Guide · Standards
College track recruiting standards explained
A recruiting standard is the mark a college team says it looks for in recruits, usually with one line for walk-ons and another for scholarships. Here is how to read them, why most teams don’t publish one, and how to compare your own marks fairly.
Compare your mark with every team’s standard and roster →
What the lines mean
- Walk-on: the mark to make the team without an athletic scholarship. It usually puts you in the slower part of the team.
- Scholarship (or recruit): the mark at which the team may offer athletic aid. Usually close to its best current athletes.
- Target or elite: some teams add a higher line for athletes they recruit hardest.
A standard is a guide, not a promise. Meeting it does not guarantee a spot or money, and coaches also weigh improvement, grades, events the team needs and how many athletes are graduating.
Most teams don’t publish one
Of the 1,376 programs on Lane to College, 54 publish an official recruiting chart on their own website. For the rest, the best guide is the team itself: the marks of its current athletes. If your mark would put you in the faster half of the team’s list, you are a realistic recruit even without a published standard. That is how Lane to College places you on every team, and it shows the official standard too when the school has one.
Comparing your marks fairly
- High school and college events differ. Colleges run the 1500m and 5000m, not the 1600m or 3200m. Convert first: Lane to College uses Riegel’s formula for equal effort over the new distance, so a 4:25 1600m is about a 4:07 1500m.
- Hand times are faster than electronic ones. Add about 0.24 seconds to a hand-timed sprint or hurdle time and about 0.14 seconds to longer races before comparing.
- Implements and hurdles are heavier and higher in college for men. High school boys throw a 12 lb shot and college men a 16 lb shot (a 12 lb mark is roughly 85% as far with the 16 lb shot), and the 110m hurdles go from 39 to 42 inches. Women’s shot and 100m hurdles are the same in high school and college.
- Altitude helps sprints and jumps and slows distance races. Marks made at altitude are flagged with an “A”; coaches read them differently.
- Check the date. A standard from several years ago may no longer match the team. Look at the roster too.
Examples of published standards
Some of the teams that publish an official chart, with their marks on each school page:
- Abilene Christian D1
- Air Force D1
- Albany State D2
- Arizona State D1
- Bowling Green D1
- Brown D1
- Cal State Fullerton D1
- California D1
- Col. of Charleston D1
- Colorado St. D1
- Davidson D1
- Duke D1
What to do with them
- Find the teams where your converted mark is near or above the walk-on line, and in the faster half of the roster.
- Read the standard’s date and the team’s current marks: both matter.
- Email the coach with your marks and links to official results. See how to email a college track coach.