<p>Basketball is my favorite sport, but realistically I have a much better chance at running track at the next level. I'm going into a repeat my sophomore year at a prep school next year.</p>
<p>I haven't ever put to much effort into track but I still have good times. I placed 4th in the 1a state championship this past year for 400m.</p>
<p>I have a PR of 50.02 for the 400m and that's my best event. I know with actual training I can easily break 50 seconds by next yr. I also know I can post a competitive time for the 200m (but again, I've never taken it seriously). Also by looking at times posted for athletes who garner awards such as "All-League" and "All-New England". I should be receiving those next year.</p>
<p>If by the end of sophomore year my times can look like this.</p>
<p>400m:48-49
200m. Around 23</p>
<p>And I've already got a 2100 on my SATs (my gpas not amazing, though my new school doesn't keep gpas) , should my times + scores attract the interest of track coaches from schools like Stanford and Columbia? </p>
<p>Also should I join a track club over the summer and try and get a high place in one of the top meets (Youth outdoors, Word trials, Junior olympics)? Or would that be a waste of time?</p>
<p>Well, it may look a little fishy repeating your soph year, but I guess it’s not really any worse than a PG year. If you can get down to those times and maybe bring up your SAT score then you’re definitely in a good spot for Ivy recruitment and possibly Stanford as well.</p>
<p>I’ve just never heard of anyone repeating a year of HS unless it was a PG year or they had failed to graduate, but I also don’t know anyone who transferred to prep school (unless for a PG year).</p>
<p>I’ve heard about extreme football fathers holding sons back a year in middle school so they’d be bigger and stronger earlier in high school and likelier to get a football scholarship for college. Don’t know how widespread the practice is, but it wouldn’t surprise me a lot of kids do it (I guess I mean parents do it!)</p>
<p>^^^Why??? Being from the midwest I never heard of this. Don’t know anyone who has ever done a gap year and I volunteer at the guidance office at a VERY large competitive HS.</p>
<p>I live in New England. I go to a public school, but I know of several people who have repeated grades when they went to a prep school. One was for athletics (hockey), and one was because after she transferred, she hadn’t met the requirements to be a junior at the school, so she had to repeat her sophomore year. It might seem strange, but it’s not exactly uncommon here, so I don’t think college coaches would care.</p>
<p>Either way, to the OP, I would say that those are excellent times for a male (which I assume you are, because if you were a girl with those times you would be a world class…) those times would be great. I know someone who is a tiny bit faster than you are and he was a senior this year. He has a full ride to UVA. I play soccer, so recruiting is different, but I would think that you would need to contact coaches when you are eligable (junior year, I think) and tell them your times so you could be properly recruited.</p>
<p>Take a look at the rosters and times of the track teams for the schools that interest you. If the coach has several sprinters with similar times as first years when you are a senior, the coach may not need you as much as another event. If the coach can only support a certain number of athletes, then it’s more important that you bring a skill in an event that is weak.</p>
<p>It is extremely common to repeat a grade when you enter a prep school.
Do check the track times for athletes on the roster of the schools in which you might be interested. Look up their high school times, too. Write to the coaches. You seem well-qualified. Make sure you want to be a college athlete. It’s a big commitment.</p>
<p>Should I write to them after sophomore year…is there any need to do that or just wait till junior yr? Are they able technically allowed to respond… Or simply send a bunch of junk to your house?</p>
<p>Also, do many of these coaches (top schools academically) attend the national jr. meets and actively recruit?</p>
<p>mpicz, you might consider contacting track coaches in the winter of your junior year. By then you will have a transcript showing your soph and half of your junior year, plus your SAT and PSAT. Also, you will have your soph track and possibly post-season (JO, Nike, etc) track PRs. If you run indoor track your junior year, you could also include those times. You will only have one more track season (Junior Spring) to base your application and recruiting on, so the bulk of your track meets will be behind you. Of course you might set some new PR’s in the spring, but the trajectory should be pretty clear by January of junior year. </p>
<p>Contacting coaches mid-Junior year will give them time to take a look at you on paper, and if there is interest, you can plan a spring break trip to visit a bunch. Biggest obstacles to this might be where you live, and whether the schools you’re interested in are geographically clustered together (New England?) or spread all over the place. Of course, you also have to work around college coaches’ spring break and track meet schedules, but this is a great time to make connections with schools you like.</p>
<p>Recruiting visits paid for by schools can only happen in the fall of your senior year and (unless this has changed lately) can’t take place until after the first day of your senior year. It’s great if you can eliminate some schools, and prioritize the rest before July between your junior and senior years. Your opinion will shift around a bit once you are being courted by coaches, and make visits, but having a short list of schools you like, and who you know like you makes the whole thing a lot more sane.</p>
<p>OP, I realized I didn’t answer the second part of your question. You can always initiate contact with a coach by phone or email. They cannot pursue you, but you can ask them if they think you are a possible fit for their program and the university. And you can ask if they would be willing to meet with you on campus. As long as you pay your own expenses there is no recruiting violation. Email is probably the best way to communicate, up until July after your junior year. That way both of you have a written record of your conversations, and the coach cannot be accused of chasing you, since you can show that you are the one initiating contact and asking the questions.</p>
<p>usually the pretty good academic schools are strong in distance, like stanford. i doubt stanford has any scholarship money to offer for a 49 four hundred runner. hell, an american junior record holder is there right now on a half scholarship. but you can certainly try becoming a recruited walk onif you’re at 48’s in the open 400. i know columbia is pretty good at the mid distances. have you ever tried an 800?</p>