Kailer Jenney, who goes by Kai, is a few weeks into his first year at Western University. He is studying engineering with an Advanced Entry Opportunity (AEO) to the Ivey Business School, he holds a President's Entrance Scholarship, and he is training with the hurdles group of a Mustangs program that has won the last two U SPORTS men's team titles. To get there, he ran a recruiting search across two countries and ended up at the same track where his club trains.

I worked with Kai in a series of advising sessions over a period of about a year and a half. While Kai had great times on the track as a high schooler, what stood out most to me during our time together were two things he did differently from the majority of recruits: (1) he took his academics extremely seriously and (2) he analyzed his options deeply in accordance with the four buckets of recruiting.

Kai is a hurdler out of London, Ontario. He took bronze in the 400m hurdles at OFSAA in grade 11 (2025) and carried a 97.5% academic average into his final year of high school. When I met Kai, he was set on studying engineering, something he was not willing to trade for a track opportunity.

While the outcome at the end of a recruitment process is always a milestone to celebrate, Kai's approach is what makes his story worth sharing here on the Streamline Athletes blog. Recruiting content tends to focus almost entirely on athletic performance, which makes sense because fast times, big jumps, and far throws get coaches to open your email. The truth, however, is that the recruiting process goes way beyond your best official meet result and into areas that are harder for folks to cover in quick Reddit replies or with a standards calculator.

[If you're interested in learning more about how college track and field coaches analyze recruits past the first impression made by their athletic résumé, check out this article → What a D2 Head Coach Looks For in a Track and Field Recruit: Insight from Coach Taylor Cudequest at PennWest Edinboro.]

In Kai's case, his times started every conversation he had. His family's budget set the boundary around those conversations. His transcript, and his focus on what he'd like to accomplish with his future transcript, decided where he ended up.

Kai on the track and in the classroom

• 60m hurdles: 8.16 (39"/99.1cm) [2026]
• 110m hurdles: 13.94 (36"/91.4cm) [2026] and 14.36 (39"/99.1cm) [2026]
• 400m: 49.57 [2026]
• 400m hurdles: 54.07 [2025]
• Academics: 97.5% average heading into grade 12
• Scholarship: President's Entrance Scholarship through Western's National Scholarship Program

Why two 110m hurdles times? Canadian high school hurdlers race over lower barriers than the ones university coaches recruit for, and Kai had to sell a 36-inch time to coaches who needed to see him over 42. During his recruiting window, his best times were 14.19 over 36 inches and 14.82 over 39. We broke down every hurdle height from Canadian high school to the NCAA and U SPORTS, and what it means for your recruitment.

How he got here

Kai did not grow up planning to be a hurdler.

"COVID put a hold on hockey, but my Mom wanted me to stay active. I joined the London Legion Track and Field Club. From there, track grew on me, and later I decided to step back from AAA hockey to focus on high school sports and my hurdling."

He played AAA hockey for the London Junior Knights and balanced it with track until 2025, when he chose to focus on the hurdles full time. That was not the only thing on his plate. At 6'4", Kai also played volleyball and varsity hockey for Medway High School, served as president of its Student Athletic Association, sat on student council, and volunteered with the Coldest Night of the Year, the London Food Bank, and a children's toy drive. In whatever time was left, he was restoring a 1987 speed boat, engine to hull, and teaching himself piano, guitar, and 3D design software.

That list says a lot about the engineer. It also explains the student-athlete Western's coaches saw.

Why Western

Kai committed to and signed with Western, where he now competes for head coach Caroline Ehrhardt and hurdles coach Harry Stantsos. His President's Entrance Scholarship is an academic award that will make a meaningful difference to his family over the course of his degree.

Reflecting on his decision to become a Western Mustang, Kai described some of the key factors:

"The distance [from home], the academic programs available to me with Engineering and Ivey, and the opportunity to compete at a high level were all very important factors."

The coaching relationship was not an unknown for him.

"Harry and Caroline are both very approachable, kind, and compassionate, while being extremely committed to bettering their athletes. My club trained at the same track as Western, so I was able to see them in action and really liked their coaching style and the support they gave their athletes. Harry is also very knowledgeable about hurdling, and we know exactly what I need to work on."

Western sees the same fit from their side. Here is head coach Caroline Ehrhardt:

"What stood out about Kailer for us is his commitment to excellence across all domains. This is exactly the type of student-athlete we hope for on our team. On top of his athletic accomplishments, he is an incredible student and will be receiving the prestigious National Scholarship. Immediately upon meeting Kailer, I got the sense that he was a big team guy and will be a huge contributor for our team beyond what he is doing on the track. This holds just as much merit to us than what he is capable of results wise. We are always thrilled to retain local talent, and can't wait to see what Kailer can do on and off the track during his time in Purple."

On why Canadian athletes should consider a U SPORTS program, Ehrhardt added:

"As indicated by our success over the past few years, we are definitely a high-performing team that is hungry and determined to be one of the top programs in the nation. But the overall development piece is what is most important to us here at Western. We want to develop confident, resilient leaders and team players who will be ready for whatever life after sport looks like for them. I am so proud of the purpose-rich environment that we offer our student-athletes and what this culture and experience pulls out of them. We are big on who our student-athletes become, not just what our student-athletes achieve. It is this transformative experience that I believe really sets us apart."

The results back her up. Western swept the men's and women's U SPORTS team titles in 2025, and the men repeated as national champions in 2026, earning Ehrhardt the Bob Boucher Award as the top U SPORTS men's coach of the year. The articles below cover both seasons:

Vickie Croley’s Final Season Coaching Western Mustangs

After 32 years at the helm of the Western Mustangs track and field program, Head Coach Vickie Croley has announced she will step down in the summer of 2025.

Lucas CoreaStreamline Athletes

2026 U SPORTS Track & Field Championships | Partner Program Results

Several Streamline Athletes partner programs delivered strong results at the 2026 U SPORTS Track & Field Championships, including Western, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montréal, Manitoba, and UNB.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

What the American side of recruiting taught Kai

Opening up his post-secondary search, Kai cast a wide net across two countries. He spoke with American programs in multiple divisions and with U SPORTS programs at home in Canada, and he measured every one of them against the same four buckets. The two sides of that search behaved very differently.

On the American side, the men's hurdles are deep and the roster math has tightened. Roster limits and scholarship structure changed under the House settlement, and some of the doors on that side closed for reasons that had nothing to do with how fast Kai was. One program told me in November that it was not recruiting anyone for 2026 because its athletic department had capped the roster, and the coach was frustrated about it, because Kai was exactly the kind of recruit he would have wanted. Kai noticed the same pattern from his end.

"The US is highly competitive beyond Canadian standings. Being one of the top athletes in a province or even Canada doesn't necessarily mean you'll get offers, especially with the amount of talent in the States. It also surprised me how schools look at transfers from other universities through the transfer portal, not just first-year athletes."

He is right about the portal, and he is right about the rest of it. In June, I wrote an opinion piece for Athletics Illustrated called NCAA recruiting has been uprooted, and nobody told the families. The argument is that five years of rule changes, from NIL to the transfer portal to the House settlement, have handed the burden of understanding college recruiting to sixteen-year-olds and their parents. Canadians are playing a different game entirely, because to an American school they are international students who cost more than an in-state recruit, measured against more than a million American high school track athletes.

If you're curious about the NCAA's recent rule changes and how they've impacted track and field and cross country, the full explainer is here. It goes through each major change from 2021 through 2026.

Kai also carried a problem into those conversations that is specific to his event. Ontario high school hurdlers race the 110m hurdles over 36-inch barriers, university men race over 42, and one Division II coach told Kai's family outright that he could not even look at a 36-inch result. His 400m hurdles, already run at the university height, did most of the work instead, alongside his open 400m, his 60m hurdles, and his willingness to run relay legs. That versatility is the one big tip I give any high schooler who wants to be recruited, and the height problem is common enough that we gave it its own article on hurdle heights and how Canadian hurdlers should present their times to college coaches.

The family set a number early

The other thing Kai and his family did that most families do not is set a number early and say it out loud.

That number is where the two countries split. A non-resident at a US public university pays an average of $31,880 USD a year in tuition and fees before housing, food, or a flight home, and a Canadian is a non-resident everywhere. Kai had American coaches who wanted him on their roster. The scholarship math at those schools still could not get close to a domestic Ontario tuition bill. Carmyn James, Athletics Canada's NCAA Athlete Performance Advisor, made the point for me in the Athletics Illustrated piece that the exchange rate belongs in that math too. Kai's family had done it before anyone offered them anything.

The largest award Kai received in Canada had nothing to do with track. It was academic. In the US, athletic money in our sport is equivalency-based or budget-bound at most programs. This means that despite the "unlimited scholarship spending" now permitted by the NCAA, D1 coaches usually have a finite scholarship budget to split across a portion of their roster, while D2 coaches are capped by the NCAA at 12.6 full scholarships. On top of that, in most cases, Canadian students are subject to international tuition rates, so the scholarship funding they need compared to their in-state American counterparts is typically greater. Kai's times started conversations in both countries and could have earned him a spot in the US. His academic transcript is what made the biggest financial difference for his family and made Western stand above every other opportunity in front of him.

His grades were never a backup plan. His degree and career were the core we built his recruitment plan around from the start.

Here's Kai on his academic focus:

"I knew from the beginning that my grades needed to be high to even have the option to excel and get through such a hard program. At Western, I also really liked that they do an interview to get to know their candidates beyond just their grades, which I think is an important aspect of Engineering."

In hurdling, the lead leg goes over the barrier first and sets up everything that follows. Kai led with his academics from our first session, and his times followed them over. You need both, and he had both.

Kai's academics are the reason he had a decision to make at all. Academics is the first of the four buckets we work through with every athlete, and Kai is the clearest proof I have of why it sits in that position.

If your family is working out when to bring your own number into a conversation with a coach, here is how I advise athletes to handle the scholarship conversation, with input from two NCAA Division II head coaches.

The timeline was long on purpose

Kai committed to Western at the end of April of his senior year, which is later than most recruits. He afforded himself a longer timeline because of how he approached his process rather than a lack of direction. He stayed open to U SPORTS programs instead of limiting himself to American schools, which kept live options in front of him into the spring. He responded to coaches and to me quickly at every stage, and he submitted his university applications on time. His academics also put him in contention for an award significant enough that the coaches recruiting him understood why he needed an answer on it before he could give them one.

The proactive piece is the part I would underline for any family reading this. Kai built a target list and went to programs himself rather than hoping the right coach would come across his results. He first sat down with me in November of grade 11, and the plan from that meeting had two lines at the top: get the best average you can, and make your grade 11 season count, because those are the times coaches will recruit you on. He did both. Every extra month he had in the spring existed because of work he had done a year earlier.

It was not a straight line. Kai explored American options, took visits in Canada, and had other offers to weigh. By late March he had a shortlist of three. We scored them together on academics, athletics, finances, and location, and Western came out on top on the strength of the academic column.

What Kai would tell a younger athlete

I asked him what he would say to a 15- or 16-year-old who thinks recruiting is only about personal bests.

"Recruiting is highly based on PBs, but that is not the only aspect that coaches consider. The times start the conversation, but beyond that, there is a lot of chatting and getting to know each other before making a decision based on coaching style, the team, your work ethic, and overall fit."

That is a more accurate description of how this works than most of what gets written about recruiting, and it came from someone who finished the process this spring.

Year one

Before his first term started, I asked Kai what he was looking forward to at Western.

"I'm most excited for the integrated training program of on-track training and lifting. In the classroom, I'm excited for the dynamic learning environment and the connections I'll make with classmates and professors that I can build on throughout the upcoming years."

"I look forward to contributing to the team goal of qualifying for and winning the U SPORTS title. I thrive in competitive situations and know that the hurdle squad will push me to succeed in my training and competition. Building relationships and being a supportive teammate will continue to be a priority for me. I hope to continue with club track in the off season and look to better my hurdle races and maintain my Canadian ranking. I am open to exploring new events and opportunities that arise through my continued participation in Track and Field."

A personal note from Kai's recruitment advisor

Working with Kai over a year and a half, the thing that stood out was how little chasing I had to do. He answered emails, he did the work between calls, and he asked questions that told me he had already thought about the answer he was going to get. Coaches noticed the same thing, and Caroline's read on him matches mine exactly.

I ended the Athletics Illustrated article with something I tell most of the recruits I work with. There will be a day in your second winter when the holidays are over, the campus is frozen, the course you need for your degree is beating you up, and your hamstring is sore. That day arrives for every student-athlete at every school in every division. The ones who get through it did the homework first. They know why they chose what they chose, and they can sit on that bad day and say it is because school is hard and track is hard, not because they picked the wrong place. Kai did the homework. He will have that day in London like everyone does, and he will know exactly why he is there.

Congratulations, Kai. Western got a determined, dedicated, and talented athlete who will make their program better, a student who would have been an asset at any school, and most importantly, a person who, even in our limited time working together, has shown he's striving to be the best version of himself while lifting up those around him.

Kai's mom, Karen, left us a review after the process wrapped up:

To future track and field recruits and their families

We'd love to help you navigate your recruitment journey, too.

I offer 1:1 recruitment advising sessions based around the four buckets of recruitment: academics, athletics, financials, and location. You'll come with questions and leave with a personalized plan complete with recommended schools to contact using Streamline Athletes.

• Canadian athletes: book your advising session here and use promo code BM10 for 10% off your session.
• U.S. and international athletes: book your advising session here and use promo code BM10 for 10% off your session.

Additionally, we have a ton of free resources to help you get started:

• Create your free Streamline Athletes account and complete your profile to be contacted by college coaches.
• Hurdlers: learn how Canadian hurdle heights compare to the NCAA and U SPORTS, and how to present your times.
• Learn how to build your college track and field target list.
• Learn when to ask college coaches about scholarships.
• Read why you should consider a U SPORTS program.

The short answer

Canadian high school boys race their sprint hurdles over 36-inch (0.914 m) barriers in every province that publishes its specifications. American high school boys race over 39 inches, and NCAA and U SPORTS men race over 42. Canadian senior girls race over 30 inches in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, and over 33 in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick, the height American high school and NCAA women race. College coaches judge every recruit against the height they will race in college, so a Canadian's sprint hurdles time needs context before it means anything to them. Label every result with its height, race at the college height whenever you can, and lead with the events that need no translation.

One Ontario hurdler we advised ran 14.2 in the 110m hurdles in the summer of his grade 11 year. Six days earlier, in a U20 race, he ran 14.8. The second race was not a bad day. It was run over hurdles three inches taller.

His two times over two heights came up in almost every conversation he had with an American coach. One Division II coach told his family outright that he could not even look at a 36-inch result.

Here is what every Canadian hurdler and their parents should know about hurdle heights before the first conversation with a college coach.

Hurdle heights from Canadian high school to university

Heights change by age group, by province, and by country. The tables below cover the levels a Canadian recruit is most likely to race at, and the levels a college coach is recruiting for. Newfoundland and Labrador holds no hurdle events at its high school championship.

Sprint hurdles

Long hurdles (400mH and 300mH)

Sources: OFSAA, BC School Sports, ASAA championship results, SHSAA handbook, MHSAA championships, RSEQ rules, Athlétisme Québec hurdle heights, NBIAA handbook, School Sport Nova Scotia rules, NLAA school provincials, Athletics Canada event specifications, Athletics Canada Technical Rules, NFHS specifications, NCAA Track and Field Rules Book.

Why hurdle heights matter in recruiting

A college coach looking at a high school sprint hurdler is making a projection. The question is how fast you will run over the barriers you will race for their program, and every result you send them is evidence for or against that projection. The closer your results are to the college height, the less the coach has to guess.

An American high school boy races over 39 inches. His times sit one step below the 42 he will race in college, and every college coach in the country has years of experience reading 39-inch times. A Canadian high school boy races over 36. His times sit two steps below, and most American coaches have never had to evaluate a 36-inch time before. Some will try. Some, like that Division II coach, will not.

Canadian girls face the same gap on a smaller scale, depending on the province. A senior girl in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia or Saskatchewan races over 30 inches, and every NCAA program recruits her to race over 33. Girls in British Columbia, Manitoba and New Brunswick already race the 100m hurdles at the college height. Heptathlete Lily Stroda, now at Texas A&M, carried a 13.66 over 30 inches and a 13.90 over 33 inches into her recruitment, and her 33-inch time is the one run over the barrier she now races in the SEC.

There is no official conversion between hurdle heights, and it is not your job to make one. Stride pattern, height, and technique change how much a taller barrier costs each athlete, so any number you calculate is a guess the coach did not ask for. Report every result exactly as you ran it, label the height, and give the coach the rest of the picture.

How to present a time run over a lower barrier

Say your fastest 110m hurdles time is 14.2 over 36 inches and your fastest over 39 is 14.8. Both results are valid, but only the second one answers the question American coaches are asking. Take the 36-inch races off the top of your profile so the personal best coaches see first is a 39-inch time, and state plainly in your bio that you train over 39 inches year-round and are comfortable moving up to 42.

Then let your other events do the work. High school boys in Ontario and British Columbia race the 400m hurdles over 36 inches, the same barrier university men race, so a 400m hurdles time from those provinces needs no explanation at all. Your open 400m shows your flat speed, and an indoor 60m hurdles time shows where your sprint hurdling is heading. Coaches also ask about relays, so pitch yourself as a hurdler who can score in the sprints and on relay legs too.

The problem is solvable for every Canadian hurdler willing to plan around it. Kai Jenney, now a hurdler at Western University, did exactly that during his recruitment (read his full story). Here is how I put it to him on an October advising call:

"If the U.S. is a focus for you, then let's remove those 36s from your profile entirely, even if it moves your PR back slightly. What I'm hearing is that coaches aren't viewing your PR as a PR anyway. So all you're doing is adding time to the process on their end, and we don't want to do that. We'll use the bio and the highlight space to explain a little bit more about who Kai is and how confident he is with the higher hurdles."

Brett Montrose

Founder & Co-CEO | Recruitment Advisor, Streamline Athletes

Book an advising session with Brett

How to present your hurdle times to college coaches

1. Label the height on every result. A 14.2 with no height next to it will be read as a 39-inch or 42-inch time and judged against the wrong barrier. Your Streamline Athletes profile records the barrier height with each hurdle result, and the profiles we send to coaches show it beside every time. Put it in every email too.
2. Your Streamline Athletes standards match your barrier. A 110m hurdles time over 36 or 39 inches, or a 100m hurdles time over 30, is measured against standards for that height, so a 36-inch time is never judged against a 42-inch standard. Your time itself is never converted.
3. Put the right personal best first. The time at the top of your profile should be the one closest to the college height, even if a lower-barrier time is faster.
4. Race the college height when you can. Athletics Canada U20 competitions run the men's 110m hurdles over 39 inches and the women's 100m hurdles over 33. Indoor 60m hurdles at U20 and senior meets get you closer still. One result at the right height does more for your recruitment than three faster results at the wrong one.
5. Lead with the event that needs no translation. Boys who race the 400m hurdles in Ontario or British Columbia high school, or at U20, are already over the 36-inch barrier NCAA men race. Girls race the 400m hurdles over 30 inches at every level from U18 to the NCAA. Canadian U18 boys, and high school boys in Quebec and New Brunswick, race the 400m hurdles over 33 inches, so label those results too.
6. Show your flat speed and your relay value. Coaches recruiting a sprint hurdler also want to know what you can run in the 100m, 200m, or 400m, and whether you can fill a relay leg. Versatility is the one big tip I give any high schooler who wants to be recruited.
7. Say it in one sentence. A line in your bio saying you train over 39 inches year-round and are comfortable moving up to 42 answers the question before the coach has to ask it.

The U SPORTS difference

If you are weighing Canadian universities, the calendar changes the math. The U SPORTS national championship is held indoors in March, so the sprint hurdles race that counts at nationals is the 60m hurdles, run at senior heights. There is no 400m hurdles at U SPORTS nationals, and outdoor racing happens through club and Athletics Canada competition instead.

That can shape your choice. At a U SPORTS program, a hurdler gets an indoor varsity season over the 60m hurdles and an outdoor season with a club. If you are still deciding between the two systems, start with why you should consider a U SPORTS program and how athletic scholarships compare in Canada and the United States.

Frequently asked questions

What height are high school hurdles in Canada?

Senior boys race the sprint hurdles over 36 inches (0.914 m) in every province that publishes its specifications: over 110m in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and over 100m in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Senior girls race over 30 inches (0.762 m) in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, and over 33 inches (0.838 m) in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick. Alberta and Saskatchewan girls race an 80m hurdles instead of the 100m. Newfoundland and Labrador holds no hurdle events at its high school championship.

What height are high school hurdles in Ontario?

At OFSAA, senior boys race the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles over 36 inches (0.914 m). Senior girls race the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles over 30 inches (0.762 m). Junior and novice divisions race shorter hurdle distances, and some race over lower barriers.

What height are college hurdles?

NCAA men race the 110m hurdles and indoor 60m hurdles over 42 inches (1.067 m) and the 400m hurdles over 36 inches (0.914 m). NCAA women race the 100m hurdles and 60m hurdles over 33 inches (0.838 m) and the 400m hurdles over 30 inches (0.762 m).

Do college coaches convert 36-inch hurdle times?

There is no official conversion. Some coaches will estimate one, and some will not evaluate a 36-inch time at all. Report every result as you ran it, label the height, and get at least one result at a U20 or senior height as early as you can.

What height do American high school hurdlers race?

Under NFHS rules, American high school boys race the 110m hurdles over 39 inches (0.991 m) and the 300m hurdles over 36 inches. Girls race the 100m hurdles over 33 inches and the 300m hurdles over 30 inches.

Does U SPORTS hold an outdoor hurdles championship?

No. The U SPORTS national track and field championship is held indoors, so the 60m hurdles is the sprint hurdles event at nationals and the 400m hurdles is not contested. University athletes race outdoors through club and Athletics Canada competition.

Get your hurdle times in front of the right coaches

Every Canadian hurdler faces some version of this problem, and every version is solvable with a plan. In a 1:1 advising session, we'll look at your results at every height, decide which ones lead your profile, and build a list of programs where your times, grades, budget, and location fit.

• Canadian athletes: book your advising session here and use promo code BM10 for 10% off your session.
• U.S. and international athletes: book your advising session here and use promo code BM10 for 10% off your session.

Keep reading:

• The Lead Leg: How Kailer Jenney Put Academics First and Chose Western
• Canadian U18 Record Holder Lily Stroda Commits to Texas A&M University
• How to build your college track and field target list
• Track and field college recruitment standards: what performances do I need?
• NCAA roster size and scholarship changes in track and field

Updated September 2026

Yes. Athletes can contact college coaches from the Streamline Athletes app using the Contact Coach button, the trusted way to get in touch with college track and field coaches. Streamline Athletes does the groundwork: it checks your verified PRs against each program's standards, finds the coach who recruits your events, and puts your profile in the email. You add a note in your own words and press Send. The coach answers with one click. Essentials (free) includes one athlete-started conversation. Plus includes unlimited conversations, with up to five active at a time.

Key takeaways

• Streamline Athletes checks the standards for you. Contact Coach appears on programs where your verified performances meet the program's standards.
• It finds the right coach: the one who recruits your events.
• It sends your profile. Build it once, and every note carries it.
• You send the email, in your own words, right from the app, from "{Your name} via Streamline Athletes."
• Coaches answer with one click: Interested or Not a fit.
• Your email and phone number stay private until a coach clicks Interested.
• Follow-ups are on by default, and they stop the moment the coach responds.

How Contact Coach worked before, and how it works now

Contact Coach has been part of Streamline Athletes for years. Until September 2026, pressing it sent a request to our team. We reviewed your fit with the program, then wrote and sent the first email to the coach for you.

While that process sounds cumbersome, it allowed us to build relationships with collegiate coaches and thoroughly understand what every school looks for in their event groups, over time and across different event groups.

Now, we've relaunched our interface for athlete-to-coach contacting in order to give athletes more control and make sending your complete profile to a coach instantaneous, while maintaining the data-driven approach that coaches have come to know and trust over the past decade.

Streamline Athletes still does the groundwork. The fit check, the choice of coach, and your profile are all handled for you, now automatically in the app. We've updated recruiting standards for nearly every program athletes contacted in the past year, using standards directly from coaches, potential conference impact, and thousands of athlete-to-coach emails sent since 2017. What changed is the send: the email now comes from you, in your own words, right from the app.

What stayed the same: your verified profile, your Wishlist, and the Opportunities dashboard that tracks every conversation.

What Streamline Athletes handles for you

• The fit check. Every program on your Wishlist is checked against your verified PRs, using standards from coaches, potential conference impact, and thousands of athlete-to-coach emails sent since 2017. Where you're a fit, the program card shows Contact Coach. Where you're not a fit yet, the card says so.
• The coach. Your note goes to the coach at that program who recruits your events.
• Your profile. Your verified performances, college entry year, grades and where you're from go into every email automatically, with a link to your full verified profile.
• The follow-ups. Two polite follow-ups go in your name if the coach hasn't answered, and they stop the moment the coach responds.

You handle the part only you can write: why you want that school.

How to contact a coach from the Streamline Athletes app

1. Build your profile once. Add your verified performances, academics, and contact details.
2. Save programs to your Wishlist from Explore Programs. They appear under Opportunities > Wishlist.
3. Press Contact Coach on a program where you're a fit. A short screen opens: Contact {School}.
4. Finish the sentence "I'm interested in {School} because..." in your own words. The coach reads it as one full sentence.
5. Pick up to three verified PRs to lead with. They head the email and its subject line. The coach can see every verified performance on your profile, too.
6. Add anything else you'd like the coach to know (optional), such as your next race.
7. Check your follow-ups. They're on by default: if the coach doesn't answer, two polite follow-ups go in your name. Edit them or turn them off. They stop the moment the coach responds.
8. Press Send. The app confirms: "Sent to {School}'s coaches." Stuck on a step? Contacting a coach from your Wishlist covers the entry-year prompt, plan limits and the "We don't recommend" message.

If we don't yet hold a current email for a program's coach, your note is saved and sends automatically as soon as we do. The app lets you know when that's the case.

What the coach receives

Build your profile once. Every Contact Coach note carries your profile: your verified performances, college entry year, grades and where you're from, with a link to your full verified profile. The coach also reads your note in your own words, led by the up to three verified PRs you chose. Those PRs appear in the subject line too, for example "2027 Entry · 400m (55.84) interested in Wofford College." Your email and phone number stay private until the coach clicks Interested.

What happens after you press Send

Coaches answer with one click, right from the email.

• Interested. We send one email introducing you and the coach, with both sets of contact details. From there, you talk directly by email. The request shows as "Ongoing" under In Conversation.
• Not a fit. The program moves to Archived as "Coach Not Interested." The coach can tell us why, which helps us point you to programs that fit better.
• No answer. The request closes at the end of its countdown, and you get an email with next steps.

Every request shows where it stands in your Opportunities dashboard: Wishlist, In Conversation, or Archived.

Is my contact information private?

Yes. The coach sees your note and your verified profile. Your email address and phone number are shared only when the coach clicks Interested.

Who can use Contact Coach?

• Essentials (free): one athlete-started conversation. Programs recruiting on Streamline Athletes can still contact you an unlimited number of times.
• Plus: unlimited athlete-started conversations, with up to five active at a time. A closed request frees its slot for another program. Plus also shows each program's standards in your events.

To press Send, you need a complete profile: contact details, graduation details, citizenship, academics, and at least one verified performance. Your college entry year also has to be one coaches are still recruiting for. If yours is out of date, the app prompts you to update it before you send.

Where Contact Coach fits in your recruiting plan

Contact Coach is one of two ways conversations start on Streamline Athletes. The other is inbound: athletes who complete their profile to 100% hear from programs where they're an athletic, academic, and geographic fit on paper within 24 hours. Those requests appear under Requests in your Opportunities dashboard.

To decide which programs deserve a Contact Coach note, read How to Build a Target List and Email Coaches for Track & Field Recruitment. Once a coach clicks Interested and you're talking by email, How to Contact College Coaches and Maintain a Relationship has an email template and tips for keeping the conversation going.

Frequently asked questions

Can athletes contact coaches from the Streamline Athletes app?

Yes. Press Contact Coach on a Wishlist program where you're a fit, finish the sentence "I'm interested in {School} because..." in your own words, choose up to three verified PRs to lead with, and press Send. Your note goes by email to the coach who recruits your events, along with your verified profile.

Can I contact any program?

You can contact programs where you're a fit. The app checks your verified PRs against each program's standards. Where you're not a fit yet, the program card says so. Plus members can see each program's standards in their events.

Is Contact Coach free?

Essentials, the free account, includes one athlete-started conversation, and programs recruiting on Streamline Athletes can contact you an unlimited number of times. Plus includes unlimited athlete-started conversations, with up to five active at a time.

What does the coach receive?

Your note in your own words, the up to three verified PRs you chose to lead with, and your profile: verified performances, college entry year, grades, and where you're from, with a link to your full verified profile.

Do coaches see my email address and phone number?

Only after they click Interested.

What happens if a coach doesn't answer?

Follow-ups are on by default, so up to two polite follow-ups go in your name. If the coach still hasn't answered, the request closes at the end of its countdown and you get an email with next steps.

Can I message coaches inside the app?

Contact Coach sends your note by email. When a coach clicks Interested, we send one email introducing you both, and you talk directly by email from there.

Open your Wishlist and contact your first program.

• PRs get you onto a recruiting list. Habits, attitude, and coachability decide whether you stay on it.
• Coaches consider trajectory. A gap between your 60m and your 200m can read as potential rather than a red flag.
• Relay splits carry almost no weight in recruiting. Coaches evaluate fully automatic timed open marks because those compare fairly across every athlete.
• Your GPA is a recruiting stat. It opens scholarship money, clears eligibility, and tells a coach you are dependable.

I follow a lot of college coaches on Instagram. Coach Taylor Cudequest is a unique follow.

He is the head track and field coach at PennWest Edinboro (AKA Edinboro University) and he spends a good portion of his feed explaining, in public, how he decides whether to recruit somebody. He posts example athlete profiles with PRs and grades before giving his verdict. He calls out the things athletes do that quietly cost them offers. He tells parents what he notices when they sit in his office.

That kind of transparency is rare, and it is worth more to a high school athlete than most recruiting content you'll find online today. Below is what his content tells us about how a D2 coach evaluates recruits, organized by what you can do with it.

We featured Coach Cudequest last year as Edinboro started climbing: Coach Cudequest Leads Edinboro Track and Field's Division II Rise. Since taking over in 2024, his program has broken a pile of school records, crowned multiple PSAC champions, and produced NCAA All-Americans. He was a decathlete at Cal State Northridge and a USA U20 medalist before he started coaching.

Your PRs get you on the list. Your habits keep you there.

This is the through line in almost everything Coach Cudequest posts. Performance opens the door. Everything after that is about whether a coach wants to spend four years with you.

He lays out what he watches while evaluating a recruit:

"How you warm up. How you respond after a bad rep. How you communicate with teammates. How you compete when things aren't going your way. Whether you're coachable. How you treat people when nobody is watching."

Then the line that should stick with any recruit reading this:

"Your marks might get you on a recruiting list, but your habits, attitude, and character can determine whether you stay on it."

In a separate post he described knowing an athlete was different before they ever competed for him. They showed up early. They came prepared. They listened, asked questions, and took coaching. His summary: talent gets noticed, attitude gets recruited.

He has also been direct about how much weight character carries, calling it the most important factor in whether an athlete gets recruited. He watches how you conduct yourself and how you respond when a race or a conversation does not go your way. An athlete who says "great race" after losing one, or who is a good teammate on a day when nothing is working, is telling him something useful. None of that shows up on a results page, and all of it is visible at a meet.

What to do with this: assume you are being watched during warm-ups, between attempts, and after a bad race. Coaches attend meets to see athletes compete, and the parts of a meet that are not the race tell them things the results don't. When you meet with a college coach, attend a campus visit, or post on social media, know that how you carry yourself matters.

For more on how coaches turn results into a recruiting board, see How Data and Results Drive Track and Field Recruiting.

"Would I recruit this athlete?"

A highly informative part of Coach Cudequest's content is that he publishes his decision-making process. He shares an example profile with numbers attached and provides his answer with reasoning. Three of these posts are worth walking through, because together they highlight that performance data is the beginning of the evaluation rather than the end of it.

View this post on Instagram

The high jumper with bad mechanics

The example athlete is 6'7" with a 6'9" personal best, and by Coach Cudequest's own description, has an extremely awkward approach. His verdict was yes, without hesitation. Clearing 6'9" consistently proves something he says he cannot teach, which is knowing how to compete and get over the bar. Mechanics are fixable. His framing:

"Results get my attention. Potential gets me interested. Coachability gets you recruited."

View this post on Instagram

The sprinter whose times don't line up

What if a sprint recruit has an outstanding 60m, but 100m and 200m times that aren't as fast as you'd expect them to be? Cudequest noted that a lot of coaches would pass. He would recruit her, because an elite 60m tells him the speed is already there and the rest is a coaching problem. His line was that he is not recruiting a spreadsheet.

This one matters if your event group has an obvious hole in it. A mismatch across your distances is information, and depending on which end is strong, it can point toward upside rather than a limitation.

View this post on Instagram

The two-time transfer

This profile had everything on paper: top five in the conference, a big personal best improvement, a 3.6 GPA, and two-time all-conference. But, the example athlete only had two years of eligibility remaining, a strong social media presence, and two previous transfers.

He called it the kind of transfer that makes coaches earn their paycheck and asked whether the athlete could fit the culture. He left the question open, but it's clear that he sees limited eligibility, a pattern of leaving, and a heavy public profile stack up into meaningful risk even when the talent is obvious.

What these three have in common

Cudequest evaluates trajectory and fit, not just the PR. Two athletes with identical personal bests can be worth very different things to a program depending on how they got there and where they are heading.

If you want help reading where your personal bests place you against a specific program, The Conference-Impact Lens walks through it, and our recruitment standards guide covers the benchmarks by division.

Your relay split is not getting you recruited

I see this one all the time. Athletes submit relay splits to their Streamline Athletes profile and question why their times get invalidated. My answer is that coaches do not make recruiting decisions, or even initial athletic evaluations, based on relay split data.

View this post on Instagram

Coaches discount relay splits because splits are not standardized. Coach Cudequest lists four reasons:

What coaches use instead is fully automatic timed open marks, because those compare cleanly against every other recruit in the country. His conclusion:

"Relay splits can support your story. Open times get you recruited."

What to do with this: if your best time this season came off a relay leg, it is worth including as context, but it will not carry your recruiting profile. Get open marks in the 100m, 200m, 400m, or 800m on the board.

What a coach needs in front of them

Coach Cudequest's most-pinned post is a complaint, and it is the most practical thing on his page. Athletes message him without marks attached and without a link to a MileSplit or Athletic.net profile, which leaves him doing detective work before he can even decide whether you are worth a conversation.

The five things Coach Cudequest asks for:

1. Your name
2. What school you go to and who you are
3. What interests you about the program
4. Your personal bests
5. Your intended major

Look at that list: name, school, why this program, marks, major. He is describing a recruiting profile. What frustrates him is that the information usually arrives in pieces, or not at all.

This is one of the problems we built Streamline Athletes to solve. PennWest Edinboro is one of the programs recruiting on the platform. Their staff sees complete athlete profiles, and they reach out to athletes who fit what they are recruiting. That outreach lands in the athlete's Opportunities dashboard.

The athlete decides what happens next. Hit Yes, and the program receives your name, your contact information, and a direct introduction. Athletes with a complete profile who meet a program's criteria will hear from coaches within 24 hours.

The work is the same either way. Coach Cudequest needs your marks, your academics, and a reason you are interested in Edinboro. A complete profile puts all of it in front of him at once, and it does the same for every other program recruiting your event.

Two more things that cost recruits offers

Bringing up money too early

Coach Cudequest has said plainly that opening a first call with scholarship questions sets the wrong tone, because it tells a coach that money is the only thing you are evaluating. What he wants instead is evidence you researched the program, and questions that prove it.

He attaches a second condition that most athletes miss: do not ask about scholarship money if your grades are not where they need to be. The academics come first, and a coach working out what they can offer you is looking at your transcript while they do it.

Matt Morris, head track and field coach at Colorado State University Pueblo, described the same problem when we asked him about it. Scholarship budgets are limited, so coaches need to know a recruit before they can put exact numbers on the table. We covered the timing question in full in When to Ask College Coaches About Scholarships, including what to share about your family’s budget and when.

Worth knowing what to ask instead: our guide to what to ask college coaches covers the questions that move a recruiting conversation forward. And before any of those conversations happen, you need a list of programs to engage with. How to Build a Target List and Email Coaches for Track & Field Recruitment covers how to decide which programs belong on your list.

Going quiet

Coach Cudequest described athletes who engage, express interest, and then disappear. His response is worth quoting because most athletes assume the opposite:

"If you aren't [interested], LET US KNOW! It does not hurt our feelings, it makes our lives easier because we can move on to the next person."

Withdrawing politely costs you nothing and leaves the door open. Ghosting a coach closes it. He has also pointed out that coaches disengage from athletes who are obviously shopping every option without ever narrowing down. If you need a structure for staying in touch, see How to Follow Up With College Coaches and Keep the Conversation Going.

On a visit, the small things break ties

He shared a story about a recruit who wore another school's shirt on an official visit. It cost them the opportunity.

That sounds harsh until you consider what a visit is. A coach is deciding whether to invest years of coaching and a portion of a limited budget in you. Every signal counts, including the ones you did not think were signals.

His guidance for visits:

• Wear neutral clothing or the host school's colors
• Be present and engaged rather than along for the ride
• Send a handwritten thank-you note afterward, or a specific email within 24 to 48 hours

On the thank-you note, he was clear that it will not earn a scholarship on its own. It breaks ties. When a coach is choosing between athletes with similar marks, the impression you left does the deciding.

He has also described what happens in his office when a recruit and their parents sit down, and it covers more ground than most families expect: culture, academics, expectations, development, family, and whether the program is genuinely the right place. Sometimes an offer comes out of it. Sometimes the honest answer is that it is not a fit, which he treats as a good outcome rather than a failure.

For how visits differ across associations, see Official and Unofficial Recruiting Visits.

Parents: let your athlete answer

This one is short and worth reading twice.

"If a coach asks your athlete a question and a parent answers first, it's a missed opportunity for the athlete to make an impression."

Coaches are evaluating maturity, communication, and confidence alongside athletic ability, because they are deciding whether this person can represent their program for four years. Every question a parent fields is a data point the coach does not get.

His framing: parents guide, athletes lead. More on where parents add the most value in How can parents and guardians help their athlete in college recruitment?

GPA and social media are both recruiting stats

Your transcript

Coach Cudequest calls the belief that coaches only care about athletic performance one of the biggest recruiting myths, and he has watched talented athletes lose opportunities over grades. A strong GPA opens scholarship money, clears academic eligibility, and gives a coach confidence you will still be enrolled in year three. We covered how coaches read academic fit in How College Track Coaches Evaluate Academic Fit.

Your social media profiles

Coaches check social media before making an offer. His advice avoids the usual scolding, and the standard he sets is useful: your profile should show work ethic, character, and investment in your sport, and it should contain nothing that raises a question a coach has to ask about. Follower count is irrelevant. Notice too that a strong social media presence appeared on the transfer profile above as a neutral-to-negative factor, which is a reminder that visibility cuts both ways depending on context.

FAQ

What do D2 track and field coaches look for in recruits?

Marks that fit the program's scoring range, then trajectory, coachability, character, and academic reliability. Coach Taylor Cudequest of PennWest Edinboro describes marks as what gets an athlete onto a recruiting list, with habits and attitude determining whether they stay on it.

Do college coaches care about relay splits?

Not much. Relay splits are not standardized, because rolling starts, handoff position, timing accuracy, and the strength of the field all affect the time. Coaches evaluate fully automatic timed open results so they can compare recruits fairly and accurately.

Does GPA matter for track and field recruiting?

Yes. GPA affects academic eligibility, opens access to scholarship money, and signals dependability to a coach. Coaches have passed on athletes with strong marks over academic concerns.

Do college coaches look at your social media?

Yes. Coaches commonly check an athlete's profiles before extending an offer. They are looking for work ethic and character, and for anything that raises a concern.

What should I include in my first message to a college coach?

Coaches need to know your name, your school, what interests you about that specific program, your personal bests, and your intended major. If you're communicating with coaches via Streamline Athletes, whether the coach contacted you or you hit the "Contact Coach" button, your complete Streamline Athletes profile carries most of this information, so your first email to the coach can look a little different. We commonly recommend specifying why you're interested in the program and/or school, sharing your availability for a call, and always confirming the next steps in the process.

What should I wear on an official visit?

Coach Cudequest at PennWest Edinboro recommends neutral clothing or the host school's colors. Wearing another school's gear on a visit sends the wrong message and has cost recruits opportunities. Streamline Athletes recommends smart casual or athletic gear, as long as it's not apparel you collected from another visit.

How do coaches evaluate transfers?

Talent and results matter, and so does the pattern behind them. Remaining eligibility, the number of previous transfers, and the reasons for leaving all factor in. A strong résumé with multiple transfers attached reads as risk, because the coach is betting on a cultural fit that has not held elsewhere.

Follow Coach Cudequest

He posts recruiting content regularly at @cudequesttaylor. If you are being recruited or about to be, it is one of the better free resources available, and it comes from someone currently making these decisions.

Be recruited by Coach Cudequest and PennWest Edinboro

• Create your free Streamline Athletes account.
• Complete your profile to 100%.
• Receive a request from the coaching staff at PennWest Edinboro and any other programs for which you are an athletic, academic, and geographic fit on paper within 24 hours.

There are eight open ACT test centres in Canada, spread across five provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Four of the eight are in the Greater Toronto Area. There are no ACT test centres in Quebec, anywhere in Atlantic Canada, or in the territories. Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax have none.

ACT does not publish this list anywhere public. To see it, you have to create an account at my.act.org and begin a registration. We did that so you don't have to.

A ninth Mississauga listing appears in the registration flow marked as closed. It is a second entry for the same operator, so the count of active locations is eight.

Why the Canadian list looks so random

ACT test centres are host sites that apply to run the exam. There is no national plan behind the map, which is why a town of 3,500 people in southern Alberta has a centre and Calgary does not.

The Canadian list breaks down into three groups. Four are private academies clustered in the Greater Toronto Area, several of which serve international student populations already writing US admissions tests. Two are commercial testing services that administer exams as a business. The remaining three are schools in smaller communities, including Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, a boarding school better known to our readers as a hockey and athletics program.

The practical takeaway: if you live outside the GTA, expect to travel. An athlete in Halifax or Montreal is looking at a flight or a long drive.

What this list does not tell you

Three limits worth knowing before you plan around it.

• Availability changes by test date. This is the country-level roster of registered centres. Each site sets its own dates and capacity, so not every centre offers every national test date. You will not see specific dates until you select a centre in the registration flow.
• Adding optional sections may shorten the list. This list was pulled without requesting the optional Writing or Science sections. If a school you are applying to wants either one, check whether your nearest centre offers it.
• Format is not shown up front. ACT's registration flow does not indicate paper or computer-based testing at the centre selection stage. Confirm with the centre directly if it matters to you.

Do Canadian athletes even need the ACT?

For NCAA eligibility, no. The NCAA permanently removed standardized test scores from Division I and Division II initial-eligibility requirements at its January 2023 Convention, effective from the 2023-24 academic year. Eligibility now runs on core-course GPA: 2.3 across 16 core courses for D1, 2.2 for D2. Division III sets its own standards at the institution level.

Admissions is a separate gate. The NCAA clearing you academically does not mean a school's admissions office will. Several selective US universities reinstated testing requirements after the pandemic-era test-optional wave, and test scores still drive academic scholarship money at plenty of schools that do not require them. That money matters in track and field and cross country, where athletic aid is split across large rosters.

So the question is not whether the NCAA wants a score. It is whether the specific schools on your list want one. Check each school's admissions page before you book a test.

For the full picture on how the SAT and ACT fit into recruiting, including which test to take and how scores factor into academic money, read our guide to the SAT and ACT for student-athletes.

If no ACT centre works, look at the SAT

The SAT is administered at considerably more locations across Canada than the ACT, including in provinces where the ACT has no presence at all. It is also fully digital now, which changes how test days are scheduled. US universities accept either test and none require both.

If travel is the deciding factor rather than test format, run a College Board test centre search for your area before committing to an ACT date.

Frequently asked questions

How many ACT test centres are there in Canada?

Eight open test centres across five provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Ontario holds four of the eight, all within the Greater Toronto Area.

Can you take the ACT in Quebec or Atlantic Canada?

No. There are no ACT test centres in Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, or any of the three territories. Athletes in those regions need to travel to another province or take the SAT instead.

Why is the list of ACT test centres in Canada so hard to find?

ACT does not publish its Canadian centre list on a public page. The only way to see it is to create an account at my.act.org and start a registration, at which point the country-level list appears as a dropdown.

Do I need an ACT score to be eligible for NCAA track and field?

No. The NCAA removed standardized test scores from Division I and Division II initial-eligibility requirements in 2023. Eligibility is based on core-course GPA and course completion. Individual universities may still require a score for admission, which is a separate decision from NCAA eligibility.

Is it easier to take the SAT than the ACT in Canada?

In terms of access, yes. The SAT has substantially more Canadian test locations, including in provinces with no ACT centre. US universities accept either test, so location is a legitimate reason to choose one over the other.

Test centre list last verified August 2026, pulled from the my.act.org registration flow at the country level. Centres open and close without notice. Confirm current availability directly through your ACT account before making travel plans.

Navigating standardized tests: A guide to the SAT and ACT for student-athletes

Although the landscape of standardized testing has changed greatly, with many universities providing the choice for students to go “test optional” when applying, writing a test can enhance a student’s chance of getting into competitive universities.

Lucas CoreaStreamline Athletes

TL;DR

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Don't open your first message to a college coach with a scholarship ask. Share your family's budget context early, let the scholarship conversation start once there's mutual interest, and expect exact numbers only after a coach knows you, often after a visit. Coaches read a money-first opener as a sign that their scholarship budget is the only thing that matters to you.

I see this all the time at Streamline Athletes:

• A coach sends an athlete an interest request through the platform.
• The program has reviewed the athlete's verified marks and academics, and they want to talk.
• The athlete writes back within the hour, and the entire message reads: "Hi coach, what scholarship opportunities are available?"

That athlete was in a great spot, but they just weakened their position.

The coach initiated, which means the athletic and academic fit was already established, but the first thing the coach learned about the athlete as a person is that the conversation starts with money.

I advise athletes and families on this constantly. The scholarship question is important and it needs to be answered. The timing is what athletes and their families get wrong.

Why a Scholarship Ask Shouldn't Be Your Opening Message

College coaches expect to be asked about scholarships. Every serious recruiting conversation gets there eventually. What they don't want is to be asked before anything else.

Consider what a money-first opener tells a coach. They reached out because your athletic results and grades fit their program. You replied without mentioning the program, the school, your goals, or a single question about the team. From the coach's point of view, you're not really interested in their program, but only what percentage of their athletic scholarship budget you're worth (which they can't know yet because they haven't met you).

Coaches talk to a large volume of recruits every cycle while dividing a limited scholarship budget across an entire class. A recruit who leads with the program and gets to money at the right time is easier to invest in, and coaches notice the difference immediately.

"I do appreciate knowing about a family's budget early on. But with limits on how many athletic scholarship dollars we can give out each year, we need to get to know recruits before we're able to offer exact amounts."

Matt Morris

Head Men's & Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Coach · Colorado State University Pueblo

Coach Taylor Cudequest, head track and field coach at PennWest Edinboro, made the same point to his own followers from the other end of the PSAC.

"Talking about scholarship on the first call with a coach sets the wrong tone. It tells coaches that all you care about is money, and that is not the kind of athlete we are looking for."

Taylor Cudequest

Head Track & Field Coach · PennWest Edinboro

Coach Cudequest attaches one more condition that athletes rarely hear: do not raise the scholarship question at all if your grades are not where they need to be. The academics come first, and a coach working out what they can offer you is reading your transcript while they do it. We covered more of how he evaluates recruits in What a D2 Head Coach Looks For in a Track and Field Recruit.

When to Ask College Coaches About Scholarships

The money conversation has three parts. Each has its own timing.

1. Share budget context early

Your family's financial picture belongs in the conversation from the start. There's a difference between context and an ask. "I'm looking for an opportunity that could work with my budget of [$XX,XXX] per year" is context that coaches value early in the recruiting process because it tells them whether their school can work for your family.

Some of the strongest financial outcomes stack athletic aid with academic scholarships and need-based aid. A coach who understands your situation can point you toward all three.

"I do appreciate knowing about a family's budget early on. But with limits on how many athletic scholarship dollars we can give out each year, we need to get to know recruits before we're able to offer exact amounts."

Matt Morris

Head Men's & Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Coach · Colorado State University Pueblo

2. Ask about scholarship structure once there's mutual interest

Once you and a coach are in a genuine dialogue, on a call or trading emails about fit, questions about how the program handles scholarships are normal and expected. How does aid typically work for incoming athletes in my event group? Does academic money stack with athletic money at your school? These are fit questions, and coaches respect recruits who raise them at this stage.

There's one version of this question I recommend to almost every athlete I advise: ask about academic scholarships for someone with your GPA studying your intended major. Many student-athletes assume they wouldn't qualify for academic awards. A lot of them do. The question also does double work. It shows the coach you're thinking about your own budget and opens the conversation about your total financial package, and it does so without asking the coach to commit any of the athletic scholarship dollars they have to manage themselves. Academic aid comes out of a different pot, which makes it an easy question for a coach to help with early.

3. Expect exact numbers late, often after a visit

Specific dollar amounts come last, and there's a practical reason for it. A coach is dividing a limited scholarship budget across a full recruiting class, and the amounts depend on who commits, who visits, and how the roster comes together. Most programs won't put a number in front of you until they know you.

"We don't even talk to most kids about scholarships until after they come for a visit."

Matt Morris

Head Men's & Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Coach · Colorado State University Pueblo

How to Get the Scholarship Conversation Started Organically

Whether a coach reaches out to you or you contact a program through Plus, your first message should do three things:

• Share why you're interested in the team and the university, specifically. Name specific reasons that demonstrate you've taken at least a few minutes to do some basic research. "I'm really excited about the political science program and your history of developing women's long jumpers" is so much better than "I love your school."
• Offer your availability for a call, with specific days and times the coach can say yes to. Make your email the easiest one for a coach to respond to.
• Briefly cover your athletic goals, your academic goals, and your budget.

That last point is where budget context lives: one line, near the end, framed as part of who you are as a recruit. Do that and the scholarship conversation tends to open on its own, usually because the coach raises it.

For what a strong first reply looks like line by line, read our guide to following up with college coaches. For deciding which programs to contact in the first place, start with building your target list.

One more piece of context before you raise money at all: athletic scholarship rules differ by association. NCAA D3 programs don't offer athletic scholarships, U SPORTS schools in Canada offer Athletic Financial Awards with their own limits, and NCAA D1 scholarship rules changed under the House settlement. Our recruitment standards guide breaks down the tiers, and our D1 roster and scholarship changes article covers the new D1 rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it rude to ask a college coach about scholarships?

No. Coaches expect the money conversation, and every serious recruitment gets there. What matters is timing and framing. A scholarship ask as your opening message signals that money leads your interest in the program. The same question raised once there's mutual interest is normal, and coaches respect it.

Should I tell college coaches about my budget?

Yes, briefly and early. Budget context helps a coach figure out whether their school can work for your family, and it lets them point you toward aid that stacks, including academic scholarships and need-based aid. Context is welcome early. A request for numbers is not.

When do coaches give exact scholarship numbers?

Usually after they know you. Coaches divide a limited scholarship budget across an entire recruiting class, so specific amounts depend on visits, conversations, and how the roster comes together. Many programs wait until after a recruit visits campus to discuss exact figures.

Should I ask college coaches about academic scholarships?

Yes, and you can raise it earlier than athletic money. Ask what academic awards someone with your GPA and intended major might qualify for. Many student-athletes qualify for academic aid without realizing it, and the question shows a coach you're thinking about your full financial package without asking them to commit athletic scholarship dollars, which come out of a budget the coach manages directly.

Do all college track and field programs offer athletic scholarships?

No. NCAA D1 and D2, NAIA, and NJCAA Division I and II programs can offer athletic scholarships. NCAA D3 programs offer academic and need-based aid only. U SPORTS schools in Canada offer Athletic Financial Awards with their own limits. Performance expectations differ across these tiers as well; our recruitment standards guide breaks them down.

TL;DR: College track and field coaches identify recruits through performances first, then check grades immediately after, because your academics decide whether an opportunity exists at all. Grades tell a coach two things: whether you can get admitted without risk, and how much of your education can be funded without spending athletic scholarship budget. In an equivalency sport like track and field, academic money often exceeds athletic money. Show your fit by putting your GPA, transcript, and intended field of study on your recruiting profile next to your verified performances, so a coach can evaluate the full picture in one place.

Why do college track coaches care about your academics?

A coach evaluating a recruit is managing risks. The first risk is athletic: will this athlete develop and score points? The second is administrative: will this athlete clear admissions, stay eligible, and fit within a limited scholarship budget? Strong PRs answer the first question. Your grades (or academic marks) answer the second, and coaches will not spend a recruiting cycle on an athlete who might not get into their university.

Track and field is an equivalency sport in NCAA D1, D2, and the NAIA, which means coaches can divide scholarship money across the roster however they choose. Full rides exist, but most offers are partial, and every recruit is a funding decision. An athlete whose grades unlock academic merit aid costs less athletic budget, which makes that athlete easier to recruit. This is why coaches ask about your GPA in the first conversation. It is not small talk.

Coaches identify recruits through performances first: results, rankings, PRs. Grades come immediately after, because the answer determines whether an opportunity exists at all. From there, the conversation is budget fit and intangibles. A recruit whose grades are a question mark is a gamble, and coaches recruit more athletes than they sign. When two recruits are at a similar performance level, the stronger student usually gets the roster spot.

Coaches say it plainly too. PennWest Edinboro head coach Taylor Cudequest calls the belief that coaches only care about athletic performance one of the biggest recruiting myths, and he has watched talented athletes lose opportunities over grades. More on how he evaluates recruits in What a D2 Head Coach Looks For in a Track and Field Recruit.

How do college coaches evaluate academic fit?

Coaches are not comparing you against NCAA minimums. They are comparing you against their school's admission profile. The NCAA's core-course GPA floors of 2.3 for D1 and 2.2 for D2 keep you eligible, but most programs admit well above those numbers, and competitive recruits tend to sit in the 2.8 to 3.5+ range. Some coaches hold a hard 3.0 cutoff regardless of how strong the athlete is, so a low GPA can end a conversation your performances started. The full breakdown of eligibility standards, registration steps, and approved core courses lives in our guide to the NCAA and NAIA eligibility centers.

Beyond the GPA number, coaches look at three things.

1. Course rigor
   A 3.4 built on university-preparation courses reads differently than a 3.4 built on the easiest available schedule. Coaches at academically selective programs know the difference because their admissions offices do.
2. Major fit
   If you plan to study engineering, nursing, business, or certain other fields, admission often runs through the faculty or program, not just the university. Those programs carry their own prerequisites. A coach cannot recruit you into a major you cannot get into.
3. Trajectory
   An upward grade trend through grade 11 and 12 reads as maturity. Coaches sign people for four or five years. Evidence that you handle increasing academic load while training and competing is part of your case.

Strong academics can move borderline athletic cases. A coach with one roster spot and two athletes at similar performance levels will take the one who clears admissions cleanly and brings merit aid to the table. Your grades can win you a spot your PRs alone would not.

How do you show academic fit on your recruiting profile?

Coaches act on complete information. A Streamline Athletes profile that shows your verified track and field performances next to your academics lets a coach evaluate athletic and academic fit in one review instead of chasing you for documents weeks later.

Here are three steps to take when completing or updating the Academic Information section of your Streamline Athletes profile:

Step 1 - Add your GPA or average
Enter your GPA or percentage average in the Academic Information section of your profile. This is the single number coaches filter on first.

Step 2 - Upload your transcript or report card
A recent transcript or report card backs the number and shows course rigor. Documents you upload stay private and are shared only with coaches you choose to correspond with. Coaches trust documents over self-reported figures, and a documented GPA lets a coach evaluate your academic fit in the same pass as your performances. Add or edit a previously entered academic year ("performance"), then scroll down to the Upload Attachment card to attach supporting documentation.

Step 3 - Add your desired field of study
Your intended major shapes which schools and faculties are a match, and it tells a coach whether their institution can offer what you want. If you are undecided, say so; that is still useful information. When editing your Streamline Athletes profile, scroll down to the bottom of the Academic Information section to find the "Desired Field of Study" section. Add more than one academic area if multiple fields apply.

One rule sits above all three steps: report your grades accurately. Coaches use your self-reported GPA to decide whether an opportunity could exist before they invest time and energy into recruiting you. An inflated number will be exposed the moment you share your transcript. Padding the number wastes everyone's time, yours included.

How do international grades convert to a US GPA?

If you were educated outside the United States, your grades do not need to arrive pre-converted. Report them accurately in the scale your school uses and upload the documents behind them. Canadian athletes can enter their percentage average on their Streamline Athletes profile as is; coaches recruiting across the border work with percentages all the time, and the Eligibility Center handles the official conversion. Where a rough conversion earns its keep is targeting. If a US program you want holds a cutoff on the 4.0 scale, knowing approximately where your average lands tells you whether that school deserves your recruiting time or whether it belongs on a longer-shot tier of your target list.

Two warnings before the numbers:

• First, these are approximate equivalencies for planning. Grading scales vary by school, district, province, and exam board, and no single conversion chart is official.
• Second, the NCAA Eligibility Center runs its own country-specific conversions, published in the NCAA Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility. Its core-course GPA is calculated unweighted from approved core courses only. Your transcript GPA and your NCAA GPA are two different numbers, and the Eligibility Center's is the one that decides eligibility.

How does academic money work across divisions and associations?

Athletic scholarships get the attention, but in track and field, academic money frequently does more of the work. How the two interact depends on where you compete.

In NCAA D1 and D2, partial athletic aid combined with academic merit scholarships is a normal recruit package, and full rides go to the athletes a coach prioritizes most. Nearly all D1 programs have opted into the House settlement structure, which replaced sport-by-sport scholarship caps with roster limits and changed how coaches budget their classes. We cover those changes in detail in our breakdown of the NCAA roster and scholarship changes. The practical takeaway does not change: an athlete who brings academic money to the table is easier to fund.

In NCAA D3 there is no athletic aid at all, so your grades are your scholarship. D3 programs recruit hard, and the money conversation is a conversation about your transcript.

In the NAIA, athletic scholarships can stack with institutional and academic aid with fewer restrictions, so a strong student often assembles a larger total package at an NAIA school than a comparable partial offer elsewhere.

In U SPORTS, athletic financial awards are capped at tuition and compulsory fees, and the money story is grades-first in a different way. U SPORTS removed its national rule requiring an 80% entering average to receive an athletic financial award, effective 2024-25, though individual conferences and schools can still apply stricter award criteria, so confirm the rules at each school on your list. Separately, many Canadian universities award entrance scholarships automatically based on your admission average. For a strong student, that automatic academic money can rival or exceed anything athletic on the table.

"There are far more academic scholarship dollars available than athletic — so grades, grades, grades."

Jason Reindl

Head Coach, Track & Field / Cross Country · University of Saskatchewan

How do coaches use ACT and SAT test scores when they evaluate you?

The NCAA stopped requiring test scores for Division I and Division II eligibility in 2023. Scores still matter at some schools, and not for eligibility reasons. At most programs nobody will ask. At academically selective ones, your score can decide whether a coach keeps recruiting you.

Coaches do not make admissions decisions. At a school where admissions is competitive independent of athletics, a coach has a limited number of slots to spend and cannot afford to waste one on a recruit who gets rejected. Highly selective private universities and academically demanding Division III programs are the clearest examples. You will know you are talking to one of them because the coach asks about your score early, or at least checks that you are registered for a test.

Even at those schools, most programs publish guidelines rather than hard cutoffs. Coaches weigh academic commitment alongside growth potential, character and work ethic. A score a little below a published guideline does not usually end the conversation. A score well below it does.

Scores also affect academic scholarship money, and that matters more in track and field and cross country than in most sports. Athletic aid gets split across a large roster, so academic awards often make up a bigger share of an offer than athletic money does. Raising a test score can be worth more to your final cost than shaving a tenth off a personal best.

Ask early. Coaches will tell you what their program needs academically if you ask them directly. If you are deciding between the two tests, our guide to the SAT and ACT covers the differences. If you are in Canada, check where you can take the ACT before booking a date, because there are only eight test centres in the country.

What should you say to a coach about your academics?

When you express interest in a program, mention your GPA or average and your intended field of study alongside your primary events and PRs. That is the information a coach needs to run your name past admissions and to start thinking about a funding package.

If your grades are a weakness, address it rather than hiding it. An honest note about an upward trend, a course correction, or a plan to retake a class reads far better than a surprise on the transcript later. Coaches have seen every version of this and they value recruits who manage it directly.

For the full playbook on building your school list and starting coach conversations the right way, start with our guide to building a target list.

FAQ

What GPA do college track coaches want to see?

There is no universal number, but competitive NCAA recruits usually fall in the 2.8 to 3.5+ range, well above the NCAA's eligibility floors of 2.3 for D1 and 2.2 for D2. Some coaches hold a 3.0 minimum regardless of performance level. Coaches evaluate your GPA against their school's admission profile, and higher grades unlock academic merit aid that makes you easier to fund.

Can strong academics make up for weaker performances in recruiting?

Often, yes, at the margins. Coaches choosing between athletes at similar performance levels usually take the stronger student because they clear admissions cleanly and bring academic aid that preserves athletic budget. Grades will not replace performance standards, but they regularly decide borderline cases.

How do recruitment platforms combine academic and athletic profiles?

Streamline Athletes puts verified performances and academic information in one profile. Athletes add their GPA or average, upload a transcript, and list their intended field of study alongside athletic performances verified against official meet results. Coaches evaluate athletic and academic fit in a single review, which is what turns interest into contact.

How do NCAA D3 track athletes get scholarship money?

D3 programs do not offer athletic scholarships. Financial packages come from academic merit aid and need-based institutional aid, which means your transcript is the primary driver of your offer. Many D3 schools award substantial merit money to strong students.

What is an admissions pre-read in track recruiting?

A pre-read is an early review of a recruit's transcript by a school's admissions office, requested by the coach, to gauge whether the athlete would be admitted. Formal pre-reads are most common at academically selective programs and uncommon elsewhere. The universal version is informal: coaches identify recruits by performance, then check grades immediately to confirm an opportunity exists, which is why an accurate GPA on your profile matters from first contact.

Do Canadian universities consider grades in track and field recruiting?

Yes. U SPORTS removed its national 80% entering-average requirement for athletic financial awards starting in 2024-25, but conferences and schools can apply stricter criteria, admission in Canada is faculty-based, and many universities award entrance scholarships automatically based on admission average. Strong grades expand both admission options and total funding.

TL;DR

Most athletes approach track and field recruiting by division ("I want to go D1"). Coaches don't think in divisions. They think in conference championships, because their budgets, scholarships, and jobs depend on scoring at that meet. The Conference-Impact Lens is a way of building your target list of college programs by identifying the conferences where your current marks would score at the championship meet, either immediately or within a couple of seasons. This guide explains how coaches use conference scoring to make roster and scholarship decisions, shows you what the same mark is worth across four different conferences, and walks you through running the lens yourself on TFRRS in about 20 minutes.

The Division Myth

The most common scenario I see in advising sessions, and it happens constantly, is an athlete dead set on the D1 concept. What they don't realize is that Division I is a massive division: hundreds of schools, with Power Four programs that compete, recruit, and spend in a different stratosphere from their mid-major counterparts. There are plenty of D2 teams that would beat D1 programs in a dual meet. The label on the athletic department tells you almost nothing about where you fit.

Here's the scale of the spread inside one division. At the 2026 SEC outdoor championships, the last scoring time in the men's 100m final was 10.19. That time wins most high school state championships in the country, and at that meet it was worth a single point. Hundreds of D1 programs have never had an athlete run it.

When I work with athletes and families in this situation, I use the Conference-Impact Lens to explain how roster and scholarship decisions get made. It replaces "which division do I want" with a better question: at which conference championship meets would my marks score points?

What the Conference-Impact Lens Is

College coaches are blunt about this when you get them talking. Their jobs depend on improving within their conference year over year, and they are always looking for athletes who will score for them at the indoor and outdoor conference championships, whether that's a true freshman or a transfer. Results drive recruiting decisions, and the results that matter most are the ones posted at the conference meet.

Two rule changes made this filter sharper. In Division I, roster limits from the House settlement mean coaches carry fewer athletes and need impact recruits who can score at the conference level. In Division II, conference scoring is what equates to scholarship dollars. Fewer spots, tighter budgets, and a championship meet that decides how both get spent.

Here's the part most families miss. You might be the top thrower for some schools on your list, but you wouldn't crack the top 20 in their conference. That usually means the program doesn't prioritize your event group or is rebuilding that part of the roster. Being the best on a roster in your event tells you less about your roster and scholarship opportunities than where you sit within the frame of the conference.

Do Coaches Recruit on Current Marks or Potential?

You are most valued where you can score at the conference championship meet. Your ability to make an immediate impact based on your current PRs, not your projected ones, is what turns coaches' heads, provides a roster spot, and opens up scholarship offers. Showcase that impact in multiple events, including relays, and your value goes up.

What about potential? Potential to become a conference scorer can be rewarded with scholarships too, but potential that requires development over time is not a sure thing anymore. There is no standardized way coaches make projections, and different programs weigh different events and event groups differently. A coach who knows they can always bring in in-state walk-on middle-distance runners is less likely to spend scholarship money on out-of-state athletes in those events unless they're close to guaranteed to score in Year 1. That same coach might take a thrower who just started strength training, because they see a path to a conference scorer by Year 2 in an event where their roster is thin.

The takeaway: build your target list around where your current marks land, and treat projection as a bonus that some programs will value and others won't. This is exactly the kind of evidence that belongs in your Athlete Recruitment Plan.

For a working example of that judgment call, PennWest Edinboro head coach Taylor Cudequest walks through three recruit profiles and gives his verdict on each in What a D2 Head Coach Looks For in a Track and Field Recruit, including one sprinter whose event times do not line up the way you would expect.

What the Same Mark Is Worth in Four Different Conferences

The tables below show the winning mark and the last scoring mark from six event finals at four conference championship meets. Same events, same season, four different competitive realities.

Marks from the 2026 outdoor conference championships, pulled from TFRRS. Every mark links to the official event results. Last updated July, 2026.

How to read these tables

The last scoring mark is the entry point. If your current PR is at or near it, you would have scored at that meet, and that makes you an impact recruit for programs in that conference. The winning mark is the ceiling. Between them sits the full range of athletes earning roster spots and scholarship money at that level. All four meets score eight places.

The four conferences, and why these four

SEC: The SEC is the ceiling of the sport, a Power Four conference where championship finals regularly run deeper than national finals in some events. Big Ten and ACC scoring marks run comparably. If your marks score here, you are being recruited by everyone.

Mountain West: The Mountain West is the strong mid-major tier, and a conference in transition. After the 2026 outdoor season, five of its programs (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State) left to join the rebuilt Pac-12, which begins competition in 2026-27. The marks below reflect the final championship before that split, so they represent the rosters now spread across both conferences. When the new Pac-12 holds its first outdoor championship in spring 2027, this row will update to reflect both meets.

MAAC: The MAAC is a low-major D1 conference. It shares a division label with the SEC, and the tables show you what that label is worth.

GLIAC: The GLIAC is one of the strongest conferences in D2, where conference scoring equates directly to scholarship dollars. For athletes fixated on the D1 label, these marks are the reality check in the other direction, because strong D2 conferences run deeper than most families expect.

What does it take to score in the men's 200m?

The MAAC champion ran 20.34, a time that scores at any conference meet in the country. Eight places back, the last scoring time was two full seconds slower. Conference winners can be elite anywhere; depth is where the tiers separate. [Sources: SEC, Mountain West, MAAC, GLIAC]

What does it take to score in the women's 800m?

The spread between last scoring marks is more than 18 seconds. A 2:19 scores points in a strong D2 conference and at a low-major D1, and the same time doesn't survive the prelims at the SEC meet.
[Sources: SEC, Mountain West, MAAC, GLIAC]

What does it take to score in the men's 1500m?

The Mountain West final looks like the softest of the four, and it's the most misleading number in this entire section. That final was tactical: the winning time was 4:03.72, but the prelims the day before ran as fast as 3:46. To score, you first have to make the final, and the prelim is where the fitness standard gets set. [Sources: SEC, Mountain West, MAAC, GLIAC]

What does it take to score in the women's 5000m?

The Mountain West winner ran faster than the SEC winner. Mid-major distance programs recruit and develop at a national level, and the division label tells you none of that.
[Sources: SEC, Mountain West, MAAC, GLIAC]

What does it take to score in the men's long jump?

The SEC's last scoring jump, 7.58m, would have won the MAAC and GLIAC competitions outright.
[Sources: SEC, Mountain West, MAAC, GLIAC]

What does it take to score in the women's shot put?

The SEC's last scoring throw beat the MAAC's winning throw by more than three meters. In the throws, the gap between tiers is measured in meters, not centimeters.
[Sources: SEC, Mountain West, MAAC, GLIAC]

Marks flagged "w" were set in wind over the +2.0 legal limit (Mountain West 200m final: +2.8; GLIAC long jump: +3.7). They stand as championship results and scored full points, but they aren't record-legal comparisons.

How to Run the Conference-Impact Lens Yourself

Everything you need is free on TFRRS, the official results database for college track and field. The whole exercise takes about 20 minutes per event.

1. Pick a conference and find its championship meet. Search TFRRS for the conference name plus "outdoor championships" and open the most recent edition. Confirm the year in the page header, since old editions of the same meet surface in search.
2. Open the final for your event. Meet pages list every event. Use the FINAL section, not the prelims, and check the points column to see how deep the meet scores. Most score 8 places; some score 10.
3. Write down two numbers: the winning mark and the last scoring mark. The last scoring mark is your entry point. If your PR is at or near it, you would have scored at that meet.
4. In the middle distances, check the prelims and season bests too. Championship finals from 800m up are often tactical. The prelim times and season bests tell you the fitness standard; the final tells you the placing standard.
5. Repeat across three or four conferences. One meet tells you about one conference. Three or four tell you where your competitive band starts and ends.
6. Build your target list inside that band. Programs in conferences where you'd score now are your core list. Programs one tier up are your reach if you're still improving. Then browse programs by conference and put the evidence to work in your Athlete Recruitment Plan.

Where the Conference-Impact Lens Has Limits

The lens is the best first filter, but it isn't the only one. A few situations change the math:

Academics come first, always. You need the academic standing to get into the school before any of this matters. The Ivy League is its own thing entirely, with admissions standards that sit above athletic fit.

Some programs recruit for where they want to be, not where they are. A team that isn't competitive within its conference but aspires to be will take more developmental athletes to level up the program. If a coach is building, your ceiling can matter more than your current marks.

Event group depth cuts both ways. With roster limits in D1, some teams double down on their strength areas and drop event groups altogether. A conference where your marks score is not a guarantee that every program in it recruits your event. Check the roster before you check the box.

Sorting through these situations is where a second set of eyes helps. It's a big part of what I do in recruitment advising sessions with athletes and families.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Conference-Impact Lens?

The Conference-Impact Lens is a way of building your target list of college programs by identifying the conferences where your current marks would score at the championship meet, either immediately or within a couple of seasons. It replaces division-first thinking with the question coaches are already asking: can this athlete score at our conference championships?

Are all NCAA D1 track and field programs the same level?

No. Division I spans hundreds of programs with enormous spread between them. At the 2026 outdoor championships, the last scoring time in the SEC women's 800m was 2:01.74, while the last scoring time in the MAAC women's 800m was 2:20.17. Both meets are Division I. The division label describes institutional classification, not competitive level.

What does it mean to score at a conference championship?

Scoring means finishing in a points-earning place at the conference championship meet, most commonly the top 8 (some meets score 10 places). Team standings are decided by those points, and coaches' budgets, scholarship allocations, and job security are tied to how their team finishes. That is why coaches recruit athletes who can score.

Should I pick a college by division or by conference?

By conference. Divisions tell you how a school is classified; conference championship results tell you the competitive level you would face and whether your marks would earn points there. Learn what the division labels mean, then use conference results to find your fit.

Can a D2 program be more competitive than a D1 program?

Yes, routinely. At the 2026 outdoor championships, the GLIAC (a D2 conference) produced a faster winning 1500m time, a faster winning 200m time, and a further winning shot put than the MAAC (a D1 conference). Strong D2 conferences run deeper than most families expect, and in D2, conference scoring equates directly to scholarship dollars.

How do I find conference championship results?

Use TFRRS (tfrrs.org), the official results database for college track and field. Search the conference name plus "outdoor championships," open the most recent edition, and read the event finals. The winning mark and the last scoring mark for your event are the two numbers to write down.

Why are championship times sometimes slower than season bests?

Because championship finals are often tactical, especially from 800m up. Athletes race for place, not time, so winning times can run well behind what the same athletes ran in the prelims or during the season. Check prelim times and season bests alongside the final to understand the true standard at a conference meet.

What marks do I need to compete in the SEC?

Check the most recent SEC outdoor championship results on TFRRS for your event. If your PR is at or near the last scoring mark in the final, you are at SEC scoring level. The same method works for any conference, which is the point of the Conference-Impact Lens: the answer comes from current championship results, not from a fixed list of standards.

Every athlete we advise walks away with an Athlete Recruitment Plan (ARP). It is a personalized recruiting roadmap built from a one-on-one session with a Streamline Athletes advisor that maps where you stand today, which schools to chase, your projected out-of-pocket cost at certain schools after aid, and your next move at every step. The whole thing is built around your verified performances, grades, budget, target list, and other preferences. Your ARP reads like a plan for you and only you.

Below is a full sample plan on our production template, with every athlete-specific number swapped for a placeholder so you can picture your own details in each spot.

1 / 15

Tap any slide to open it full size.

Why the plan works

• Built around you — Every plan starts with a one-on-one advising session, so your goals, your marks, your budget, and your list drive the whole thing. The plan mirrors that conversation back to you and turns it into a step-by-step play.
• Four buckets, weighed together — Athletic fit, academic fit, financial fit, and geographic fit all get scored, so no single piece quietly holds you back.
• Your true cost after aid — We estimate what you would pay after athletic and academic aid stack, school by school, so you compare your real out-of-pocket cost instead of the number on the brochure.
• A verified target list — Every school is scored on the same four buckets and linked to its Streamline Athletes program page, sorted by who has reached out and who to contact next.
• Your performance data is contextualized meaningfully — Your verified personal bests are presented to you within our tier system, so you know your level today and the exact PR that unlocks the next one. Streamline Athletes' proprietary recruit tiering system is used primarily for collegiate coaches to evaluate prospective student-athletes across event groups and was built based on historical NCAA, NAIA, and U SPORTS conference scoring data, World Athletics scoring tables, and recruiting trends. Knowing where your best result in your best event lines up compared to all track and field recruits, including transfers, from around the world provides understanding that a basic standards lookup cannot.
• Every level across the United States and Canada — Your plan covers the full landscape: NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA in the United States, U SPORTS and the CCAA in Canada. We match you to the levels where you fit best and lay out the eligibility rules and the differences that matter for each, so you see every path worth chasing.
• You always know the next step — Coach-communication guidance, a season timeline, and a clear action list mean you are never guessing about what to do next.

What's inside every Athlete Recruitment Plan

Every Streamline Athletes ARP runs on the same structure. Here is what you get:

• Athletic — Your objective in your event, your verified personal bests, the tier you sit at today, and the exact mark that moves you up.
• Academic — Your target degree, the admission bar at each program, the prerequisite courses your major expects, and where your eligibility file needs to be.
• Financial — A school-by-school estimate of what you would pay after athletic and academic aid, in the right currency, so you compare net cost instead of sticker.
• Geographic — Where you want to train and live, sorted from close to home out to the bigger moves worth the travel.

On top of the four buckets, every plan includes:

• Your target list — A ranked set of schools, each linked to its Streamline Athletes program page, split into the ones that reached out, the ones to contact through Plus, and your reach and backup.
• Coach communication — How to handle coaches, what to ask about money, and how to keep every conversation moving.
• A season timeline — What to do this summer, through your final fall, and into the winter and spring when you commit.
• An action list — The specific next steps, in order, so you leave with a plan you can run.

How to get your own plan

1. Book a recruitment advising session with Streamline Athletes.
2. Add your verified track and field performances to your Streamline Athletes profile so your advisor works from real data.
3. In the session, you and your advisor map your four buckets and your school list together.
4. You get your Athlete Recruitment Plan: your personalized deck, plus the action list to run it.

If you are not ready to book a session yet, you can create a free profile and start building your list, then book advising when the timing is right.

Frequently asked questions

What is an Athlete Recruitment Plan?

An Athlete Recruitment Plan is a personalized recruiting roadmap that Streamline Athletes builds for each athlete from a one-on-one advising session. It scores your athletic, academic, financial, and geographic fit, gives you a verified target list of schools linked to their program pages, estimates what each school would cost after aid, and lays out a coach-communication plan, a season timeline, and a clear list of next steps.

How do I get an Athlete Recruitment Plan?

Book a recruitment advising session with Streamline Athletes and add your verified marks to your profile. In the session, you and your advisor map your four buckets and build your school list together. You leave with your personalized plan and the action list to run it.

How much does Streamline Athletes recruitment advising cost?

A one-on-one recruitment advising session is CAD $149 or USD $119 and runs about 60 minutes. The session produces your Athlete Recruitment Plan. New athletes can use code BM10 for 10% off when they book.

Which college levels does the Athlete Recruitment Plan cover?

Every college level in the United States and Canada. That means NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA in the US, and U SPORTS and the CCAA in Canada. Your plan covers the paths you are targeting, with the eligibility requirements and the differences that matter for each, matched to where you fit.

Related reading

• The track and field recruiting timeline, year by year
• Recruiting standards: what marks you need for your dream school
• NCAA D1 vs D2 vs D3: how to find your level
• Athletic scholarships: Canada vs the United States
• NCAA and eligibility centers: what every student-athlete needs to know
• Why you should consider a U SPORTS school
• What to ask college coaches during recruiting
• How to contact college coaches and build a relationship

There are more than 1,700 college and university track and field and cross country programs across North America, spread across the NCAA's three divisions (D1, D2, D3), the NAIA, the junior college ranks of the NJCAA, and U SPORTS in Canada. Sorting through that many options is its own event. Most international athletes never look north of the border and Canadians often mistake it for a backup to stateside associations—both are mistakes. U SPORTS quietly does a lot of things very well. Here are six reasons it belongs on your list.

The short version: U SPORTS is Canada's national university sport system, and it is a serious track and field option that most athletes skip over. Six reasons it earns a look: tuition that runs a fraction of what US schools charge, athletic financial awards toward tuition and fees, a calendar that lines up with summer club and national-team racing, degrees from globally ranked universities, five years of eligibility with no clock and no age limit, and a level of competition that keeps closing on the NCAA.

What is U SPORTS?

U SPORTS is the national governing body for university sport in Canada, and it used to go by CIS. It runs across four regional conferences, and it keeps growing. Simon Fraser University was voted in as the newest member, leaving the NCAA to rejoin the Canadian system for 2027-28.

SFU to Leave NCAA; Outdoor Track and Field Set for Removal

Simon Fraser University plans to exit NCAA Division II and pursue U SPORTS membership. Outdoor track and field would be discontinued by 2027–28.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

On the international side, U SPORTS is Canada's member of FISU, the body behind the World University Games.

Explore U SPORTS Track & Field / XC

Find your U SPORTS school.

Explore U SPORTS programs

Why U SPORTS?

1. Tuition is reasonable

Canadian tuition is one of the biggest advantages U SPORTS has, and it is not close. A Canadian undergraduate pays an average of $7,734 CAD a year (Statistics Canada, 2025/2026). Cross the border and a non-resident is looking at an average of $31,880 USD in tuition and fees at a public four-year school, and $45,000 USD at a private one (College Board, 2025-26), before housing, food, or a flight home.

Even at the international rate, Canada comes out ahead. International undergraduate tuition in Canada averages $41,746 CAD (Statistics Canada, 2025/2026), which lands near what a US public school charges an out-of-state student and well under a US private one.

Francophone athletes have another lever to pull. Because of agreements between Quebec, Canada, France, and the French Community in Belgium, francophone students qualify for tuition exemptions that can bring their costs down to the Quebec resident rate, and in some cases, lower. Non-Quebec Canadian students taking specified French-language courses in Quebec can study at the Quebec resident rate, and French and francophone Belgian students qualify for exemptions of their own.

2. There is scholarship money available

A majority of U SPORTS schools offer Athletic Financial Awards, known as AFAs, though how much any given program can offer sits with that school. The ceiling is set by tuition and compulsory fees, so a full U SPORTS scholarship covers tuition and fees and nothing past that. Room, board, and living costs can never be covered by athletic scholarship funding in U SPORTS, whereas a US full ride can cover all costs.

What a program offers comes down to your potential to contribute to the team's success at conference and U SPORTS championship meets — immediately and over your five years of eligibility,  its budget, and how the coach chooses to split it among throwers, jumpers, sprinters, and distance runners.

For a fuller breakdown of how Canadian awards work and how they stack up against American scholarships, read athletic scholarships in Canada versus the United States.

Athletic scholarships in Canada Versus the United States

Athletic scholarships can be confusing. In this post, we’ll talk about the differences between scholarships available in Canada and the United States. We’ll also dive into the distinction between a partial and full-ride scholarship.

Katherine LucasStreamline Athletes

Canadian U SPORTS universities can also provide academic scholarships. If you're being recruited by a U SPORTS track and field team, ask the coach about academic awards. These vary a ton from school to school, faculty to faculty, and student to student. Applications for some awards are automatically submitted along with your admission application; others need to be applied for separately. In Canada, academic aid can typically stack on top of your athletic scholarship funding.

3. The calendar is built for athlete development

U SPORTS does not run an outdoor track season. That sounds like a gap until you see what it frees up. Athletes compete indoors for their school through the winter, and when the indoor season closes in March, they get a genuine training block before racing outdoors through the summer for their clubs and their countries.

An athlete grinding through a full NCAA or NAIA outdoor season has a much harder time showing up sharp at FISU or a national championship in the summer. U SPORTS treats the summer as the season that feeds the national team pipeline, which is what it is for most serious track athletes.

That alignment is a big part of why U SPORTS sits so close to the Athletics Canada development model.

Did you know Streamline Athletes is the Official Recruitment Partner of Athletics Canada?

Athletics Canada x Streamline Athletes

Streamline Athletes: Athletics Canada's Official Recruitment Partner

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4. A Canadian degree carries weight

Canada does not have a long list of universities, but a good share of the ones it has rank among the best in the world, and a lot of them compete in U SPORTS. A degree from these schools travels, and it keeps opening doors long after the last race. Several rank among the world's best, and you can see exactly where each one lands in the current QS World University Rankings for Canada.

• University of Toronto Varsity Blues — Toronto is Canada's largest and most research-intensive university, founded in 1827 and a perennial fixture near the top of every global ranking.
• University of British Columbia Thunderbirds — UBC is a Vancouver research powerhouse founded in 1908, consistently one of Canada's top three and strong across the sciences.
• University of Alberta Golden Bears & Pandas — The U of A, in Edmonton, has serious depth in engineering, energy, and the natural sciences.
• University of Waterloo Warriors — Waterloo is Canada's engineering, math, and computer science leader, famous for the country's largest co-op program.
• University of Calgary Dinos — The U of C, founded in 1966, is a research university with strengths in engineering, energy, and kinesiology.
• McMaster University Marauders — McMaster, in Hamilton, is renowned for health sciences and pioneered the problem-based approach to medical education.
• Université de Montréal Carabins — U de M is one of Canada's largest universities and the country's leading French-language research institution.
• York University Lions — York is Ontario's second-largest university, home to Osgoode Hall Law and the Schulich School of Business.
• University of Western Ontario Mustangs — Western, in London, is known for the Ivey Business School and one of the strongest campus experiences in the country.
• University of Victoria Vikes — UVic punches above its size in law, ocean and climate science, and the humanities.
• University of Ottawa Gee-Gees — uOttawa is one of the world's largest bilingual universities, with strong law, medicine, and public policy programs.
• Simon Fraser University Red Leafs — SFU is the newest U SPORTS member, joining Canada West for 2027-28 after leaving the NCAA. Founded in Burnaby in 1965, Macleans has ranked SFU as the country's top comprehensive university in 17 of the last 18 years (2026).

5. The eligibility rules give you room

U SPORTS athletes get five academic years of competition. There is also no eligibility clock or age limit, which means you can step away between competition years and pick it back up when you are ready. Compete for two years, take a year to redshirt and recover from an injury or to study abroad, then come back for your final three. The window does not close on you.

6. The competition is better than you think

The NCAA has always worn the crown as the top level of college track, and it has earned it. But the distance between the two systems has been closing for years. U SPORTS produces athletes who go on to World Championship finals, Olympic teams, and professional careers, and the depth at the top of the U SPORTS ranks holds up against a lot of what the NCAA puts on the line.

Frequently asked questions

Is U SPORTS good for track and field?

Yes. U SPORTS is Canada's national university sport system, and it is a strong option for track and field and cross country athletes. It offers five years of eligibility, athletic financial awards toward tuition, lower costs than most US schools, and a calendar that lines up with summer club and national-team competition. U SPORTS athletes have gone on to World Championship finals and Olympic teams.

Does U SPORTS offer athletic scholarships?

Yes. Most U SPORTS schools offer Athletic Financial Awards (AFAs), though the amount depends on the individual program. An AFA is capped at the value of tuition and compulsory fees, so a full U SPORTS scholarship covers tuition and fees but not room, board, or living costs. How much a program can offer comes down to its budget and how the coach splits it.

How many years can you compete in U SPORTS track and field?

Five academic years, which is one more than the NCAA and the NAIA currently allow. U SPORTS also has no eligibility clock, so you can step away between competition years for an injury or to study abroad and return to finish your eligibility later.

Is there an age limit for U SPORTS athletes?

No. U SPORTS does not put an age limit on its track and field athletes, and there is no rule requiring you to enrol within a set time of finishing high school. Football is the one exception, where athletes cannot be older than 24 entering their first season.

Is U SPORTS as competitive as the NCAA?

The NCAA is still the deepest level of college track, but the distance between the two systems has been closing for years. U SPORTS produces athletes who reach World Championship finals, Olympic teams, and professional careers, and the top of the U SPORTS ranks holds up against a lot of what the NCAA puts on the track.

How much does it cost to study in Canada as a student-athlete?

A Canadian undergraduate pays an average of $7,734 CAD a year, and international undergraduate tuition averages $41,746 CAD (Statistics Canada, 2025/2026). Both come in well under a US private school at $45,000 USD or a US public school for an out-of-state student at $31,880 USD (College Board, 2025-26). A U SPORTS scholarship can cover tuition and compulsory fees on top of that.

Does U SPORTS have an outdoor track and field season?

No. U SPORTS runs an indoor track season and cross country in the fall, but no outdoor championship. Athletes compete indoors for their school through the winter, then train and race outdoors through the summer for their clubs and their countries. That structure lines up with the Athletics Canada development calendar and the summer national-team season.

How do I get recruited by a U SPORTS program?

Complete a free profile on Streamline Athletes. A lot of U SPORTS programs recruit on the platform, and they can reach out to athletes who fit what they are looking for. There is no paid plan required for a profile. You can also research and compare U SPORTS programs on Streamline Athletes to find the right fit.

How to get recruited by a U SPORTS program

A lot of U SPORTS programs are actively recruiting on Streamline Athletes right now. Complete a free profile and you can hear from the ones looking for an athlete like you. There is no paid plan required and no catch. You just need a profile that is filled out.

Create your free profile to get started.

Updated June 2026

The Pac-12 is back. It's not the old version with the Oregon Ducks, USC, Stanford, and the rest of the names you know from decades of college track, but a rebuilt nine-school conference that starts official participation on July 1, 2026 with competition beginning with the 2026 XC season. If you're being recruited for track and field or cross country, here's what you need to know.

What schools are in the new Pac-12?

As of July 1, 2026, the Pac-12 Conference has nine full members:

Eight of those nine schools sponsor football. Gonzaga is the exception — the Bulldogs joined as a non-football member, primarily known for basketball but competing across Olympic sports.

What sports does the Pac-12 sponsor?

The Pac-12 sponsors cross country (men's and women's) and outdoor track and field (men's and women's). There is no Pac-12 indoor track and field championship; most member schools will compete in indoor through the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) as affiliate members.

For a recruit, the practical breakdown:

• Cross country and outdoor track: Pac-12 conference. Your Pac-12 affiliation lives here.
• Indoor track: MPSF. Solid competition, different conference umbrella.

This is not unusual in college track. Many D1 programs split their conference home by season, and the MPSF is a well-established path to indoor competition in the West.

What Happened to the original Pac-12?

The original Pac-12 had twelve members and was one of the five Power conferences in college athletics. Between 2023 and 2024, ten schools left:

• To the Big Ten: Oregon, USC, UCLA, Washington
• To the Big 12: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah
• To the ACC: Stanford, Cal Berkeley

Oregon State and Washington State were the only schools that stayed. From the 2024–25 through 2025–26 seasons, those two competed under an NCAA grace period as a two-school conference.

The rebuild began in fall 2024. Between September 2024 and June 2025, the conference added seven new members from the Mountain West, Sun Belt, and West Coast Conference, bringing the total to nine schools and officially relaunching on July 1, 2026.

Is the new Pac-12 still a Power conference?

No, the new Pac-12 will not be considered a Power conference. The Power conferences in college athletics are now the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and ACC — the Power Four. The Pac-12 is not in that group.

That matters for recruiting context. Power Four programs typically carry bigger budgets, more scholarship money, and higher-profile competition. The new Pac-12 is a competitive D1 conference — the schools competing in it aren't weak — but recruits should understand the distinction before they start building their target list.

What is a Power Four School? NCAA Track & Field Conferences Explained

The Power Four conferences dominate NCAA sports, but do you need to compete for one to succeed in track and field or cross country? Discover what Power Four schools really mean for your recruiting journey.

Lucas CoreaStreamline Athletes

Why should track and field / cross country recruits consider new Pac-12 programs?

There are a few reasons this conference is worth targeting, depending on your profile:

1. Serious competition without the Power Four recruiting pressure Programs like Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State compete at a high D1 level outdoors. The standard to make a roster is real. The standard to get a scholarship is more accessible than at many Power Four programs.
2. Geography and facilities
   Most of these schools sit in the West and Mountain West regions — good weather, fast outdoor tracks, and some of the best outdoor venues in the country. Boise, Fresno, and San Diego in particular offer near-ideal outdoor conditions.
3. A conference that's growing
   The schools that joined the Pac-12 chose it over staying in the Mountain West. These are programs investing in their futures, not shrinking.
4. A clean recruiting window
   Because the new Pac-12 is rebuilding, some programs have more roster flexibility than established Power Four schools. If your marks are competitive for D1 but you're not being pulled by the biggest programs, this conference is worth a serious look.

To see whether your marks fit the new Pac-12, run them through the Conference-Impact Lens; its data section includes the final Mountain West championship most of these rosters just competed at.

The Conference-Impact Lens: Match Your PRs to College Track Programs

Coaches don’t recruit by division. They recruit athletes who can score at their conference championship. Here’s how to find the conferences where your marks fit.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

Frequently Asked Questions

What schools are in the new Pac-12 for track and field?

The nine schools are Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State, Texas State, and Gonzaga — all competing as full Pac-12 members starting July 1, 2026.

Does the Pac-12 have track and field?

Yes. The Pac-12 sponsors men's and women's cross country and men's and women's outdoor track and field. It does not sponsor an indoor track and field championship; member schools compete in indoor through the MPSF.

Is the new Pac-12 a Power Five conference?

No. The Power conferences are now the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and ACC (the Power Four). The Pac-12 is a competitive D1 mid-major.

When did the Pac-12 rebuild?

The original Pac-12 lost ten schools between 2023 and 2024. Oregon State and Washington State kept the conference alive. Seven new members joined between September 2024 and June 2025, with full conference competition beginning July 1, 2026.

What conference is Boise State track and field in?

Boise State track and field competes in the Pac-12 Conference, beginning with the 2026–27 season.

What conference is Fresno State cross country in?

Fresno State cross country competes in the Pac-12 Conference starting July 1, 2026.

What conference is Texas State track and field in?

Texas State track and field joins the Pac-12 Conference on July 1, 2026, moving from the Sun Belt Conference.

What conference is Gonzaga cross country in?

Gonzaga competes in the Pac-12 as a non-football member, including cross country, starting July 1, 2026.

What is the MPSF?

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is a supplemental D1 conference that sponsors indoor track and field, among other sports, for schools whose primary conference doesn't sponsor indoor track. Many Pac-12 member schools, including Oregon State and Washington State, compete in the MPSF for indoor. It's a legitimate path to postseason competition, including the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Explore new Pac-12 track and field programs

The Streamline Athletes platform has been updated to reflect the new Pac-12 membership. All nine program pages are live under the Pac-12 conference.

Browse all Pac-12 track and field and cross country programs at streamlineathletes.com/browse-teams/ncaa-d1/pac12.

The New Pac-12

The Pac-12 is back

Explore the new Pac-12

Or go directly to a school:

• Oregon State
• Washington State
• Boise State
• Colorado State
• Fresno State
• San Diego State
• Utah State
• Texas State
• Gonzaga

Create a free Streamline Athletes profile to get recruited.

Imagine every provincial high school track and field championship in the country happened at one meet. Who would win each event? Who would make the final? We took the 2026 provincial championship results from across Canada, pulled out this year's graduating class, and ranked what was left. What you get is a snapshot of the athletes in the 2027 and 2028 (and even 2029) classes who are already running, jumping, and throwing at the top of the national leaderboard.

Important note for Canadian high school track and field athletes

Whether you are on one of these lists or not, the move is the same. The coaches recruiting right now on Streamline Athletes include many of the top U SPORTS programs, coaches across all three NCAA divisions, and NAIA programs. They are recruiting the 2027 and 2028 classes today. If you want to be on their radar, you need a complete profile.

Create your free Streamline Athletes profile here.

Being recruited on Streamline Athletes, the official recruiting partner of Athletics Canada, is free.

If you already have a profile, update it with your personal bests ASAP. Coaches are evaluating the marks they can see, not the ones in your head.

Once your profile is verified, if coaches are already recruiting your age group and you meet their program's standards, you will hear from them within 24 hours. Questions? We're here to help → support@streamlineathletes.com.

Resources for parents/guardians

If you're managing the recruiting process alongside your athlete, the highest-value thing you can do is make sure their profile is complete and their marks are current. That's what coaches evaluate. It costs nothing, and being recruited on Streamline Athletes is free.

A highlight relevant read for parents:

NCAA recruiting has been uprooted. Nobody told the families.

NCAA track and field recruiting has changed more in five years than the prior thirty. What NIL, the portal, and the House settlement mean for families.

Brett MontroseAthletics Illustrated Magazine - Inspiring the culture of athletics

One-on-one recruitment advising for Canadian families:

Athletics Canada Recruitment Advising

Collegiate track and field recruitment advising for youth student-athletes and their parents looking to continue their sport at the college or university level.

streamline-athletes-logo

Important note for collegiate coaches

College and university coaches: To easily contact recruits who meet your standards in any event, please contact us directly → support@streamlineathletes.com.

We work hands-on with collegiate programs recruiting for their U SPORTS, NCAA, NAIA, CCAA, and NJCAA programs. If you need to recruit smarter, just let us know.

Streamline Athletes vs Other Recruiting Platforms for Track & Field/XC

A fact-based comparison of Streamline Athletes, NCSA, FieldLevel, SportsRecruits, and Runcruit for track and field and cross-country athletes and families.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

How we built these rankings based on results

The idea was simple: Pretend every provincial high school championship across Canada was a single national meet, then rank athletes in each event using their best mark from their 2026 provincial championship, whether it came in a preliminary or final. Performances from any other meet did not count. We included only athletes graduating in 2027 or later, which meant excluding this year's graduating class, and because provinces use different age categories at their championships and not all of them list grade, we confirmed each athlete's class by grade, graduation year, or birth year depending on what the source gave us.

Event-specific decisions

Only events that were contested in most/all provinces were included. For example, steeplechase was only run in British Columbia and Ontario, so it is not included on the grounds that there's not enough data to make it a "national" ranking.

The hurdle events need a word on specs, because Canadian high school federations do not all run the same race. The boys 110m hurdles and girls 100m hurdles ranked here use the barrier heights contested at the provincial championships in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Nova Scotia: 36 inches for the boys 110m and 30 inches for the girls 100m. Those four provinces run the same height in each event, so the marks compare directly. Note that both sit one notch below the World Athletics under-18 standard of 39 inches and 33 inches, so these times should not be read against international under-18 lists at face value.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are left out of the short hurdles. Their senior boys run a 100m hurdles and their senior girls run an 80m hurdles, both shorter races with different spacing, so the marks are not comparable. Newfoundland contests no hurdles at all. The 400m hurdles is not ranked. Only British Columbia and Ontario staged the event, and a national list here needs at least three provinces, the same threshold that kept the steeplechase off these lists.

The throwing events need their own note, for a similar reason to the hurdles. A throw is only comparable to another throw at the same implement weight, and Canadian high school federations throw different weights by province and by age division. Rather than force unlike marks onto one list, we applied the same three-province test used elsewhere: a given implement weight gets its own ranked board only if at least three provinces contested it. Where a single event is thrown at two or three common weights across the country, each qualifying weight gets its own board. That is why you will see more than one shot put, discus, or javelin list, each labelled with its implement weight, and why a mark on one weight board is never ranked against a mark on another.

One consequence worth stating plainly: Ontario boys do not appear on the boys discus or javelin lists. At the 2026 OFSAA championships the boys threw a 1 kg discus and a 600 g javelin, both lighter than what the rest of the country throws, and no other province contested those weights. With only one province at each, there is no comparable national board to place them on. Ontario boys do rank in the shot put, where their 12 lb implement is shared by other provinces. This is a comparability call, not an oversight.

We are hoping to see para and adaptive events represented at every level of college track and field in the near future, and we would like these lists to reflect that. For NCAA, NAIA, and U SPORTS recruiting purposes, those events are not included here.

Missing provinces

Manitoba and PEI: Manitoba's provincial championship runs later than the rest of the country, so its results were not available when these lists first went up. We have since reviewed them and added the Manitoba athletes who earned a place on an event list. Prince Edward Island is the one province still outstanding. Its results were not accessible at the time of writing, and we will add any PEI athlete who belongs on a list once they are.

Data accuracy

A note on accuracy: This was a large, manual cross-referencing job across many different results systems, and there is room for error. If you spot something wrong, a missed athlete, a misread class, a time that does not match, email us at support@streamlineathletes.com and we will fix it.

A note on ages and grades, please read: Confirming who graduates in 2027 or later was the hardest part of this project. Provinces use different age and grade systems, many results print no grade or birth year at all, and we cross-referenced thousands of athletes by hand across a dozen different results platforms. We have done our best, but there are almost certainly errors: an athlete placed in the wrong class, a name misspelled, a mark misread, or someone eligible who got left off. If you spot anything wrong, or you belong on a list and aren't here, please email Brett directly at brett@streamlineathletes.com and we will fix it fast. We would rather correct it than leave it wrong.

How Data and Results Drive Track and Field Recruiting | Streamline Athletes

Track and field has the most public results infrastructure of any sport — MileSplit, Athletic.net, TFRRS, Trackie, and more. Streamline Athletes is the verified recruiting layer built on top.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

Boys Sprints & Hurdles

One name carries the boys sprints. Dennis Iriowen of Ontario ran the fastest 100m and the fastest 200m as the only male to lead two sprint events. Behind him, the picture spreads out, with Ontario stacking the short sprints, British Columbia leading the 400m, and Quebec taking the hurdles.

Boys 100m

Dennis Iriowen of Ontario ran the fastest provincial-championship 100m among 2027-and-later graduates, 10.54.

Boys 200m

Among 2027-and-later graduates, the fastest provincial-championship 200m also belongs to Dennis Iriowen of Ontario, 21.09.

Boys 400m

Shaunrie Whynter of British Columbia ran the fastest provincial-championship 400m among graduates of 2027 and later, 47.43.

Boys 110m Hurdles

The fastest provincial-championship 110m hurdles among 2027-and-later graduates belongs to Mathis Riendeau of Quebec, 14.14.

Girls Sprints & Hurdles

The girls sprints belong to Jaylah Dennis. The Grade 10 from British Columbia ran the fastest 200m in the country, sits inside the top three of the 100m, and also clears the field in the high jump, the rare athlete leading both a sprint and a jump as one of the youngest names on any of these lists. Ontario fills out most of the short-sprint field behind her, British Columbia takes the 400m, and the hurdles split between Ontario and Quebec.

Girls 100m

Alexia Jones of Ontario ran the fastest provincial-championship 100m among 2027-and-later graduates, 11.53.

Girls 200m

Jaylah Dennis of British Columbia, a Grade 10, ran the fastest provincial-championship 200m among 2027-and-later graduates, 23.50.

Girls 400m

Among 2027-and-later graduates, the fastest provincial-championship 400m belongs to Chloe Agbebaku of British Columbia, 53.74.

Girls 100m Hurdles

Maëva Scipio of Ontario ran the fastest provincial-championship 100m hurdles among graduates of 2027 and later, 13.88.

Boys Middle Distance and Distance

A few things stand out across the boys' distance events:

• Chase Capes of Ontario tops both the 1500m and the 3000m, the only boy to lead two events on these lists.
• Quebec's Arnaud Loignon owns the fastest 800m.
• The 1500m comes with a quirk worth noting: Quebec did not contest it, so a province that shows up everywhere else is absent from that one list.

Boys 800m

Arnaud Loignon of Quebec ran the fastest 800m at a provincial championship among 2027-and-later grads, 1:53.23.

Boys 1500m

At 3:46.17, Chase Capes of Ontario posted the top provincial 1500m by any athlete graduating in 2027 or later.

Boys 3000m

Chase Capes of Ontario doubled up, his 8:19.56 the best 3000m at a provincial meet among 2027-and-later grads and his second event lead on these lists.

Girls Middle Distance and Distance

A few observations worth mentioning from across the girls distance events:

• The fastest 800m in the country belongs to a Grade 10, Hannah Gregory of Alberta.
• The entire 1500m top eight is from Ontario.
• In the 3000m, the leader is Airlie Downie-Back, one of several Ontario athletes who ran their way onto these lists at a provincial championship that drew the deepest distance field in the country.

Girls 800m

The fastest provincial 800m by a 2027-or-later grad belongs to Hannah Gregory, a Grade 10 from Alberta, at 2:06.59.

Girls 1500m

Vicky Malik of Ontario ran 4:27.79 to lead the provincial 1500m among 2027-and-later grads, atop an all-Ontario top eight.

Girls 3000m

Among graduates of 2027 and beyond, the top provincial 3000m went to Airlie Downie-Back of Ontario, 9:40.26.

How to Build a College Track & Field Recruiting Target List

Most recruiting advice recommends more work than necessary. This guide covers how to build a realistic college track and field target list, research programs across four fit areas, and contact coaches through Streamline Athletes.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

Boys Jumps

Maxime Cazabon anchors the boys jumps. The Ontario Grade 11 tops the high jump and sits inside the top five of the triple jump, the only boy to place high in two jumping events. Elsewhere the leads spread out: Leshawn Telfer clears the long jump field by more than a third of a metre, Brenden Enninful leads the triple jump, and Christian Futo's pole vault stands nearly a metre above everyone else on these lists.

Boys Long Jump

Leshawn Telfer of Ontario recorded the longest provincial-championship long jump among 2027-and-later graduates, 7.20m.

Boys Triple Jump

Among 2027-and-later graduates, the longest provincial-championship triple jump belongs to Brenden Enninful of Alberta, at 14.41m.

Boys High Jump

Maxime Cazabon of Ontario cleared the highest provincial-championship high jump among graduates of 2027 and later, 2.00m.

Boys Pole Vault

Christian Futo of Ontario cleared the highest provincial-championship pole vault among 2027-and-later graduates, 4.90m.

Girls Jumps

The girls jumps feature two athletes who star elsewhere on these lists. Jaylah Dennis, who leads the sprints, also clears the highest bar in the high jump. Chioma Uzozie tops the triple jump as a Grade 9 and ranks in the long jump as well. Tessa Bell leads the long jump and presses the front of the 100m hurdles, and Lacey Boileau takes the pole vault.

Girls Long Jump

Tessa Bell of British Columbia recorded the longest provincial-championship long jump among 2027-and-later graduates, 5.83m.

Girls Triple Jump

Chioma Uzozie of British Columbia, a Grade 9, recorded the longest provincial-championship triple jump among graduates of 2027 and later, 12.46m.

Girls High Jump

Among 2027-and-later graduates, the highest provincial-championship high jump belongs to Jaylah Dennis of British Columbia, 1.80m.

Girls Pole Vault

Lacey Boileau of British Columbia cleared the highest provincial-championship pole vault among 2027-and-later graduates, 3.60m.

Boys Throws

The throws come in more lists than the other events, because Canadian high school federations throw different implement weights by province and age division, and a mark only means something against the same weight. Across them, one name spans two boards: Gursher Gabri of British Columbia leads both the 6 kg shot put and the 1.75 kg discus. Noah Vanneck throws the country's best 12 lb shot as a Grade 10, Levi Seel leads the 1.5 kg discus, and Evan Benning's javelin sits more than five metres clear of the field.

Boys Shot Put (5 kg)

Hudson Charrier of Manitoba recorded the longest provincial-championship 5 kg shot put among graduates of 2027 and later, 15.37m, more than a metre clear of the next thrower.

Boys Shot Put (12 lb)

Noah Vanneck of Ontario, a Grade 10, recorded the longest provincial-championship 12 lb shot put among 2027-and-later graduates, 19.04m.

Boys Shot Put (6 kg)

Among 2027-and-later graduates, the longest provincial-championship 6 kg shot put belongs to Gursher Gabri of British Columbia, 16.65m.

Boys Discus (1.5 kg)

Levi Seel of British Columbia recorded the longest provincial-championship 1.5 kg discus among 2027-and-later graduates, 44.78m.

Boys Discus (1.75 kg)

Among 2027-and-later graduates, the longest provincial-championship 1.75 kg discus belongs to Gursher Gabri of British Columbia, 47.00m.

Boys Javelin (800 g)

Evan Benning of British Columbia recorded the longest provincial-championship 800 g javelin among 2027-and-later graduates, 56.38m.

Girls Throws

Like the boys, the girls throws split into separate lists by implement weight, so each board compares only marks thrown at the same weight. Jenna Tunks of Ontario is the standout: her 1 kg discus sits more than ten metres clear of the next thrower, and she ranks among the leaders in the 4 kg shot put as well. Aliya Phillips tops the 4 kg shot as a Grade 9, and Kewine Nana Kouasseu leads the 3 kg list.

Girls Shot Put (3 kg)

Among 2027-and-later graduates, the longest provincial-championship 3 kg shot put belongs to Kewine Nana Kouasseu of Quebec, 13.86m.

Girls Shot Put (4 kg)

Aliya Phillips of Ontario, a Grade 9, recorded the longest provincial-championship 4 kg shot put among 2027-and-later graduates, 14.21m.

Girls Discus (1 kg)

Jenna Tunks of Ontario recorded the longest provincial-championship discus among 2027-and-later graduates, 51.37m.

Sources

All marks are drawn from official 2026 provincial high school championship results. Class years were confirmed by printed grade, graduation year, or birth year, depending on what each source provided.

• Ontario (OFSAA): 2026 OFSAA Track and Field Championship
• British Columbia (BC School Sports): 2026 BCSS Provincial Championship
• Alberta (School Sport Alberta): 2026 ASAA Provincial Championship
• Saskatchewan (SHSAA): 2026 SHSAA Provincial Championship
• Quebec (RSEQ): 2026 RSEQ Championship
• Newfoundland and Labrador (NLAA): 2026 NLAA Provincial Championship
• New Brunswick (SSNB): 2026 SSNB Provincial Championship
• Nova Scotia (SSNS): 2026 SSNS Track and Field Championship (PDF)
• Manitoba (MHSAA): 2026 MHSAA Provincial Championship

How NCAA Track & Field Recruiting Changed: 2021 to Today

NCAA track and field recruiting changed fast between 2021 and today. Here’s how NIL, the transfer portal, the House settlement, and five-in-five reshaped it.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

TL;DR

In five years, NCAA track and field and cross country recruiting changed more than it had in the previous thirty. Name, image and likeness made athletes paid commodities. The transfer portal turned roster-building into a free market. The NCAA dropped its standardized testing requirement. The House settlement capped Division 1 rosters while removing scholarship limits. And a proposed five-in-five eligibility model could reset the clock for everyone. Here are the impacts of each change, in order, and what they mean for a recruit today.

A high school athlete who started getting recruited in 2021 was playing a different game, administratively, than one getting recruited in 2026. The objective hasn't changed, but everything around them has.

Five rule changes have stacked on top of each other over five years, each one rewiring some part of how college programs build rosters and allocate scholarships. Most families never got a clean explanation of any of them, let alone all five together. This is that explanation.

We will go in order because each change set up the next one.

1. Name, image and likeness (2021)

In July 2021, the NCAA began letting athletes earn money from their name, image and likeness. The shift came as a wave of state laws took effect and just after the Supreme Court's NCAA v. Alston ruling laid bare how vulnerable the NCAA's amateurism model had become.

For the first time, a college athlete could sign an endorsement, run a paid camp, or get paid for a social post without losing eligibility.

For football and basketball, the money was immediate and enormous. For track and field and cross country, NIL mattered less directly and more as the first domino. It established the principle that athletes were assets with market value, and it pointed money toward the sports that generate revenue. Everything that followed, the portal economy and the scholarship restructuring especially, traces back to that shift in how college sports thinks about athletes and dollars.

What NIL meant for a track and field recruit:

NIL didn't mean much, at first. But it started the clock on everything else.

2. The transfer portal goes wide (2021 onward)

The transfer portal existed before 2021, but a string of rule changes blew it wide open. Athletes could transfer once without sitting out a year, and the friction that used to keep rosters relatively stable mostly disappeared.

For track and field, this was the change families felt first. A coach with a roster spot and scholarship money now had a choice: recruit a high school athlete who might develop over two or three years, or bring in a proven college performer from a Division II, U SPORTS, NAIA, or non-Power Division I program who can score next season. More and more, coaches chose the proven option.

That is the squeeze. Every roster spot filled by a transfer is a spot not offered to a high schooler. The portal did not just add a recruiting channel. It started competing directly with high school recruiting for the same finite spots.

What transfer portal changes meant for a track and field recruit:

The bar for getting recruited out of high school went up. You are now competing against college athletes with college results.

3. Standardized testing requirements disappeared (2023)

For decades, a high school athlete's path into Division I or Division II relied partly on a standardized test score. The NCAA used a sliding scale, weighing your SAT or ACT result against your GPA to decide whether you qualified.

That is gone. The NCAA waived testing during the pandemic in 2020, then made the change permanent at its January 2023 Convention, effective for athletes enrolling in 2023-24. Today, a D1 athlete qualifies academically by earning a 2.3 core-course GPA across 16 approved core courses, with no test score required for eligibility at all. We cover what the tests still involve, who should take them anyway, and how to prepare in a dedicated guide: Navigating the SAT and ACT for Student-Athletes.

An important note some families miss: The NCAA dropping the requirement does not mean your target school dropped it. NCAA eligibility and college admissions are two separate gates. An athlete has to clear both. A program's own admissions office may still want an SAT or ACT score, and a number of selective schools have reinstated testing for their applicants even as the NCAA stepped away from it. You can be NCAA-eligible and still fall short of a specific school's admissions bar.

There are test-required, test-optional, and test-blind schools. If an SAT or ACT score is required, you cannot apply without it. At test-optional institutions, your SAT or ACT score can support your application; a strong test score can boost your chances of admission. Test-blind schools will not consider an SAT or ACT score as part of your college application.

Dropping the requirement did not make testing irrelevant, and access is uneven. There are only eight ACT test centres in Canada, four of them in the Greater Toronto Area.

What standardized testing changes meant for a track and field recruit:

There's one fewer hurdle to compete in the NCAA, but not a free pass. If you are targeting academically selective programs, check whether the school itself still needs a test score or if an optional test score could help you. If you're unsure and have time to prepare for and write an SAT or ACT exam, it's still recommended.

4. The House settlement (2025)

This is a big one.

In June 2025, the House v. NCAA settlement was approved, taking effect July 1, 2025. It did two things at once that pull in opposite directions. It eliminated the old sport-specific scholarship limits, so a D1 program can now put a scholarship on every athlete on its roster. And it capped roster sizes, so those rosters got smaller.

For track and field, the new cap is 45 athletes. For cross country, 17. The SEC went further on the men's side, capping men's track at 35 and men's cross country at 10. We break down exactly which programs are affected, the before-and-after numbers, and what it means for recruits and transfers in a dedicated article: How NCAA Roster and Scholarship Rules Changed in 2025.

These caps apply only to Division I programs. No D2 or D3 program has the same restriction on their roster sizes. Division II teams still have the same equivalency-based athletic scholarship structure and Division III teams still do not offer athletic funding (academic only).

However, teams in D2, D3, NAIA, U SPORTS, and even the NJCAA, have all felt the trickle-down effects.

An important note that recruits and parents often miss: A Division I program opting into the settlement does not mean it has an unlimited scholarship budget. The NCAA now lets schools fund as many scholarships as they want, but it didn't hand athletic departments the money to do it. Plenty of D1 track programs now carry a roster limit of 45 and the same department-set budget they had under the old equivalency model, where a capped pool of scholarship money got split into partial awards across the roster however the coaching staff chose.

What capped rosters and uncapped athletic scholarships meant for a track and field recruit:

At the D1 level, and especially within the Power Four conferences, there were immediately fewer total roster spots and fewer developmental opportunities, especially for true freshmen. Coaches began to favor athletes with the highest potential to score right away.

5. The proposed five-in-five eligibility model (pending, 2026)

This section covers a proposal under active consideration. It has not passed. Last updated June 2026; we will update it when the Division I Cabinet votes.

The newest change is not yet a change. The NCAA Division I Cabinet is considering an age-based eligibility model, commonly called "five-in-five" or "5-in-5," that would give athletes five years of competition within a five-year window, as opposed to four years of eligibility under a more flexible clock. As of June 2026, a vote is expected at the Cabinet's June meetings, though the timeline has moved before and could move again.

What five-in-five would mean for a track and field recruit

Early versions of the proposal started the eligibility clock at high school graduation or an athlete's 19th birthday, whichever came first.

The current version starts the clock at initial full-time college enrollment or the academic year following the athlete's 19th birthday, whichever comes first. The model would also eliminate most redshirts and waivers, with narrow exceptions.

A tighter, age-based clock changes how programs value incoming high school athletes versus older transfers. If five-in-five passes, some of the value the portal pulled toward proven older athletes could swing back toward true incoming freshmen, who would have a full, clean five-year window. A crunch in one direction can become a reset in another.

For international athletes, including Canadians, an age-based window can be especially consequential, since athletes who take a gap year, repeat a grade, or enroll later may find their clock starts ticking before they ever set foot on a campus.

What all of this means for recruiting today

Put the five changes together and you get the situation families face.

The transfer portal and the House caps tightened the top of Division I and pushed coaches toward proven, immediate-impact athletes. NIL pointed the sport's money toward revenue programs. Five-in-five, if it passes, may tighten eligibility while quietly making clean-timeline high schoolers more attractive again.

None of that means the opportunities are gone. It means they moved, and the old map no longer matches the territory. For a closer look at how these changes land on families, and why even well-prepared parents get caught off guard, I wrote about it here: NCAA recruiting has been uprooted, and nobody told the families.

A few things have not changed:

• There are more than 1,700 post-secondary institutions offering track and field or cross country across the NCAA, NAIA, U SPORTS, and junior college ranks. The roster spots exist.
• Track and field and cross country operate on verified data. Fast times, far throws, and big leaps will be rewarded. How, when, and where are the variables that have changed, are changing, and will continue to change.

The job for a recruit is no longer learning a fixed set of rules. It is understanding a landscape that keeps moving, and building a target list based on where you could best fit: academically, athletically, by location, and by what your family can afford.

Get 1:1 expert guidance for your recruiting process

These changes are still unfolding, and the programs reacting to them are reacting in real time. That is exactly why a results page or a standards chart can only take a family so far. Knowing whether a specific program has the spot, the money, and a coach who recruits the way you need is a moving target, and it is different for every athlete.

That is the work we do at Streamline Athletes every day. If your family wants help turning all of this into a recruiting plan built around where you fit, book a recruitment advising session with me.

FAQ

What is the biggest recent change to NCAA track and field recruiting?

The House v. NCAA settlement, effective July 2025, capped Division I roster sizes while removing the old scholarship limits. It is the change with the most direct impact on how many high school athletes Division I programs can recruit.

What is the "five-in-five" rule?

It is a proposed NCAA eligibility model that would give athletes five seasons of competition within a five-year window, with the clock starting at initial full-time college enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever comes first. As of June 2026, it has not passed and is awaiting a Division I Cabinet vote.

How does the transfer portal affect high school recruits?

It increases competition for roster spots. Coaches can fill a spot with a proven college transfer instead of a high school athlete who needs time to develop, which raises the bar for getting recruited directly out of high school, especially at the Power Four level.

Do I still need the SAT or ACT to play NCAA sports?

A standardized test score is not required for NCAA eligibility. The NCAA permanently removed the standardized test requirement in 2023; Division I and Division II eligibility is now based on GPA and core courses. Individual colleges may still require a test score for admission, and some selective schools have reinstated testing for applicants, so check each school's own admissions requirements.

Are there still scholarship opportunities in NCAA track and field?

Yes. The House settlement removed scholarship caps for Division I programs. There are also full and partial scholarship opportunities across Division II, NAIA, and other collegiate athletic associations.

Did NIL change recruiting for track and field athletes?

Indirectly. NIL had the largest direct effect on revenue sports like football and basketball. For track and field, it mattered most as the first step in a broader shift toward treating athletes as assets with market value, which set up the changes that followed.

Applying to college in the US: Most schools use the Common App, one application that goes out to multiple colleges. A few large public systems run their own portals.

Applying to university in Canada: It depends on the province. Three provinces use a central portal. Everywhere else, you apply to each school directly.

If you're an athlete: Your application timeline runs alongside your recruiting timeline. They are not the same thing, and missing the difference costs athletes opportunities. More on that below.

How do you apply to college in the United States?

This is the question we hear most from athletes and parents: how do you actually apply to schools in the States?

The short answer for most students is the Common App.

The Common App is the most widely used college application platform in the US, accepted by more than 1,000 colleges and universities. You build one application with your personal information, academic history, activities, and a personal essay, then send it to multiple schools at once. That saves you from filling out the same information over and over for every school on your list.

A few things to know:

• You can apply to up to 20 schools through the Common App. For most athletes, that is far more than enough. A focused list beats a scattered one.
• Some schools run their own portals. A handful of large public university systems, like the University of California, do not use the Common App. You apply to those directly through their own websites. Always check each school's admissions page to confirm how they want your application.
• Watch for Early Decision and Early Action. Some schools let you apply early for an earlier answer. Early Decision is binding, meaning you commit if you get in. Early Action is not. Read the terms before you choose.
• Application fees typically run from $50 to $90 per school, and fee waivers are available if you qualify based on financial need.

Each school still sets its own admission requirements and deadlines, so the Common App gets your application out the door, but you are responsible for hitting every school's specific requirements.

How do you apply to university in Canada?

Applying in Canada works differently than in the US, and the process depends on the province.

There is no single national application system. Three provinces run a central portal that lets you apply to multiple schools in that province with one application. Everywhere else, you apply to each university directly through its own website.

Here's the breakdown:

• Ontario: Apply through OUAC, the Ontario Universities' Application Centre. One application covers every Ontario university. There are two streams: the 101 application for students currently in an Ontario high school, and the 105 application for everyone else, including out-of-province and international students.
• British Columbia: Apply through EducationPlannerBC, which covers most BC universities. A few schools also take applications directly, so confirm with each one.
• Alberta: Apply through ApplyAlberta, the central portal for Alberta universities.
• Every other province: No central portal. You apply to each university directly through its admissions page.

Two things to watch:

• Where you live can change how you apply. An out-of-province student applying to an Ontario school still uses OUAC, but through the 105 stream, not the 101. Always check which application type fits your situation before you start.
• Canadian universities focus mostly on your Grade 11 and 12 marks, with Grade 12 carrying the most weight for final admission. US schools tend to look further back, weighing your full high school record. We break the differences down in the comparison below.

If this is starting to feel like a lot, that's normal. The provincial differences trip up plenty of families, especially when an athlete is looking at schools across more than one province. A 60-minute recruitment advising session with a Streamline Athletes expert can walk you through exactly which applications you need, what each one requires, and how to line it all up with your recruiting timeline.

What's the Difference Between Applying in the US and Canada?

Do you need the SAT or ACT?

For US schools, often yes, but the rules have loosened.

The SAT and ACT are standardized tests US colleges use to compare applicants. Historically, almost every school required one. That has changed. Many US colleges are now test-optional, meaning you can apply without submitting a score, though a strong score can still strengthen your application. Policies vary widely from school to school, and some have started bringing test requirements back, so always check the current policy at each school on your list.

A few quick notes:

• The SAT is now fully digital. It is taken on a computer or tablet, runs about two hours, and is scored out of 1600 across two sections, Reading and Writing, and Math.
• The ACT has its own recent changes, including a shorter format and an optional science section. Check the latest before you sit it.
• There are several test dates throughout the year. Look up the requirements for your top schools first, then work backward to pick a date that gives you time to prepare and retake if needed.
• For Canadian schools, you generally do not need the SAT or ACT. Admission is based on your grades.

We cover test prep, scoring, and how to decide whether to submit a score in a dedicated guide.

→ Read our full guide to the SAT and ACT for student-athletes

Applying to US schools as a Canadian (or Canadian schools as an American)

Here's something a lot of families miss: if you're a Canadian applying to US schools, you count as an international student. The same goes for an American applying to Canadian schools. That status adds a few steps on top of the normal application.

If you're crossing the border for school, plan for these:

• A student visa. For US schools, that's the F-1 visa, and it's tied to the specific school you enroll at. For Canadian schools, you'll need a study permit. Start this early, since processing takes time and you can't begin without it.
• English proficiency tests are usually required, but often waived. Tests like the TOEFL or IELTS are standard for international applicants. The good news for most North American athletes: if you completed high school in English, schools will usually waive this requirement. Confirm with each school.
• Proof you can fund your studies. Both countries want to see that you can cover tuition and living costs. International students generally don't qualify for the host country's federal student aid, so plan your financing early. Scholarships, including athletic scholarships, can be part of this picture.
• An up-to-date passport. Sounds obvious, but renew it well ahead of any deadlines if it's close to expiring.

None of this is a reason to hesitate. Thousands of athletes cross the border for school every year. It just means a bit more paperwork and a longer runway, so start sooner rather than later.

We are now into the new year, which means the reality of university is emerging for soon-to-be high school graduates. The anticipation and excitement about making new friends, exploring new academic subjects and training in a different environment with new teammates and coaches, is one like no other. However, deciding what school to go to can be quite an overwhelming process - this is the place you are going to be spending the next four or five years of your life, after all!

Understanding what options and opportunities are out there for you, in the collegiate landscape, can make the decision a lot easier. Read on to learn about your options for university, both academically and athletically, how to apply to university and important dates to keep in mind during the whole process!

How does applying fit your recruiting timeline?

Here's the part general admissions guides leave out: if you're an athlete, you're running two timelines at once.

One is the application timeline this guide covers, the deadlines, the portals, the essays. The other is your recruiting timeline, when coaches can evaluate you, when they can contact you, and when you commit to a program. They overlap, but they are not the same thing, and the recruiting side usually starts earlier than families expect.

A coach often knows they want you well before you submit a single application. By the time you're filling out the Common App or your OUAC application, your recruiting conversations may already be deep. That's the goal. You want the athletic fit sorted so the application becomes a formality, not a gamble.

What that means in practice:

• Your profile does the early work. A complete, verified Streamline Athletes profile gets you in front of coaches who are actively recruiting your events and performance range, often before you've started any applications. That's the foundation, and it's free.
• Recruiting milestones come first. Evaluation windows, contact periods, visits, and commitments run on the recruiting calendar, which moves faster than the admissions calendar in the early years.
• The application is the finish line, not the starting line. Coaches who want you will guide you through their school's admissions process. Your job is to be a fit they want to recruit, and to hit the academic bar for admission.

If you want the full year-by-year breakdown of when to do what, that's a separate guide.

→ Read our track and field recruiting timeline: a year-by-year guide

And if you're just getting started, the first move isn't an application. It's getting found.

→ Build your free Streamline Athletes profile so coaches can find you, then explore Plus when you're ready to reach out to programs yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply to college in the United States?

Most US colleges use the Common App, a single application you send to multiple schools at once. You build one profile with your grades, activities, and a personal essay, then submit it to the schools on your list. A few large public university systems, like the University of California, run their own portals instead, so always check how each school wants your application.

How do I apply to university in Canada?

It depends on the province. Ontario (OUAC), British Columbia (EducationPlannerBC), and Alberta (ApplyAlberta) use central portals that let you apply to multiple schools in that province at once. In every other province, you apply to each university directly through its own website.

Can I apply to both US and Canadian schools at the same time?

Yes, and many athletes do. The two systems run separately, so you'll manage a US application (usually the Common App) and your Canadian applications (provincial portal or direct) on their own tracks. Keep a list of each school's method and deadline so nothing slips.

Do I need the SAT or ACT to apply?

For US schools, often yes, though many are now test-optional and you can apply without a score. Policies vary by school and some are bringing requirements back, so check each one. For Canadian schools, you generally do not need the SAT or ACT. Admission is based on your grades.

When should I start my applications?

Generally in the fall of your senior or Grade 12 year, with some US Early Decision and Early Action deadlines coming earlier. As an athlete, your recruiting timeline starts well before that, so getting your profile and target list in place early matters more than the application date itself.

Do I count as an international student?

If you're a Canadian applying to US schools, or an American applying to Canadian schools, then yes. That adds a few steps: a student visa (an F-1 visa for the US, a study permit for Canada), proof you can fund your studies, and sometimes an English proficiency test, though that's usually waived if you completed high school in English.

As an athlete, do I have to apply before a coach recruits me?

No. Coaches often know they want to recruit you before you apply, and they'll guide you through their school's admissions process. Your job is to be an athletic fit worth recruiting and to meet the school's academic admission bar. A complete Streamline Athletes profile gets you in front of the right coaches early.

We are here to help

We understand that taking this next step may be scary for you, but we are here to help every step of the way. There are many helpful resources available to you on the Streamline Athletes blog that will help guide you through the process. Make sure to sign up and utilize the platform tools to get in contact with coaches as well.

To get personal guidance and a step-by-step recruitment plan built for you, book a 60-minute online advising session with a Recruitment Expert today.

TL;DR: A good track and field and cross-country recruiting platform is built specifically for the sport, verifies athletes' performances from official meet results, hosts coaches who actively recruit, reaches across every collegiate athletic system, works for both US and Canadian athletes, offers personalized expert guidance, lets athletes get found for free, and lists every price publicly. Streamline Athletes is built around all nine.

Track and field and cross country recruiting is its own world. The recruiting calendar runs differently than football or basketball. Coaches evaluate athletes on times and marks, not highlight tapes. Recruiting standards vary by event, division, conference, and school, and they shift constantly with each program's current needs. The decisions athletes and families make can shape four years of competition, an undergraduate degree, and tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship money.

A recruiting platform that gets this right can save serious time and surface opportunities families would otherwise miss. A platform that doesn't can waste both.

Here are nine things to look for in a recruiting platform built for track and field and cross country athletes, and how Streamline Athletes was designed around each one.

1. A platform built specifically for track and field and cross country

Most college recruiting platforms cover every sport. Their tools, advice, and search filters are built to work across football, basketball, soccer, and the rest. In track and field or cross country, the recruiting process runs differently from the team-sport model.

Track recruiting operates on performance data, such as athlete PRs (PBs). Coaches build their rosters around event-specific recruiting standards rather than generalized rankings. The indoor and outdoor seasons, conference championships, and signing periods do not map onto team-sport assumptions. Advice built on football or basketball logic can send a track athlete in the wrong direction at the wrong time of year.

Streamline Athletes is built specifically for track and field and cross country. The event-specific standards, performance verification, and the recruiting intelligence published on the Streamline Athletes blog are all grounded in how this sport works.

2. Verified performance data

Recruiting platforms ask athletes to enter their best marks. Most stop there. The problem: self-reported times and marks are unreliable. Athletes mistype, exaggerate, list wind-aided performances as legal, or carry forward outdated PRs. Coaches who rely on self-reported data spend extra time confirming what should already have been confirmed.

Verification is one of the clearest tests of any platform. If a platform does not verify, every coach using it is doing extra work to validate the data, and every athlete is competing against profiles that may not be honest.

Streamline Athletes verifies every PR from official meet results. When a college coach looks at an athlete's profile on the platform, they see numbers they can trust. That trust shortens the path from an interesting profile to a recruiting conversation, and it is one of the main reasons coaches who recruit on Streamline Athletes get faster answers than coaches stuck verifying marks themselves.

3. College coaches actively recruiting on the platform

Many recruiting platforms keep coaches in a passive role. Athletes create profiles. Coaches may or may not browse. The platform's revenue comes almost entirely from the athlete side. The result is a recruiting database, not a hub for active recruiting.

Streamline Athletes is built around active coach engagement. College programs access a verified athlete pool and outreach goes directly to athletes whose performances match their recruiting standards. Coaches do not browse hoping to stumble onto someone. Athletes do not wait hoping a coach finds them. When standards align, the conversation starts.

College programs across every collegiate athletic system pay to recruit on the platform.

"The response with Streamline Athletes has been so much better. We would previously send out ~100 emails and only have a few athletes get back to us, but with Streamline Athletes, 8 out of 10 turn into conversations."

Steven Krouse

Head Track & Field/Cross Country Coach · University of Minnesota-Crookston (NCAA Division II)

4. Reach across every collegiate athletic association and division

Not every athlete is destined for NCAA Division I, and not every Division I program is the right fit even for athletes who could compete there. A useful recruiting platform reaches across the full landscape: D1, D2, D3, NAIA, NJCAA, CCAA, U SPORTS, and more.

This matters more than it used to. Since the House settlement reshaped NCAA D1 rosters and scholarships in 2025, the gap between Power Four programs and the rest of Division I has widened at the top end (at least in terms of recruiting and scholarship resources), while opportunities have opened at mid-major D1, D2, NAIA, and U SPORTS programs that can now recruit athletes who would previously have landed at a Power school.

Streamline Athletes covers over 1,700 programs across every level of collegiate track and field and cross country in the US and Canada. Athletes can browse programs by division, conference, location, academic profile, and more before adding them to their Wishlist or contacting them. Coaches across the full ladder, from Power Four D1 to NJCAA and CCAA, use Streamline Athletes to recruit.

5. Built for US athletes and families

US athletes do not need to use NCSA. They do not need to sit through a sales call to find out what a recruiting service costs. They do not need to hand their recruiting process over to a generalist platform that does not understand track and field.

Streamline Athletes covers every level of US college sport that track and field and cross country athletes care about: NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III, NAIA, and NJCAA. Verified performance data sits behind every athlete profile, which is the data US coaches trust when they are recruiting. Pricing is fully public and a phone call is not required to find out what something costs.

"The American athletes have been especially helpful for adding depth."

Josh Hayman

Head Cross Country and Track & Field Coach · University of Delaware (NCAA Division I)

US athletes who use Streamline Athletes get contacted by US programs across all associations and divisions. They also get a window into U SPORTS opportunities in Canada that pure US platforms do not surface.

6. Built for Canadian athletes

Most college recruiting platforms are US-centric. They were built for the NCAA market and added Canadian users as an afterthought. Coverage of U SPORTS is thin or non-existent. Relationships with Canadian athletes are weak. The cross-border decisions many North American track athletes have to make get poor support.

Streamline Athletes is the official college recruitment platform partner of Athletics Canada, the national governing body for the sport in Canada. As a result, Streamline Athletes is a primary destination for recruitable Canadian T&F and XC athletes, and US coaches looking for Canadian talent know where to find it.

For Canadian athletes weighing NCAA programs in the US, the platform is built around their context: US program coverage at every level, verified performances US coaches trust, and a transparent pricing model that does not punish families for being north of the border. For Canadian athletes considering U SPORTS or CCAA programs, the platform's relationships with Canadian programs run deeper than those of competitors that treat Canada as an afterthought.

7. Personalized guidance from people who do this every day

Software helps, but it's not always enough on its own. Most families navigating the recruiting process benefit from talking to someone who has done this many times before and who can look at an athlete's marks, academics, budget, and goals to determine where their strongest opportunities sit.

A platform should offer that kind of expert guidance when a family needs it, without making it the only way to get value out of the product.

Streamline Athletes offers one-on-one recruitment advising sessions. Each session is a 60-minute virtual call that produces a personalized step-by-step recruitment plan based on the athlete's specific situation: scholarship opportunities, eligibility assessment, recruiting standards analysis, a prioritized school list, and direct answers to every question the family brings.

For families weighing complex decisions in a recruiting market that shifts month to month, that conversation often shortens a process that would otherwise take months of guessing.

"Brett Montrose, founder and athlete advisor at Streamline Athletes, really listened to what I was looking for in a school and went above and beyond to help me find a university that checked all the boxes."

Sydney Kube

Committed to DePaul University

Read Sydney's full story

"The recruitment process can be very technical with many nuances. We needed help to understand everything. We have found Brett at Streamline to be a genuine, valuable and useful guide throughout this entire process."

Jimmy Reed

Committed to Montana State University Billings

Read Jimmy's full story

"They took so much of the stress out of the recruitment process. I am very grateful to have had Brett help me through my recruiting journey."

Elise Drake

Committed to University of Hawaii

Read Elise's full story

If you're not in need of a full advising session right away, but still have questions about the sport, the Streamline Athletes app, or your recruiting process, our team will always point you in the right direction, offer advice, and help you make sense of what college track and field recruiting means for you. Just send us an email: support@streamlineathletes.com.

8. A free path to discoverability

Discovery should not be paywalled. An athlete who cannot pay for a premium subscription should not be invisible to college coaches. The most important first step in the recruiting process, putting a verified profile in front of programs, should be available to every athlete with the marks to be recruited.

When evaluating any platform, look at what the free tier gives you. Can an athlete build a complete, verified profile? Can coaches contact them? Or is the free tier essentially a teaser that funnels everyone toward a paid upgrade?

On Streamline Athletes, the free Essentials membership gets an athlete seen. An athlete with a complete profile will be contacted by college coaches, as long as they meet athletic and academic standards and have a college entry year within coaches' current recruiting parameters.

Athletes can build the profile, get verified, and start being recruited without paying anything.

9. Transparent pricing and no high-pressure sales

The recruiting industry has a reputation for opacity. Some of the largest US recruiting platforms do not list prices publicly. Athletes and families have to schedule a phone call, sit through a sales pitch, and only then learn what something costs. NCSA's paid tiers, for example, have been reported in the $1,320 to $4,200+ per year range and are revealed only on the phone. Many families come out of those calls feeling pressured into a tier they did not intend to buy.

This is the single most common complaint families have about the larger US recruiting services.

Streamline Athletes lists every price publicly. The free tier is free. The paid subscription is shown at its monthly and annual rates. Advising sessions are the lowest cost option on the market for expert help and are listed with their flat price. A phone call is not required to learn what something costs.

Families can evaluate Streamline Athletes the way they would evaluate any honest service: by looking at what it does, what it costs, and whether it fits. And if you aren't sure, you can ask us for more info or simply use the free option.

10. Athletes control their data and contact info

Most recruiting platforms treat athlete contact information as something coaches can browse freely. That model puts the burden on young athletes and their families to manage a flood of unsolicited outreach, much of it from programs that aren't a fit.

Streamline Athletes operates on a different model: athletes control who sees their personal information, and that control doesn't change based on whether they're on the free tier or Plus.

How it works:

• Athletes are discoverable, not exposed. A profile shows verified performances, training context, and video. Coaches can find and evaluate athletes based on what matters: results and potential. Name, email, and phone stay private by default.
• When an athlete reaches out to a coach, their profile is shared. Initiating contact is the consent. If you want a coach to know who you are, you tell them.
• When a coach reaches out to an athlete, the athlete has to hit "Yes" to share their name and contact details. Coaches don't get mass-blast access or a browsable directory of teenage contact information. The athlete sees the interest, then decides whether to engage.
• Streamline Athletes does not sell athlete data. Profiles exist to help athletes get recruited, not to be packaged and sold to third parties.

This matters most for parents of younger athletes, who are increasingly concerned about how their child's information moves through online platforms. A recruiting platform built around athlete consent is a safer, less stressful environment than one built around maximum exposure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to pay to use Streamline Athletes?

No. The free Essentials profile lets athletes build a verified profile, explore programs, and be contacted by college coaches across the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, CCAA, and U SPORTS without paying anything. Plus subscriptions and one-on-one advising sessions are available for athletes who want more control over the process.

Is Streamline Athletes legitimate?

Yes. Streamline Athletes has been helping student-athletes get recruited since 2017. The platform is the official college recruitment platform partner of Athletics Canada and works directly with college programs across every collegiate athletic system in the US and Canada.

How do coaches find me on Streamline Athletes?

Once an athlete completes their profile and their verified performances meet a program's recruiting standards, coaches will request to contact you.

Is it too late (or too early) to start?

As long as an athlete has started high school, it is not too early. Building a verified profile early gives coaches more time to track an athlete's progression. For high school juniors and seniors, every week without a complete profile is a week of being invisible to programs that are actively recruiting. Learn more about the college track and field recruiting timeline here.

How does Streamline Athletes compare to NCSA or other recruiting platforms?

Streamline Athletes is built specifically for track and field and cross-country. NCSA and most others are multi-sport. Streamline Athletes verifies performances using official meet results. NCSA and others rely on self-reported data. Streamline Athletes lists every price publicly. NCSA requires a sales call. Streamline Athletes partners directly with college programs so coaches actively recruit through the platform. NCSA's coach side is passive. Read more here:

Streamline Athletes vs Other Recruiting Platforms for Track & Field/XC

A fact-based comparison of Streamline Athletes, NCSA, FieldLevel, SportsRecruits, and Runcruit for track and field and cross-country athletes and families.

Brett MontroseStreamline Athletes

What is verified performance data and why does it matter?

Verified performance data means an athlete's track and field and/or cross country performances are confirmed against official meet results rather than self-reported and accepted at face value. It matters because college coaches recruit based on data. Self-reported times can be wrong, outdated, or wind-aided in events where wind disqualifies a mark. Verification removes the doubt and shortens the path from an interesting profile to a recruiting conversation.

Will my contact information be shared with coaches I haven't reached out to?

No. If a coach reaches out to you on Streamline Athletes, you'll see the interest before any of your contact details are shared. You decide whether to share your name and contact information by hitting the Yes button from your Opportunities dashboard. This works the same way on the free tier and on Plus.

Does Streamline Athletes sell athlete data?

No. Streamline Athletes does not sell athlete data to third parties. Profiles exist to help athletes get recruited by coaches who are actively using the platform.

How does Streamline Athletes protect athlete privacy?

Streamline Athletes is built on an athlete-consent model. Profiles are visible to coaches so athletes can be discovered, but personal details like name, email, and phone stay private by default. Athletes share contact information either by reaching out to a coach themselves or by approving a coach's outreach.

How to start

The fastest way to evaluate Streamline Athletes is to create a free profile. There's no commitment, no sales call, and no obligation. Once a profile is verified, athletes start hearing from programs that match their standards.

Have questions about where an athlete's strongest opportunities sit? Book a one-on-one Recruitment Advising session with Brett →

Streamline Athletes is the only college recruiting platform built specifically for track and field and cross-country. Founded in 2017 in British Columbia, Canada. Official college recruitment platform partner of Athletics Canada. Trusted by athletes, families, and college programs across the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, CCAA, and U SPORTS.