Trust the Training: How Piper Hoprich Restarted Her Recruitment and Chose Elon
A two-time Pennsylvania state champion in the 100m and 200m, Piper Hoprich had her search reset by the NCAA's new eligibility rule. Here's how she rebuilt it and chose Elon.
Piper Hoprich is a sprinter from Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, and this fall she gave her verbal commitment to Elon University, a Division I program in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA). She is a two-time Pennsylvania state champion, winning the 100m and the 200m in Class AA as a junior, and she carried a 4.0 GPA into her senior year.
I worked with Piper in a series of advising sessions from June until her commitment. Her results opened doors early. Then her recruitment hit a rule change in the middle of the summer that wiped out most of what she had built, and she had to start again with official visits only weeks away. How she handled that restart is the part of her story I wanted to highlight here and that I'll be sharing with future recruits and their families.
Piper on the track and in the classroom
- 100m: 11.90, Pennsylvania Class AA state champion (2026, as a high school junior)
- 200m: 24.39, Pennsylvania Class AA state champion (2026, as a high school junior)
- 60m (indoor): 7.77
- Academics: 4.0 GPA, ranked 7th in her class
To see how performances like hers line up with college programs at each level, check them in our college track and field recruiting standards.
The moment she knew
Piper has been sprinting since seventh grade. She always wanted to compete at the Division I level, and her state meet as a junior made it feel possible.
"That adrenaline and that [thought that] I can do this, it kind of hit me at States this past year after winning. I knew this was possible and that I can compete at a level similar."
What recruiting looked like from the inside
Piper started her recruitment the day college coaches were allowed to contact her, June 15 after her sophomore year. She went in expecting it to move quickly.
"I had super high expectations going into it. And I was expecting it to be really easy... But it was definitely more challenging than I thought."
She described what the work looked like week to week.
"I would schedule with a coach to call and they just would never call and then I would send out like hundreds of emails and get some phone calls sometimes... Definitely challenging, very humbling, and definitely a lot harder than I thought."
That matches what I see with most families. A state title and a 4.0 make the case for an athlete, and the athlete still has to do every step in between: emails, calls, questionnaires, follow-ups, and visits. Our guide on how to contact college coaches and keep the relationship going covers that middle stretch.
The rule change that reset her search
In June 2026, the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved a five-seasons-in-five-years eligibility model. Current college athletes can opt into it, which means many seniors who expected to graduate gained another year. Coaches kept those athletes, and the roster spots they had planned to give the high school class of 2027 disappeared.
Piper felt it directly. A program near the top of her list stopped recruiting sprinters in her class, and others followed.
"When that fifth year eligibility rule came into place, it definitely knocked a bunch of options out for me. And that was really hard because then I felt like I had to restart everything that I had been building up. I've been building these relationships and everything. And it felt like I had to restart again."
None of it had anything to do with her times. If you are in the class of 2027 or 2028, assume some coaches are planning around returning athletes before they plan around you, and build a longer list than you think you need. Our explainers on how NCAA track and field recruiting has changed since 2021 and the D1 roster and scholarship changes under the House settlement lay out the rules behind this.
Streamline Athletes
I asked Piper what kept her going through that stretch.
"I continued training and I trust my training. I trust my skills, and I know that someone will see that I'm putting in the work even when it's hard to... I would be upset for an hour and then reset, reach out to more coaches."
How she rebuilt her list
Piper's mom first reached out to me in late spring. In June, we built Piper a written Athlete Recruitment Plan around her four priorities: a Division I program where she could score, an exercise science path, a debt-free finish, and somewhere warmer than Pennsylvania. After the rule change, I emailed coaches at the programs that fit those priorities to find out who was still recruiting sprinters for 2027, and I introduced Piper to the ones who said yes.
The timing with Elon worked out well. Around the time Piper and I had our first call, I had spent some time with Mark Rinker, Elon's head cross country coach and an assistant track and field coach. He saw the fit and pointed her toward the sprints group.
Here is how Piper described that part of the process:
"Most of the connections that you had given me were the ones that I had an official visit for. And Elon was one of the connections that you had... You took in consideration my GPA, where I wanted to be, and how it would fit into kind of what I wanted."
By late summer, she was booking official visits for September and October, and that changed how the process felt.
"If I'm going on an official visit, I know that they're investing in me and they want me to be there..."
Why Elon
Piper visited Elon in September. Her hosts were Coach Rinker and Brian Szutkowski, who coaches the Elon women's sprinters. During his time there, Elon has won four CAA team titles, including the 2025 outdoor and 2026 indoor championships.
"Coach Rinker and Coach Brian were the two coaches that had taken me on my visit and they made it super personable and they really wanted to get to know me... My training was super similar to how he [Coach Szutkowski] trains his athletes."
She met the athletes on the team and came away with the feeling every recruit is looking for.
"[Elon] seemed to really understand that I was a person, not a number, and they wanted me to be part of this team. I felt like some other schools that I had been talking to didn't quite make me feel like that."
The academic side fit too. Piper liked that Elon's class schedule is set up to work with its athletes.
Piper did not commit on the spot. She had one more official visit booked and took it before deciding, which I encourage. A final visit gives you something to compare against, and it lets you commit with more confidence. She still came back to Elon.
The commitment
Piper told her parents first, then her personal coach, and then she called Coach Szutkowski to commit.
"He said like I made his Sunday and like it, he seemed very excited for me to be there, which is what I want from a coach. I don't want to be somewhere where I'm not wanted, but Coach Brian definitely expressed that he wants me there and he wants to make me better."
Then she texted me. That was a good Sunday for me too.
Piper's advice for recruits
I asked Piper what she would tell herself in January, before the hardest months of her recruitment.
"I would say it's definitely gonna be hard and you just gotta push through and you have to trust in your hard work and trust in your goals and you will get there. It just is not gonna look what you thought it would look like."
She had a practical tip too, and it comes with a story. On one of her other visits, another recruit spent the day on their phone.
"They were on their phone the entire time to the point where their phone died by noon. And then during lunch they scooted their chair over away from the table to an outlet and then charged their phone."
Her advice for your own visit:
"Definitely stay off your phone and be engaged the entire time. Ask questions... Kind of just act the way you do around your friends and family."
What's next
Piper has a senior season to finish first. She wants to defend both state titles, win the 4x100m relay after her team placed fourth last year, and help her school move up from third in the team standings.
"I do want to repeat my state champ title for the one and the two [hundred], but I would also like to have the four by one title."
Her time goals are the 11.7s or 11.8s in the 100m and the low 24s or better in the 200m. Indoors, she is aiming for the state meet in the 60m and 200m. At Elon, her first goal is to score points at the CAA championships. She might even race a few 4x400m legs too...
A personal note from Piper's recruitment advisor
Piper's recruitment had more turns than most. She had too little interest at the start, then a wave of coaches all at once, and then a rule change that took away the program she wanted most. Every time it changed, she gave herself an hour, then sent the next email. She kept training, kept asking questions, and made her decision with a clear head.
Congratulations, Piper. Elon is getting a driven sprinter and an academic achiever, but most importantly, a coachable, kind, respectful person who will become a top-tier teammate. Go win some more state titles first!
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To future track and field recruits and their families
We have free resources to help you get started:
- Create your free Streamline Athletes account and complete your profile to be contacted by college coaches.
- Learn how to build your college track and field target list.
- Read when to ask college coaches about scholarships.
- Parents: start with our parents' guide to college track and field recruiting.
- Read how Kai Jenney put academics first and chose Western.
