Anyone have thoughts about the quality of track programs at the top-flight schools on the East Coast?
I think the East Coast is the weakest track region of the country at Division I level. Womens are a tad better. Big 10, SEC, Texas schools, and the West Coast are where the money schools are in track .
With that said Harvard, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Penn and Villanova aren’t too bad of programs history wise. Not too sure who is coaching those programs now. I would check out NCAA results for the past fwew years and see.
Duly noted. But that having been said, do any of the Big East, ACC, or even Ivy League schools have anything, especially in the distance programs?
iona, georgetown and providence are the only three who have factored into the 10000 meter team results.
here was the 2005 ne region pre-season cross-countery poll results: Northeast Region
2005 Polls
Compiled by Mick Byrne
Ranking Preseason Poll 1 Iona College 2 Providence 3 Dartmouth 4 Columbia 5 Cornell 6 Yale 7 Army 8 Brown 9 UNH 10 Quinnipiac 11 Syracuse 12 Albany 13 U, Mass 14 Boston College 15 Harvard
Div I outdoor results are posted here:
http://www.ncaasports.com/track-and-field/results/outdoor/2005/div1/finals/0611
Make sure you click on the seperate days of the results they are listed individually for June 8th - 11th. Glancing through the results of 800M + events Florida seems to do well in having top five finishers on the mens side. On the womens side, UNC, WVA, NC Stat & Duke all have finishers in the top 5.
Peace,
RF
I went Georgetown. Lot’s of friends that ran track including 1 who I see daily. We graduated in 2001. If you have any specific questions PM me and I’ll check it out. Its a great place to go to school.
Go Hoyas!
Both Florida and Florida State are among the countries best…
Geography lesson. Well I guess I never thought Fla, NC,SC, and Georgia were “East Coast” schools, but they are on the East Coast (Kinda South) Then you got Auburn, GA, the Carolina colleges. A whole nother world of schools. I was thinking “New England ish”. SEC rocks in track.
But then again, unless you are a top 10-15 runner in your event, I don’t think it really matters where you go as you can have a good college experience an a lot of schools. I would look for a coach you like more than a program you like. Some programs are more concerned with points in Conference than the long haul development of their runners. Some of my good friends that are lifetime runners hated college running as there was too much pressure to perform hurt or healthy. For some programs it is a big meat grinder, others are looking to develop youngsters into better runners .
The cool thing about college is even in a small school you get to go to conference and maybe NCAAs and develop. If you are a big dog the big programs might be of more intrest. I would rather run #3 or 4 man at a smaller school cross country and make the travel team, then run #8 or 9 at Michigan and not make the travel squad.
Anyone have thoughts about the quality of track programs at the top-flight schools on the East Coast?
The Cornell men’s and women’s track teams both took 2nd place at the Eastern Championships in 2005:
http://cornellbigred.collegesports.com/sports/w-track/recaps/051605aaa.html
Despite the fact that I’m Cornell '80, I think it qualifies as a “top-flight” school.
Cornell?
I hear it’s ok.
Actually, judging by your running ability, maybe they’ve got something there. Must be all the cheap wine.
Cornell?
I hear it’s ok.
Actually, judging by your running ability, maybe they’ve got something there. Must be all the cheap wine.
I was so slow on that team. Then again, I was a high jumper.
Iona is one of the top teams in the US for running. Along witrh that though, Providence college is always known for a strong XC team. It really depends what you are looking for. Dartmouth’s team might not have been fighting for the team championship, but McArdle was always right in the mix. Go visit the school, your team might not win an overall title, but if they go to the big meets, you’ll still get to race all the big name schools.
I don’t believe anyone else has raised this point, but the answer will depend somewhat on what types of events you want compete in. The answer will certainly change from sprint to mid/long distance, and do you care about the cross-country program as well? If you go to Letsrun.com and search the forum, you will find mucho discussion about this topic. It requires a fair bit of sifting (but what internet source of info doesn’t?). Or were you just asking because you want to see a few good track meets next spring? 
Dan