<p>Hi, I'm currently a student in the 10th grade. I'm interested in throwing in college, but don't have a good sense of where I'd like to attend. I go to school at a very competitive, small, private school in California (around 500 students). Our only throwing events are shot put and discus. I was wondering if I met the standards of a college athlete, or if I'm heading in the right direction. </p>
<p>Right now I'm 5'11 and weigh about 245. I lift in the off season and am quite quick on my feet. As a freshman I won league in shot put with a throw of 40 ft and placed 2nd in discus with a throw of 116.9 ft. Am I anywhere near being able to throw in college? Academically, I'm an A-B+ student, if that helps at all. Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Depends where you want to go. D1 recruits guys starting around 55’ / 170’ in the shot and discus. In general, D3 or walk-on standard wouldn’t be as high.</p>
<p>Figuring out where to go to college is a balance of determining where you fit in both athletically and academically. Start by searching the internet for track recruiting guidelines. Many recruiting services have publically accessible charts on the internet that show what level of performance you will need to be at for the different levels of college (D1, D11, D111, etc. ) Keep in mind these are general guidelines and what each school looks for will vary. The NCAA website will show all the schools that have track, and what division level (D1, D11, D111) they are. If you reference any college rosters for current team performance levels, keep in mind the weight of the implements increase for college. </p>
<p>Also keep up the focus on grades, there is more academic money than athletic money for non-runners (sad but reality, especially for boys) but if you are a solid performer, a coach may elect to help you with admissions. </p>
<p>Finally don’t hesitate to ask questions, once you have done this once or twice it all seems obvious, but I had tons of questions when my family started to help my son figure out where to go to school.</p>
<p>Go to TFRRS dot org. You can look up any college and see all of the times and distances for every track and field event in the past few years. You can filter and see what all of the shotputters and discus throwers did at that school all season. Pick a school that interests you, and see where you fit in. </p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I suspect that you won’t be Div I scholarship material unless you improve a lot in the next two years, but D III schools might well be interested. Which is really awesome, because there are a ton of terrific academic colleges that compete in D III. Good luck. </p>