What is the best college for distance running?

Question

I'm a Freshman and I run a 4:47 mile but I'm not sure how much I need to improve by to get a full ride scholarship to a college. Also I dont know what colleges have a good distance coaches.

Answer 1

from my own experience a lot of schools have good distance coaches. many were distance runners in their prime and have personal experience with it. they all have different coaching strategies and philosophies and you need to research and think about what you would like most.

being a freshman you don't really need to be thinking about college too much, just concentrate on working hard and improving and colleges will take notice. the first step though is to tell your high school coach that you are interested in running in college and if he has any suggestions. also if there is a particular school you want to run at you should e-mail their coach and let him know because if you start talking to them early and they watch you progress you will have a better shot.

different colleges have different scholarship policies as well based on NCAA rules. D-1 school can give full ride scholarships (but not many runners get a full ride their freshman year, they earn more money as years go by). D-2 schools can only give partial scholarships for athletics and D-3 schools cannot give athletic scholarships. there is a league called the NAIA which is size-wise between D-2 and D-3 but they are not affiliated with the NCAA and so they can give whatever scholarships they want. I am going to one of these schools to run.