Harvard Track and Field Walk on Standards

Track and Field Recruiting Standards in the Ivy League

"I run the 400 and the 800, how fast do I have to be to get recruited at Dartmouth? (or Brown or Harvard, etc.)" I hear variations of this question a lot. The typical answer is to check the roster and see the times of the current athletes on the team to get an idea.  The problem with that approach is that a team may be weak in a certain event, but that doesn't mean the coach is looking for more runners in that range.  So you may look at a team roster and see that they have 3 women running the 400m in 1:00 this year and think that might be a good fit, but running the 400 in 1:00 will never score points at the conference championships (aka Heps). In fact, it's very rare for anything over 56 seconds to score points, and that's the name of the game for every coach.

But what about a good athlete developing into a great runner in college, will a coach take your potential into account even if your times aren't the greatest? To some extent, yes, a natural athlete that is putting up good marks with little training can indicate good upside potential, but it's just so difficult to judge. Even high school standouts that are hitting the time standards can have a frustrating way of never hitting their high school marks once they get in college, so the trajectory of a track career is impossible to predict. The safest bet is recruiting an athlete that is already very close to being competitive in the conference.

The following times and distances are good general guidelines as far as Ivy League Track and Field recruiting standards. They're based on conference meet results as well as conversations and correspondence with coaches.

Bear in mind, hitting these standards doesn't mean that you'll necessarily be recruited, several other factors come into play. First and foremost, your academics. Check how strong your academics are with the Academic Index calculator. If you're hitting these track and field standards, and your Academic Index is strong, it's still going to depend on the team's needs in any given year as well as the quality of the other recruits. But you want to get an idea of Ivy League Track and Field recruiting standards, here's our best estimates:

Women

• 100m – 12.2
• 200m – 25.2
• 400m – 57.4
• 100h – 14.8
• 300h – 46.0
• 400h – 1:03
• 800m – 2:15
• 1600m – 5:00
• 3200m – 10:50
• High Jump – 5'5″
• Long Jump – 18'0″
• Triple Jump – 37'11"
• Pole Vault – 12'0″
• Shot Put – 43′
• Discus – 138′
• Javelin – 130′
• Hammer – 160′
• 5K – 17:45

Men

• 100m – 10.94
• 200m – 22.0
• 400m – 49.0
• 110h – 14.6
• 300h – 38.9
• 400h – 54.9
• 800m – 1:54
• 1600m – 4:17
• 3200m – 9:20
• High Jump – 6'6″
• Long Jump – 22'10"
• Triple Jump – 47′
• Pole Vault  – 15'3″
• Shot Put – 59′
• Discus – 180′
• Javelin – 192′
• Hammer – 180′

These are general guidelines for recruited athletes, that is, athletes that are likely to have admissions support. Each team also has a fair number of walk-on athletes on the roster. Walks-on standards are not as high, obviously, but still at the level of a very strong HS varsity athlete.

Harvard Track and Field Walk on Standards

Source: http://www.tier1athletics.org/2014/08/06/track-field-recruiting-standards-ivy-league/

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