Hi,
I’m in 11th grade and running a consistent 18:30 5k with a PR of 18:01. Do I have any chance of being recruited? I have very good grades and go to a top boarding school.
I guess you could look at PRs of people on the rosters of teams you’d like to join and see where you stand, right?
FWIW, one of the kids I followed when my older daughter was running prep xc was Haley Pierce of Tatnall in DE (she ended up at Georgetown). A quick search of MileSplit shows she had a XC 5K PR of 17:05. Another quick search of current top college XC runners pointed me to Tessa Barrett of PSU. In HS, she won the national XC title with a 17:16. For track events, Barrett’s 5k PR in HS was a 16:42, Piece’s best college 5k was a 16:11.
I encourage you to think about your college running goals…do you want to run for a top XC program or are you shooting for an Ivy-type school?
Also, if you are in 11th grade already, I might start reaching out to coaches at programs ASAP.
Thank you! Education comes first but I’d love to run with a great program, too. I will be looking at Ivies but that’s D1 and it looks like my times will probably limit me to D3. But we’ll see. Just starting our season now …
Also…if you haven’t already, discuss your ambitions with your HS coach. Maybe he/she can offer advice and/or has some relationships with college coaches or has guided former student runners through the college recruitment process. Best of luck!
Low 18 for Junior girl definitely would be attractive to college coaches. Xc times are tough to compare though unless you are running in big meets or on known courses. Track times will be more meaningful. You might try to get into the nxn regional for your region; that would give you a good sense of how you stack up.
Thank you for all of the advice. It’s much appreciated!
I would also think about NESCAC. Although it’s D3, they provide a great education and several are tops in the country for xc and track.