Frontier Academy runners navigate challenging college recruitment process
A lot has changed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that is still raging throughout the United States. In the sports world alone, seasons were postponed or canceled while masks and pre-practice temperature checks became the new normal. Another thing that has changed due to the pandemic is the recruiting process at the collegiate level.
The recruiting process at the collegiate level can already be a stressful time for prospective collegiate athletes. Athletes are trying to narrow down not only where they see themselves pursuing a degree but also find a team with which they can fit in and excel. High school athletes in normal times would get the opportunity to weed out potential schools by touring campus and meeting the coach and team. This allows the athletes to get a feel for how the team acts outside of practice and what to expect from the student athlete experience if they choose to attend the school. Oftentimes, high schoolers will spend a night or the day with a member of the college team. Due to the restrictions of some states, staying the night or even stepping foot on campus was not possible for many athletes, which forced them to rely on the words of others to guide their college decision.
Two senior cross country and track athletes at Frontier Academy High School in Greeley, Colo. had the opportunity to explore this unique recruiting process in 2020. Sylas Chambers recently committed to Milligan University in Elizabethton, Tenn. and Justin Quammen has verbally committed to South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, S.D. .Both were on the 2020 Colorado state cross country championship team back in October.
Quammen’s recruitment process was reasonably close to what would have been considered normal in previous years.
“Staying in touch with the coach came really easily to me,” Quammen said. “The coach would text me on occasion to check in on me and we had a few phone calls discussing the program.”
Talking with South Dakota School of Mines head coach Steve Johnson eventually led Quammen to an in-person visit where he was able to meet Johnson and converse a bit with the team. However, this visit was met with normal COVID-19 restrictions like social distancing and masks.
Even though Quammen experienced a pretty traditional recruitment process, he still feels uneasy at times.
“I do feel more pressure to keep other schools in mind due to the pandemic in case for some reason COVID-19 prevents me from going to the South Dakota Mines campus,” Quammen said.
Usually, high schoolers can find a school and commit without another worry that they might have to change their decision later on.
Chambers had a similar experience. Although scenarios were different due to the pandemic, he feels like they didn’t deter him too much from his recruitment plans.
“I was very fortunate,” Chambers said. “I met my future coach (Chris Layne) when I was on a vacation during a workout on the local track. And then we started talking and set up a date to FaceTime.”
Chambers talked to Layne about the program and the team virtually, which eventually led to his decision to commit to Milligan without touring the campus, although Chambers does intend to see the Milligan University campus over spring break.
“Thinking about the future always stresses me out,” Chambers said, “but I was very fortunate to have that situation where I did meet the coach and then it just fell together.”
Both Quammen and Chambers were fortunate in this regard as they were able to find programs where the coaches reached out to them. This resulted in a streamlined communication process that not all prospective college athletes experience when talking to collegiate coaches. Both Quammen and Chambers are nervous about the uncertainty of the next few months to the next few years, but if they weather the storm like they have through this past year and their recruitment process, they will be more than fine.
