Track And Field + Cross Country

INTRO

About 9 percent of all international student-athletes at the NCAA D1 level compete at a men's track and field college, making up about 0.5 percent of D1 rosters. Needless to say, getting recruited to compete in college is extremely competitive.

HOW TO BE RECRUITED

There are many opportunities to compete in men’s track and field, with 1600 colleges offering track and field programs. Track and field recruiting process is little more straight forward because the achievements of athletes are measurable, making it easier to understand what it takes at the college level.

Since most of the recruits do not hit the marks of their college counter parts, the coaches try to project development trajectory of the candidate. The results in high school have to be measured against broad regional, national and even international competition. In any case there is a wide range of performance standards for different divisions so the research is a key.

Each track and field program has different needs and coaching philosophies when it comes to offering roster spots or awarding scholarship money. While it is important for an athlete to make sure they qualify athletically for the college level, they also need to know what schools are needing their events.

• In USA 600,000+ men’s track and field athletes compete at the high school level annually
• 8% of that group compete at the NCAA D1, D2 or D3 level (about 29,000 athletes)
• D1: 1.9% (about 11,400 athletes)
• D2: 1.2% (about 7,200 athletes)
• D3: 1.7% (about 10,200 athletes)
• 9 percent of D1 and 5 percent of D2 men’s track and field recruits are international student-athletes
• Nearly 4,000 athletes go on to compete at the NAIA level
• About 2,300 athletes also go on to compete at the NJCAA level