Understanding ACC College Track and Field Recruiting Standards

A high school senior recently asked me about his chances of being offered an athletic scholarship to Wake Forest University. As a junior, he ran 10.87 and 21.87 – both very impressive times. He was further encouraged by the fact that Wake only had one sprinter run faster than him in the 100m last year and that he would have been their fastest 200m sprinter (as a junior in HS). It seemed logical to him that Wake Forest needed sprinters. What he did not fully realize was that college programs recruit athletes based on their ability to score points at the conference meet or qualify to the NCAA Championships. They are far less concerned with ensuring each event is covered.

The ACC scores eight places at their conference championship meet. In 2019, the tenth-ranked sprinter ran 10.38 in the 100m and 20.98 in the 200m. So in this case, for a program like Wake Forest if you cannot run near those times you will not score points for them. In addition, most programs target specific event groups to recruit as opposed to focusing on all the events.

So, keep in mind just because your times currently match up well with a particular program, it does not ensure that you will be actively recruited by that school or offered scholarship money. It is important to understand conference scoring performances and which specific events groups the program you are looking at is targeting.

Below is a list of general guidelines for being recruited by an ACC school. Again, it will vary with each individual program. The performance on the left will most likely result in receiving significant scholarship money. The mark of the right is what you would have to achieve to be offered a roster spot. If you run somewhere in the middle of the two listed times you may receive a partial scholarship offer.

TRACK AND FIELD MEN’S RECRUITING STANDARDS

EVENT SCHOLARSHIP WALK-ON

100m 10.50 / 10.70

200m 21.00 / 21.70

400m 47.50 / 48.50

800m 1:51.00 / 1:54.00

1600m 4:08.00 / 4:15.00

3200m 9:05.00 / 9:30.00

110HH 13.80 / 14.10

300IH 36.70 / 37.90

400IH 51.50 / 53.50

LJ 24 ‘ 6” / 23'

TJ 50’ / 47’ 6”

HJ 6’10 / 6’8”

PV 16’9 / 16’

SP 64’ / 57’6”

Discus 190’ / 170’

Javelin 215’ / 190’

Hammer 225’ / 200’

TRACK AND FIELD WOMEN’S RECRUITING STANDARDS

EVENT SCHOLARSHIP WALK-ON

100m 11.60 / 11.90

200m 23.80 / 24.90

400m 54.00 / 56.50

800m 2:10.00 / 2:14.00

1600m 4:50.00 / 5:00.00

3200m 10:40.00 / 11:00.00

100H 13.80 / 14.40

300IH 42.50 / 44.50

400IH 59.50 / 62.50

LJ 19 ‘ 6” / 18 ‘ 6”

TJ 41’ / 38’

HJ 5’10 / 5’6”

PV 13’ / 12’

SP 50’ / 47’

Discus 160’ / 145’

Javelin 155’ / 130’

Hammer 175’ / 160’