Forums >Running 101>Running in college- update
Nowadays, running in college is a much more accessible process. High school races get much more media attention, and coaches can spot you via social media. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even harder for high schoolers to get momentum with recruiting. Remember, you are going to college, not to a professional team.
Most college athletic leagues added a year or more to eligibility due to covid pause. We could see redshirt 7th year Seniors! Or more likely, grad students who still have eligibility. I don't know the current NCAA rules, when I was spry it was "5 years to make 4". You had 4 years of eligibility, and 5 years to use them. I sat out my soph year (transferred from a CC) and walked on for the next 3 years (took 5 years to complete all the required courses cuz some didn't count when I transferred).
Some leagues don't, or didn't, have age restrictions. My first year of school was at a CC, and a school in our conference had a 29 y/o on the XC and Track teams. It was only their 2nd year of school, they started late.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
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At his age, the key is to put in mileage, but not too much. I walked on (like 25 years ago) at a Big Ten school for the half mile. I did it at the beginning of my 3rd year of school. My PRs in high school were 51.0 - 400, 1:59 - 800, 4:37 mile, 16:40 -5k cc. I had lots of conversations with 3 Div. 3 schools, but wanted to go to a bigger school. I kept running the first 2 years of college for fun, and improved a little. The head coach at my college liked the fact that I had not trained too crazy in high school and wanted to see what I could do with more work. I ended up running the 400 in 49.0 and 800 in 1:53.1 as a walk on. Also ran the mile indoors in 4:17, but since our cross country team was always loaded, I wasn't going to be able to run the mile. Never traveled, but good enough to be on the team and learn.
We had a bunch of highly recruited distance guys. To a person, the guys who were putting in 80+ miles a week as high schoolers all burned out, either mentally, physically, or both. It's just way too much for a kid. If I was coaching a talented kid, I wouldn't let him or her have too many 40+ mile weeks during the summer. There is no way to tell if a kid is going to pan out to be World Class or even upper tier D 1 caliber that young.
One day at a time
The OP's kid is out of high school by this point.
Village people
He has (just last year) but thank you for the response. I have started to help coach our high school team so I appreciate reading about experiences.