school at all. We aren’t interested in applying anywhere ED but he may want to run in college for the camaraderie. Do most schools like this allow kids to walk on? Should he get in touch with the coaches before his senior year or is really not relevant to his application since he won’t go ED?
@homerdog, get in touch with the coaches during your son’s junior year if possible. Track season during the spring of junior year is perfect since there will be recent 800m results to share with coaches. The problem with comparing XC results is that every course is different. When comparing your son’s XC times to those already running college XC, keep in mind that the college XC distance is almost always longer than the distance used in high school. It is good that your son has 800m times that are competitive.
@Sam-I-Am Thanks. At one of the schools we visited, the receptionist at the desk told us we should swing by the XC coach’s office while we were there. I’m 100% sure she didn’t have any of S19’s times. I think she just saw that he checked XC/Track as one of his interests on the sign-up sheet for the tour. We weren’t ready to talk to anyone. S19 only started running sophomore year and we didn’t even know what we would say to a coach. Seemed odd to me that she would flippantly just tell us to swing by his office when they really don’t know anything about him. That also made me think practically anyone could run there. (It’s a top 25 LAC but it’s not known for its running program.)
I guess we will see how junior year goes and then decide if we contact coaches.
@homerdog, we dropped in on a couple of coaches when my son was first looking at schools. We found most of the coaches were happy to talk to us and give us some great advice. With one exception, I was really impressed with track/XC coaches. Great guys. 
Even UT-Austin coaches were very gracious, although my son wasn’t good enough to get a scholarship there. THAT was a fun program to see!! In-pool treadmills with large screen TVs to watch. MANY therapy hot tubs. Change of running clothes every day. Kids could get a new pair of running shoes any time they wanted (I’ve never seen a room so full of shoe boxes!). Blew us away.
@homerdog my S18 sounds similar to yours. He is now thinking he might like to run xc in college, which would mean D3 for sure. He met with one coach and got a good reception even without superstar times. My concern is that if son can’t run, not sure he would go D3. So he needs to know coaches allow walking on before applying.
@Booajo S19 almost 100% sure he wants D3 school but, if he goes D1, I’m sure there are running clubs that would fit the bill for him. 
@homerdog @Booajo most D3 programs are pretty inclusive and happy to welcome any reasonably decent runner. i would just contact the coaches directly and ask how they approach this. Are there standards one needs to meet to join the team, etc.? The one question I’d really want answered, whether D3 or D1 walk on, is whether all the athletes get to compete, and how often. It is not unusual at D1 programs for those outside the top 7 in xc to compete rarely if ever. That’s no fun. D3 usually includes more. Tfrrs is a good tool for looking at college race results.
The distinction isn’t simply D1 vs D2 vs D3 as there are plenty of highly selective D3 schools, including Bates, JHU, Middlebury, Tufts, amongst others, where marks needed for either coach’s support or even to walk-on are much higher than many lower conference D1 or D2 schools - best to communicate with each coach to find out what’s needed.
@Chembiodad I agree–always best to check with the coach.
And as was mentioned, take a look at the top marks in D2 as compared to D3; funny how a numerical designation can be so misleading as the marks are very similar - now D1 is a different world.
Thanks for the help. We went through this with a swimmer previously. Times there were easier for me to understand. (The “big goal” in swimming D3 was being fast enough to be chosen for the winter training trip!)
The shift in distance in XC muddles my brain.
@Booajo, ax was previously noted, xc times are too course dependent so coaches only look at placement at well known meets - the critical marks for HS distance athletes are track times in the 1500/1600 and 3000/3200.
Sure, but I’m trying to look at the college xc times to see where he might be competitive…,
You can calculate a comparison of current 5k times to predicted 6k times using McMillan Race Calculator.
As a general rule, even D3 coaches are looking to recruit prospects that can be team scorers right away, so look at the top 3-4 times as that’s where he will need to be at with his current times to be recruited vs being a walk-on.
Most D3 xc teams seem to carry 20-25 runners. Outside of midweek or all comers events they run 7-10 per event, although some allow as many as 12 runners.
So 4-5 runners per class will be given slots with probably all but one as a recruited athlete - at least that’s what my DD experienced as she went through the recruiting process in the D3 NESCAC conference where she’ll be running this Fall.