<p>My d is a swimmer but did track when she was much younger. She is going to do a few track meets unattached this winter/spring, and we are wondering if college athletes ever do more than one sport. She is a well-rounded swimmer but has excellent sprints (50/100 free), and also does sprints for track. i wonder if she could possibly do both in college? She is an excellent student (homeschooled), a junior this year...my husband and I are Georgetown/Ivy grads, and don't know how to direct her because we aren't athletes. :/ Her swim times are within what I see for Williams/Amherst, and maybe barely there for the Ivies. Would she just contact coaches for both sports? Thanks for any insight...just purchased the book by Varska, looking forward to expanding my horizons...my son also does two sports (rowing/swimming) so I know I will encounter this issue again in 2 years! cheers, Maya</p>
<p>At our S’s ivy there are several athletes on his team who do multiple sports. Historically, there have also been a few here and there.</p>
<p>It depends on the sports, i.e. when the competition season is. For some info, check this out:
[Two-sport</a> athletes a rarity | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/nov/04/in-sports-diversifying-now-a-rarity/]Two-sport”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/nov/04/in-sports-diversifying-now-a-rarity/)
With respect to rowing, there’s a fall season (head races) and spring season. With respect to track, it depends on the discipline. Most mid-distance runners are expected to run x-country, too. For D3 schools, two sports could be an advantage if the timing works.</p>
<p>My son has a HS friend and classmate who is a FY at Notre Dame this year, and is on full athletic scholarship for basketball. He also happens to throw a 95 mph fastball and was recruited to play for the SD Padres. Suffice it to say the Fighting Irish are more than happy to allow him to play both sports during his stay in South Bend. </p>
<p>He went to campus shortly after graduating from HS and took 3 classes last summer and a full 5 classes this fall…to get ahead for winter/spring. He will likely only take a couple classes next semester to allow for all the travel & time commitments of playing two back-to-back sports. So far he is embracing all the challenges… and finding success and balance. It will be interesting to see how he fares in the transition to baseball.</p>
<p>I would contact the coach for the sport she enjoys playing most, and would choose above the other one, if she was limited to participating in just one… but I would also have her let the recruiting coach know she possesses the ability and desire to compete in her other sport, as well. </p>
<p>Some coaches - even at the DIII level… do not like sharing their athletes - especially if there is a likely chance the student athlete could become injured competing in the non-recruited sport, OR if participation in the secondary sport will interfere with expectations for off-season training. Just have your daughter be up front with the recruiting coach, regarding her intentions.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input…the reason why d is able to do both track and swimming right now is that she already had been doing dryland workouts for swimming, and she simply switched over to training for track instead. I can see that some swim coaches might really dislike this, while others might see advantages to it.</p>
<p>Swimming is still her major sport, so she would probably want to look for recruitment as a swimmer mainly, and then secondarily as a sprinter and jumper in track. I’m not sure how the seasons work out–swimmers also have fall meets even though it is a winter sport, and there is both indoor and outdoor track. Here is what inspired me to think about this and to ask:</p>
<p>[Laura</a> Barito is the NCAA Woman of the Year - NCAA.org](<a href=“http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2011/October/Laura+Barito+is+the+NCAA+Woman+of+the+Year]Laura”>http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2011/October/Laura+Barito+is+the+NCAA+Woman+of+the+Year)</p>
<p>My daughter would love to be able to do what she did!</p>
<p>My first thought was yes it can be done. However, in all honesty I think it is going to be dependent on the students major. Some majors require significant time commitment, and other majors not so much. It is very possible that your D may have the athletic ability to play two sports in college. Whether she will have the time to do it is another matter.</p>
<p>@fenway thanks for the comment, I think you are absolutely right. What amazed me about Laura Barito is that she was an engineering major and still managed to compete in two sports. Very impressive. My daughter isn’t planning on going into engineering, but there are other tough majors out there.</p>
<p>WOW - That’s an impressive achievement for Laura Barito. The school she attended (Stevens Inst of Tech) is a D3 school … and most D3’s pretty much have an off season likely making 2 sports more doable. Most D1 programs have a pretty significant off season training requirement – so it likely depends on the 2 sports schedules, the coaches attitude (and support for conflicts) – and the major – i.e. much harder for majors with significant labwork required. Our D, a JR at a D1 school in a fall sport, is in a science major, thinks 2 D1 sports would be crazy. But people do it – Superstars do exist – must be experts in time management, negotiation, conflict resolution and need minimal sleep.</p>
<p>mrushingwalker: If your D is serious, I would encourage her to track down Laura Barito and have a conversation with her on the subject. She would likely be happy to discuss it with her.</p>
<p>mrushingwalker,</p>
<p>CA Parent’s post #9 & #10 is right on the money. Laura Barito’s achievement is incredible. To be a D3 two sport athlete and engineering major is pretty much the exception. She must be incredibly talented, intelligent and disciplined. My son is a D1 Ivy baseball player and engineering major. He would tell you it is fairly difficult to balance both as his sport is pretty much year round. When he is not in season, he is getting ready for the season. I can honestly tell you my son would not be able to do two sports in his situation. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, but my hat would be off to someone who could. Son has a little social time that he enjoys. We are aware of two sport athletes at his school but they are not engineering majors.</p>
<p>I never thought of that, but CA Parent, you are right…d should try to get in touch with Laura Barito…I just read a really fun interview with her on d3swimming.com. Well, “fun” is a strange way to describe it…she says that she was not heavily recruited at all, that only Stevens Institute seemed at all interested in her. 
She ended up with a great coach who knew what to do with that talent and drive.</p>
<p>She also says she ruled out schools where the sports programs would have demanded too much from her, since she knew she wanted to study engineering. I think it’s interesting that high-level academics and high-level physical training is just a way of life for her. It sounds ideal.</p>
<p>I think after winter track starts and d gets some times and knows if she is at all competitive, I will encourage her to track Laura Barito down and ask her for some pointers on how to find the right college where one could do those two sports and not compromise on academics. Really an amazing athlete and student.</p>
<p>this is interesting, we are being recruited by a group of schools for the sport that my daughter has done well in (Div. National Championship) and competes in outside of school, however; she just happened to run the 11th fastest time in the nation(high school or collegiate) in the 200 meters as a junior in high school, so that has brought interest by a totally different set and class of schools. I know that when I played we had a few guys that might have played football/track or football/basketball-- but for women I think it’s a rarity.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that it seems to be unusual for female athletes. Where do I look at national track stats? Does USATF keep a database like USA swimming does? I have no idea how track recruits…With swimming there is pretty much one big database and all those times are public, and the coaches also visit various high school state championships. Does it work that way for track?</p>
<p>Here’s a site which will help you: [Stats</a> - MileSplit United States](<a href=“http://www.milesplit.com/stats]Stats”>http://www.milesplit.com/stats)</p>
<p>Here’s another:
[2011</a> Outdoor - Full Results](<a href=“2011 Outdoor - Women's 200 Meters Rankings”>2011 Outdoor - Women's 200 Meters Rankings)</p>
<p>[High</a> School Track & XC - ESPNHS](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/high-school/track-and-xc/]High”>http://espn.go.com/high-school/track-and-xc/)</p>
<p>This website is also good. The rankings list can show you the fastest times being posted in each event. The recruiting section shows where kids are headed for school, and gives a lot of information about the track/xc recruting process. Runners who post fast times can self-report them and “get on the radar”.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! Lots of homework to do. Interesting that there isn’t a single database but I can see that even the different states seem to have indoor track events that are different. Thanks again?..</p>
<p>indoor is especially weird. And for distance kids, westerners seem to run more 3200 meter races, and the 3000 is more popular in the east. some programs prefer the mile, others the 1600 or even 1500. hard to get great comparisons. Your HS coach might be able to help you make sense of her college running potential.</p>
<p>try going to the AAU summer national championship times, those are broken down by ages and generall the more serious runners are participating during that time. Also they measure all elements wind/track condition etc…</p>