Running in College?

[SErunner]

I was hoping that someone on here would know something about trying to run in college.

Should I try to contact a Coach if the school hasn't contacted me?

I run mid 18:00's and was looking for a small school to run at. I considered Shawnee and Marietta College because they are small and I might be able to walk on.

[4sporterEHS]

That time is fine for walking on. I go to Shawnee and we have 7 kids on our team who has never even broke 18, all walk-ons. Some teams accept walk-ons and others don't. But, I would contact the coach in your position. If your walking-on, its your job to contact the coach I guess.

[run521]

SErunner, don't sell yourself too short, the running programs for small area college have web sites for interested athletes. Use these web sites to contact the coach giving your times, weekly mileage, awards/accomplishments, along with your GPA/ACT-SAT scores, and planned area of study. You may be surprised of offers that come in from small area schools. Set up a visit for schools that interest you and plan to meet with the coach.

[boogerred]

Here is my two-cents worth:

If you can afford to go to a school, then I would say it is ok to walk-on. DO NOT take out extra college loans just to try to make a team.

If you can't afford going somewhere, then go to a cheaper school and continue running for YOURSELF.

You need to remember that runners are probably the luckiest of all athletes. They can continue running and competing forever.

[madpolecat]

If cost is an issue, talk to Bob Willey at the University of Rio Grande. The place is affordable, close and Bob does a good job of developing the talent that shows up.

[Ironman92]

^^^^^exactly what I was going to post.

[4sporterEHS]

If cost is an issue, talk to Bob Willey at the University of Rio Grande. The place is affordable, close and Bob does a good job of developing the talent that shows up.

And than when the 3rd year comes around you can have fun paying over $20,000.

[run521]

You might look up Berea, in Kentucky they can help you out if cost is an issue, other SE student/runners are going there.

[Thatotherguy]

Rio is the cheapest university around with track and cross for the first 2 years. But you can always transfer somewhere after the tution jumps from comunty rates to private university. The tution and board at rio is above 20+ grand after 2 years, but the average person gets 15,000 FA and Rio offers academic scholarships.

Also you can walkon pretty much anywhere that isn't already over flowing with runners. DI DII DIII NAIA they will pretty much take any body as a walk on. Making varsity is a differen't story you have to be top 7 on the team. However they do have open races witch everybody can run and send there B team to other places somtimes.

[rundevilrun]

There are many good running programs in the state of Ohio for running.

[rundevilrun]

Rio is the cheapest university around with track and cross for the first 2 years. But you can always transfer somewhere after the tution jumps from comunty rates to private university. The tution and board at rio is above 20+ grand after 2 years, but the average person gets 15,000 FA and Rio offers academic scholarships.

Also you can walkon pretty much anywhere that isn't already over flowing with runners. DI DII DIII NAIA they will pretty much take any body as a walk on. Making varsity is a differen't story you have to be top 7 on the team. However they do have open races witch everybody can run and send there B team to other places somtimes.

Who is the average person? This doesn't seem very truthful.

[ChuckHayes44]

If you are asking about what the average person runs at Rio then it would be probably about 30 minutes for their top 5 I would imagine. I think they have a few guys that can run much faster than that but if you average out their top 5 it would be around 30 or maybe even 29 I guess. Shawnee States' average is high 25:50's or around 26:00 usually.

[SErunner]

Shawnee State is very good, someone is going to have to start swaying kids from Coach Putnam's program in order for any other Ohio Colleges to match up.

I think that Malone and Shawnee are probably two of the best colleges for XC in Ohio

[rundevilrun]

I mean the average student. 15,000 per third year student let alone athlete is a ton of money. Rio couldn't make any money if the more than half or 3/4ths of their students were getting that much financial aid. I just don't believe those numbers. I also find it hard to believe that the majority of their student athletes would be getting that much aid. If so, then they have a lot of aid and should be in the top three in every sport in the AMC.

Shawnee State is no Malone. Shawnee does amazing for the amount of money that they have and what little they have in resources but Malone is running neck and neck with Ohio States men's team. If Shawnee keeps going with their enrollment, they could be there one day but not right now. Sorry.

[SErunner]

HaHa... I know that Malone is far better than Shawnee, but Shawnee is good.

[4sporterEHS]

And remember guys. This is only Shawnee's 20th year as a University. At Malone, they were winning Nationals in the 50's and stuff. They receive so much Alumni donations is not even funny! And they have the tradition. Hopefully, in 40 years, Shawnee will have solid alumni and I know they are going to have the tradition in Cross Country. If things keep improving like they do, than there is no reason why it won't. It is hard to compare Malone to Shawnee. They are very different.

[4sporterEHS]

And also, I will throw out a number to everyone.

3,636.00

That number is the amount of dollars it costs to go to shawnee per semester. So, what is that, just over 7 grand for one year of school. Adding Financial Aid, that figure goes down under 1000 for most students. That does not include housing, but Portsmouth has many cheap houses or apartments. I even live in one.
Shawnee also gives Academic Scholarships based one ones GPA and ACT score. Not a bad deal.

This is the amount on Rio's website. 18,260. That is without F.A. but what if for some reason you get less than the average amount of F.A.? You could be paying anywhere from 5000 to 1300 bucks, thats Per Semester.
And thats the first 2 years. The Junior and Senior, or 5th year is just outrageous amounts!

[Bubblegumhuffy]

Alright since everyone is throwing out numbers, i will throw some out

Berea College in Kentucky is just about the cheapest place that anyone who qualifies can go. Even cheaper than Rio...the school does not charge tuition at all. Every student who is admitted gets around 24,000 per year to cover your tuition. Then they adjust the room and board cost down to what goes with your EFC from the Gov. Not to mention that every student works a ten hour job and gets paid for the time they work. The average student at Berea pays around $900 per year, which is pretty much lower than any other college, period. The school also has 1.3 billion dollars in the bank meaning they have the money to back up all of their scholarships.

No offense to Rio or Shawnee, but the academic tradition at Berea is astonishing compared to them, and students receive a much better education. Around 2,000 people apply per year, and about 400 get in.

The problem is that runners and athletes in our area have never heard of the school so they don't even apply. The Berea team this year has made some gains as well, they placed 2nd at the Shawnee invitational with a team almost full of freshman including Warren graduate Kevin Croston. They are on the rise and i think you will see many more southeastern ohio runners looking at the school.

[rundevilrun]

Berea college is a beautiful school as well. The coach there, Mike Johnson is a wonderful guy. I thought that you had to meet certain financial criteria to go there though. For instance, if your family income was above a certain amount, you couldn't get in because it was a school set up for more in need students.