<p>Hi CC,
I run cross country and play lacrosse. While I am a better cross country runner, I really enjoying playing lacrosse and would hopefully be able to play at a DIII school. My question is: Would playing both sports strengthen my application to a NESCAC school or should I stick to cross country? With my cross country times and projected improvement for this year I am also looking at DI schools for running. If any women xc runners could also provide some info about their college running experience that would be awesome! Thanks :)</p>
<p>Just a thought, since a college xc coach is often the track coach, too - you may have more success in getting admissions support in the NESCAC if you run distance in the spring instead of play lax.
As for the life of a D3 runner - I interviewed Jeff Stiles @ WashU and here were a couple of his responses:</p>
<p>Tell me a little about the lifestyle of the athletes – how accommodating is the track practice schedule for kids who might have conflicts with their classes?</p>
<p>In XC, our main practice is in the morning, and we avoid class schedule conflict, so that works out really well. Now it is tough, and they have to be intrinsically motivated to make it happen because we’re going at 6:30 or 7:00 am. We give them 2 days off each week to train on their own to accommodate for academic stuff. And then in track we go in the afternoon and we tell them, our practice time is at 4:15, we want you there. But we know, we’re going to have to work around some kid’s schedules. I would say on a given day, we’ll probably have 70% there and 30% will have to go to an alternative time. But it depends on the semester and the major. Like junior year engineering, for example, tends to have a lot of labs. We had a kid who was an NCAA runner up who was a 5th year senior and he had some grad classes and his schedule was never going to allow him to be at practice all year. So he had to work out at alternative times the whole season. So we had to work around that, it’s just part of the reality of it.</p>
<p>We don’t want them to take classes during practice if they have a choice, but we know, as coaches, it’s going to happen and we’ll work with the student to make it the best we can. But again, that’s why they need to be intrinsically motivated. It’s not like high school where you just show up and all your teammates are there. Sometimes, there’s just not a great time so they’ll have to be there at 7:30 am because that’s the only time they have. So it’s definitely challenging, and that’s why the number 1 thing we’re looking for is people who really love what they do.</p>
<p>Since none of these kids are on scholarship, is it difficult to keep them on board? Do you find that by senior year you have a lot fewer kids than you brought on as freshmen?
It depends. We’ve had years that we’ve batted a thousand. We kept everyone, and to me that’s really rewarding – that’s pretty cool. But that’s definitely not the norm. There normally is an attrition rate. But I try to tell them what the reality is during the recruiting process. And I think you can kind of ID those kids in the recruiting process. We also try to promote a culture that it’s about the team and not themselves. Now senior year, definitely with med school interviews and trying to find a job, it’s hard. I feel like track is harder than xc for that because xc is in the fall, whereas in track, these kids are getting ready to start jobs in a week. It’s hard but it shows who’s really invested.</p>
<p>How many hours are the track kids working out during season?
I’d say 2 to 2 ½ hours per day would be the norm. If you include the training room, maybe 3 hours. But some days might be 75 minutes because we have a meet coming up. But I usually say 2 ½ hours is what you need to plan on.</p>
<p>Hi my son will be playing for a school in the NESCAC (lacrosse) and I am not sure if the women’s is the same as the mens but the mens is considered to be one of the strongest leagues and pulls from a very select pool of talent who happen to be strong academically as well. I think you need to do your research as to the teams, the caliber of talent and if you have what it takes to play there first and foremost. Again I am basing this on how the mens works…perhaps the womens league is quite different, I am not sure. In any case, good luck to you!</p>