What’s a competitive time in cross country?
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Anonymous
This for JV. Will probably take sub 18 to win JV. |
Anonymous
| Cross country changed my daughter for the best. Gave her a group. Improved her mood and her grades. All good. |
Anonymous
| It really depends on the course. For JV, a 3 mile of sub 19 would be good; sub 18 would likely move you up to varsity. To compete in states, sub 16. |
Anonymous
Sub 18 usually is the transition to the "Varsity Level". Some bad teams may have slower kids on the varsity. Some good teams may have 17 min kids running JV, but generally if you are sub 18 you are varsity ish. Sub 18 to low 18s will put you in the front of JV Fresh-Soph/Open races |
Rountree
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Our 12 year old soccer team has at least three boys running those times - 3 years younger than mentioned here. Times have changed - literally. |
Anonymous
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My son is a rising junior at a fcps school who ran varsity xc and track (distance running) last year.
Freshman year/JV, he ran about a 19min 5k. Last year he typically ran an 18 min one, but his PR was 17:20. This year he’s trying to go sub 17 at least, maybe low 16 min. His mile time is in the 4:30s— fast for a sophomore/junior boy. He runs 6 days a week, about 30-40 miles a week. Your son will improve a lot in a few months and especially in a few years. Use milestat as a guide too. |
Anonymous
Also, there are no scholarships for college track. The guy last year on DS’s team who is running D1 track this year and has a 4:10 mile time did not get scholarship offers for track, and he broke several school records. It may have helped his admission though. 
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Anonymous
Not comparable unless those 12 year olds are running them on a 5k cross country course, which is generally trail running. Most XC runners who run 5:30 pace for a cross country race are 4:30 single or 4:45 minute two milers on a flat track. |
Anonymous
No soccer team is running 5ks on a regular basis. At most they are doing 2Ks but usually 1000 meters and many soccer kids can hit a 5:30 mile at that distance. |
Anonymous
Not true -- I know a few kids who have gotten scholarships for D1, and my niece is being courted by a number of schools as well. (She is a junior and raced in multiple national meets last year across the country). |
Anonymous
| As previous PP pointed out they are also on a track or on a soccer field which is flat. Those times will look really different when there are huge hills involved. |
Anonymous
You are correct. It's extremely unlikely the 12 year old soccer kids are running 5:30 pace for multiple miles on a XC course. I could easily believe a single 5:30 track mile. |
Anonymous
| A scholarship for track is very rarely a full ride. It’s true that track coaches will recruit or ask top players to apply, but it is extremely rare for track to pay for someone’s school outright, especially D1. More like $2500 a year and they’ll consider you for merit aid just like any other student. |
Anonymous
| Track is for skinny weirdos |
Anonymous
Getting this made into a t shirt for my kid. People wish they could run that fast. |