<p>I'm a junior in high school and have a very good academic record. I've also always wanted to run track in college but the schools I am interested have pretty good track teams. The problem is that this season is most definitely going to be my "break out season" and I don't have impressive times yet. I know I need to start contacting colleges soon about coming to see me run, but I don't want to send them my statistics because I feel like they wont want to come see me compete if I don't have crazy stats. I run the 400 and my fastest time is a 62. I ran this without participating in the preseason because of an injury and during a meet that I ran a bunch of other races. Please if anyone has any knowledge about track and field recruitments and can give me advice it would be greatly appreciated.
(My coach is not very helpful as he only focuses on one athlete at a time) </p>
<p>girl </p>
<p>Coaches care about times. It’s pretty unusual for a college coach to come out to a hs meet to watch someone run. (State and Nat’s being the exception). So run fast this spring and get your times down to a level consistent with the other 400 runners on the roster.</p>
<p>That web site is a great guide line to use. However the best way to is start to figure where you want to study and start to contact those coaches. You have to MARKET yourself to them. One of the best things about the recruitment process for T&F is that the #'s speak for themselves. The coaches do not have to come and see you. But you do have to show interest in a school. If the coach is comparing you and another runner and you have emailed 4 or 5 times and visited the school that shows interest. My S started contacting schools in the summer between his Soph and Junior year (now a Senior). He had a list of about 30 D1 schools he was interested in based upon: school size, location and distance from home. He emailed them twice a season (XC, WT and ST) to keep them updated on his progress. We visited 21 schools and little by little he widdled them down to the final 7. All 7 knew he was very interested in them. For the record his times at the time of heaviest recruitment were 9:29 3,200, 4:25 1,600 and 1:56 for the 800. Solid times but not top D1 level recruitment material. </p>
<p>When emailing the coaches give them your times and when you started to focus on track. This will give the coach an idea of how long you really have been training. If you only started as a sophomore and this is your 2nd season, they couls see a big upside.</p>
<p>Its a wonderful (and stressfull) time - try and enjoy it</p>
<p>A coach doesn’t need to come see you run. The best thing for you to do is to email the coaches of the schools you are interested in directly. Tell them that you’re a prospective student, are interested in continuing to compete at the collegiate level, and then ask them what their standards are for incoming freshman. You may not be offered a scholarship, but they may let you walk on. Later down the road, if you improve enough, you may get a scholarship. You may be surprised with what schools will let you run. I emailed a lot of D1 coaches that had solid teams, and although my times weren’t at what the links posted above suggested, I got replies from coaches that I either was decent enough to walk on or was told what times I needed to hit. Only one school never answered my emails. If running is important to you, maybe look at a couple of D2 or D3 schools that have good academic programs that also interest you. You could even look for low level D1 schools. Just remember, don’t make it all about running. I kind of did that. Everything worked out fine in the end and I found a good academic school that I can compete for, but I should have focused on applying to schools whose academic programs I really liked. I ended up applying for schools that I didn’t even like just because I wanted to continue running and knew I’d be able to run on the team. Best advice anyone ever told me about choosing which school to go to and run at was to ask yourself if you got injured on the first day of practice and could never run again, would you be happy being a student at the school you’re at? Keep everything in perspective. Academics first. Good luck, keep chasing those times, and everything will work out fine in the end. </p>
<p>I would suggest making yourself stand out by not being another generic email. Give the coach an actual phone call, if you truly want to be a part of their program. If he/she is able to put a voice to your name, you’ll be more memorable than an e-mail that he/she gets from hundreds of athletes exactly like you. This also shows that you have a higher interest level than other recruits, which could give you the recruited walk-on spot over someone with slightly faster times.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!! I’ll post an update on my contacting 
means so much xo all your information was extremely appreciated </p>
<p>Here is a link to a discussion i started back in December</p>
<p><a href=“XC / T&F Recruiting advice that I can offer - Athletic Recruits - College Confidential Forums”>XC / T&F Recruiting advice that I can offer - Athletic Recruits - College Confidential Forums;
<p>it has a lot of good info - from many people that particpated </p>
<p>Thanks! </p>
<p>Are you trying to go D3 or D1? If you can get your time to a sub 60, you have a better chance of getting recruited. </p>