Division 1 track and field is assumed to be the most competitive place for college sprinting. Great sprinters like Christian Coleman, Andre De Grasse, and Joseph Fahnbulleh showed their first signs of greatness at the D1 NCAA championships, but that is not the case for every sprinter. And although D1 does offer the maximum amount of scholarship dollars for track, the truth is that non division 1 runners can be just as good as those who are at that level. In fact, through most of the 2023 outdoor season, 5 runners ranked inside the top 10 of the nation’s all collegiate leaderboards are not from Division 1. Which begs the question, how is this possible? Division 1 sprinting is not exactly what it seems, and anyone in any uniform is a threat to win, on any given weekend.

Non-D1 runners are dominating the 2023 outdoor season 

The dominance of non Division 1 sprinters in recent memory is nothing new. Track and field is a sport that does not get a lot of television coverage anyway, and non-D1 programs compete with those that are at meets around the country all the time. As recently as 2022 the second fastest man in college was Benjamin Azamati of West Texas A&M University. Not Texas A&M in the SEC, but West Texas A&M in the Division 2 Lone Star conference. He actually runs for Ghana and competed at the world championships later that year. But what we are seeing in 2023 is something different entirely because one NAIA sprinter, one Division 2 sprinter, and three NJCAA sprinters are ranked in the top 10 of the nation right now. Don’t get me wrong D1 sprinters are still running very fast times. But we have never seen this many sprinters outside D1 move that fast. Even a Division 3 athlete Sam Blaskowski of Wisconsin La Crosse was ranked as highly as 32nd on the All College list, running 10.20 wind legal.

Division 1 runners are not as good as you think

If we are really being honest, Division 1 track and field is not as competitive as we like to think it is. Sure the SEC and maybe even the Big Ten are rolling down the track, but there are 30 conferences in Division 1, and they all don’t run Olympic qualifying times! To crack the top 8 sprinters in the 100 meter dash in the SEC this year, you have to run 10.16 or faster. I admit that is some next level sprinting. But if you look at the Conference USA which shares a lot of the same real estate in D1, you only have to run 10.38. Granted all of those are first team national elite times if you asked Milesplit. But I promise you, there are D1 conferences that are way slower than that. I sprinted myself in a Division 1 small conference but don’t take my word for it. The Northeast Conference is barely talked about in D1 but they actually exist. The conference leader this year ran 10.62, and eight place is only 10.83. That means you may not need to break 10.8 in their 2023 conference championship just to make the final. To say that D1 is the fastest level, is pretty misleading, because the Lone Star Conference in D2 would blow almost every team in the Northeast Conference for D1 out of the water.

Junior College Runners have always been just as good as D1 

Believe it or not Junior College sprinters have always been a wild card because the athletes at that level are primarily on those teams because of an academic eligibility issue. Their talent on the track is normally just as good as any of the top freshmen in the NCAA, and sometimes even better. Three junior college athletes are ranked in the collegiate top 10 this season for the 100 meter dash, but they are just continuing a trend of JUCO dominance. “Kung fu” Kenny Bednarek was a junior college sprinter before turning pro and becoming an Olympic medalist in the 200 meter dash. Likewise Andre De Grasse, became a double champion at the NCAA D1 level in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Several years later Terrance Laird went first and second at the NCAA D1 meet as well in both events. But they were competing in the NJCAA the years before they won, and failed to win both titles at that level. Even Fred Kerley was a Junior College runner before he transferred to Texas A&M and won the NCAA 400 meter dash. But now he is a 100 meter World Champion.

The Bottom Line 

Division 1 track and field is perhaps the most competitive level of collegiate track top to bottom. But if you look near the top of any of the other levels, you will find some amazing sprinters. Finding the right college program for any recruit might not be just about taking the most attractive Division 1 offer, but rather the best one that you get period. 2023 could be an outlier, and perhaps D1 sprinters will dominate the leaderboards one again. But even if things go back to normal, there will always be sprinters outside of D1 who will shock the world whenever they get their chance to match up on the starting line.

KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.

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