My son will be a junior next year and is expressing interest in running middle and long distance in college. He wasn’t small liberal arts programs. We are in Ohio but open to other locations, so far, Denison is on his list. Has a friend who runs at Bowdoin and loves it. Any feedback or recommendations on the process in general or names of schools we should put on our radar?
Thank you!
If you mean running on the school’s team, I suggest going to the Athletic Recruiting forum and reading up on the process. It’s a great starting point.
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In that you are from Ohio, you may find it interesting that Jim Fixx attended Oberlin, and, as an adult, trained with their cross country team.
Since you mentioned Bowdoin, your son may wish to consider all of the 10 NESCAC LACs. He can visit their sites for appropriate recruiting information and forms (e.g., Sport-Specific Recruiting Forms - Hamilton College).
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My son is a rising sophomore at Denison and a distance runner. Happy to answer any questions about the program (they won the outdoor t&f conference championship this year!). Coach Fitz (head coach) has been terrific, along with all of the other coaches and the support staff (athletic trainers, especially).
(I didn’t realize until now that we have been direct messaging, so leaving this here for others!)
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Most LACs have pretty decent distance coaching and a positive, fairly inclusive atmosphere for distance runners.
I’d probably focus first on what sort of schools your son wants and then look at the track/XC programs at those schools.
If your son is good enough to be recruited, coaches can help quite a bit with admission at some of the schools with low admit rates. There’s a process for that, and this category of runner will probably care more about the specific coaching and program differences.
If he’s just looking to participate, the usual approach is to apply widely just like a non-athlete, and start investigating the programs once admitted. Walking on usually isn’t a problem in D3 programs, where most of the runners are walk-ons.
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My son just graduated from Denison. He ran track all four years, although he is a sprinter rather than a middle- or long-distance runner. I really can’t say enough good things about his experience at Denison, and the track team was at the center of his college experience. He does not have super-fast times, and he also had a couple of injuries, but he still received tremendous support from Coach Fitz and the rest of the coaching team as well as from the trainers. (The sports medicine team at Denison is amazing.) The culture of the team always impressed me - it’s a very diverse group, and also very collaborative, across different years and different events. Right now the team is riding high, as the men’s team just won the NCAC championship and the women’s team is also on the rise. The NCAC itself is a great conference. It includes a number of LACs (Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster, OWU, Wittenberg and others) and the schools are relatively close geographically. There are some good rivalries and my son also made a lot of friends at other NCAC schools over the four years. We also liked Denison’s emphasis on keeping the right balance between academics and athletics, with academics always coming first.
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Check recruiting times for any schools of interest.
Academic qualifications matter.
Ask, if recruited, if he will be expected to compete during the indoor season. Some do not like training on the small indoor tracks due to enhanced likelihood of injury.
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Now that is what every parent wants to hear. I am continually impressed with all the positive things I hear about Denison.
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Denison coaches are fantastic. My son is a junior on the team and is very happy there. They really care about the assets.
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Lol athletes, not assets. Although they do see the athletes as assets a Denison.
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