D3 to D1: Taking the Next Step
When COVID-19 stripped multiple seasons away for student-athletes, many were devastated to miss out on opportunities that they once thought were guaranteed. As a result, the NCAA reinstated one full year of eligibility for D3 athletes.
Something else happened, too.
When athletes returned to competition, the division as a whole started seeing some of the best performances it has seen in D3 history. This rise in athletic success combined with the D3 athlete’s inclination to prioritize academics made D3 athletes the perfect candidates for one role in particular: the graduate transfer.
Many graduating D3 student-athletes are using this opportunity to create an extra edge in the working world as well as the playing field, as they bring the values they gained from D3 with them to the highest performing division in the NCAA: D1. With so many D3 athletes joining the D1 forces this year, the differences in divisional talent are no longer so explicit.
D3: An academic experience
Four years ago, Isabel Maletich was deciding where she wanted to go to college. A talented track athlete from Woodridge, IL, she held PRs of 18-6.5 feet in the long jump and 38 feet in the triple jump. According to NCSA, these marks fall on the low end of a D1 program’s recruiting standards and the top end of a D3 program’s standards.
The primary driver in Maletich’s college search was to find a program that was a good academic fit regardless of athletic division. She chose the University of Chicago for this reason, thus personifying the NCAA’s description of the D3 student-athlete experience: “Academics are the primary focus for Division III student-athletes. Participation in athletics is a way to enhance this priority….”
It makes sense that this scholarly mindset would extend to her decision to pursue postgraduate studies.
Maletich graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Public Policy in the spring. She will begin a Master’s program in City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill this fall. When it came to her graduate school search, Maletich said she used the same approach she used when choosing her undergraduate school.
“I chose UNC because I didn’t have to sacrifice anything,” she said. “It is one of the most well-renowned planning programs in the country that has the exact academic environment I wanted for my master’s degree.”
Maletich is joined by several D3 student-athletes in this year’s graduating class with similar academic motivations regarding graduate school:
Ithaca graduate Katelyn Hutchison chose the University of Kentucky for its Master’s program in Sport Leadership.
Suffolk graduate Matyas Csiki-Fejer chose Duke University for its Master’s program in Political Science.
John Carroll's fifth-year Jamie Dailey chose the University of Cincinnati to extend his education in Sports Administration.
Messiah star Esther Seeland chose the University of Virginia for its graduate program in exercise physiology.
On paper, each student had somewhat archetypal academic progressions—all completed undergraduate degrees in four or five years and then transitioned into graduate school. However, the past several years have been anything but ordinary for students, especially student-athletes.
COVID-19 and the lost season(s)
The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out as many as five seasons for athletes involved in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track. Of those student-athletes involved in all three seasons, some also attended schools that canceled the 2021 spring season.
As a result, the NCAA granted a full year of eligibility in all sports to all D3 athletes. This gave many graduating D3 athletes a unique opportunity:
They could use their eligibility as grad transfers in D1 programs.
“When the pandemic first hit and everyone was sent home from school, I went through a bit of a mourning period for my NCAA eligibility,” said Maletich. “At the time, I had accepted that I would be done with track and field once I graduated.”
However, what was once a hard truth has now become an opportunity for Maletich. The indoor co-national record holder and three-time national champion in the long jump and triple jump will use her remaining eligibility to finish her jumping career in a Carolina blue Tarheels jersey.
“I could not be more grateful to have one more year with track and field,” she said. “The opportunity to compete at UNC is going to challenge me and push me to be the best athlete that I can possibly be, but the bottom line is that it’s the opportunity to continue doing the sport that I have loved for the past ten years.”
Csiki-Fejer, a cross country and outdoor 5k All-American, holds a similar excitement surrounding the opportunity to extend his running eligibility as a Duke Blue Devil.
“[After college] I know I'll be busy and won't ever have this opportunity again,” he said. “I want to test my limits, have fun with the process, and see how far I can go in this sport. I think I'll be able to retire from college running without any regrets after finishing my time at Duke.”
For Hutchison, a three-time All-American in the 400m, the prospect of growth in a new environment as a Kentucky Wildcat is the most exciting factor.
“Ithaca has been my home for the past four years, and now I can feel myself itching for something more,” she said. “I do really well when I have people to push me. I know I'll get faster and thrive in that environment.”
Dailey, a cross country and track All-American and 5k national champion, looks forward to the team aspect of contributing to the Bearcats’ roster of talented cross country athletes.
“Competing for a new team and meeting new guys is something I look forward to,” he said. “[Cincinnati's] program is currently on the rise, looking to qualify a team for the National Championships for cross country in November. Training with them at the Division 1 level will help me extend my love for the sport.”
And for Seeland, the five-time NCAA D3 champion, dual-sport athlete, and soon-to-be UVA Cavalier, the increase in coaches, resources, and opportunities is the most appealing.
“I know the program at Virginia has more coaching staff, more athletic resources, and travels a lot more than I ever got to at my D3 school, so I'm looking forward to that experience,” she said.
She loves that the coaching staff at Virginia is willing to work with her unique background as a D3 runner and soccer player and appreciates that they will take a holistic approach to shape her as a student and athlete.
A spike in grad transfers
The concept of grad transfers in the NCAA is far from new. However, the NCAA has noticed a significant spike in the number of student-athletes transferring to schools as graduate students via data obtained from the NCAA’s new Transfer Portal dashboard.
This extension has benefitted several graduating D3 athletes, such as the ones listed below.
A non-comprehensive list of 2022 D3 graduate transfers
D3 vs. D1: Differences in circumstances, not talent
Because D1 schools tend to be larger than D3 schools, most student-athletes turn to D1 schools for graduate studies, as they often offer more programs. D3 schools typically have limited to no options for graduate programs.
For example, D3 national champion schools Loras College and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have seven and 12 graduate degrees listed on their websites, respectively, whereas D1 national champion school the University of Florida advertises having over 150.
This increase in opportunity does not stop in the classroom, either. According to NCAA.org, the NCAA allocates roughly 60% of its revenue (about $600 million) to D1 programs and conferences (plus $150 million for championships). D3 programs only receive about 3.18% of the NCAA’s operating budget ($35.1 million). With more money at the D1 level comes more equipment and gear, better facilities, larger coaching staff, and more.
Many D3 athletes recognize the heightened opportunities that come with such resources compared to their current programs. Athletes mentioned D1 advantages such as increased facetime with coaches, underwater treadmills, more training partners, and the prospect of receiving athletic scholarships.
According to NCSA, the D1 scholarship recruiting window for a men’s 5k cross-country runner ranges from 13:58 on the top end to 15:52 on the low end. In the women’s 400m, the scholarship range is between 52.23 and 57.89.
Though these standards are mostly directed toward high school athletes, many D3 grad transfers have improved enough from high school to meet these standards. Csiki-Fejer and Dailey now hold 5k PRs of 14:09 and 14:08, respectively, while Hutchison has a current 400m PR of 55.97.
These times are part of a growing statistic of performances within D3 that are blurring the lines between what it means to be a D3 versus D1 athlete.
“I'm happy to see so many D3 athletes go D1,” Hutchison said. “My hope is that in the long run, D3 will be just as competitive as D1 because of the popularity we'll bring to it. People will understand you don't need the D1 title to be great. I'm excited to see how we do, and I'm proud of the other athletes. We are going to do some great things; I can feel it.”
Hutchison’s feeling likely comes from the unprecedented success D3 has seen in just the past year. Nine D3 national records fell indoors, and four more fell during the outdoor season. The men’s 200m record was broken by three different individuals at the NCAA championships.
D3 is faster than ever, and its athletes are even some of the best in the U.S. Five current D3 athletes qualified to compete in this year’s outdoor U.S. Championships in Eugene, OR held at the end of June.
Seeland is one such athlete. Her D3 No. 2 all-time of 2:02.24 in the 800m qualified her for the U.S. Championships. She placed 20th of 32 competitors and third of just nine collegiate competitors. With this time, she will start as UVA’s top 800m athlete next year by over 3.5 seconds.
Hutchison sees the elevation in D3 as an opportunity for grad transfers to help close the performance gap from D3 to D1 programs.
“I think this wave of athletes transferring will do us some good as a division if the others also use their platform to continue talking about D3,” she said. “It'll be important for them to still talk about their D3 experience while they've reached the top if we want all of this to work together to elevate D3.”
Advice from the transfer veterans
2021 graduate Matthew Wilkinson is a prime example of translating D3 talent to D1 success. During his time as a D3 athlete at Carleton, Wilkinson was a national runner-up in cross country and a two-time national champion in track in the 5k and the steeplechase.
After one year of competing as a Minnesota Gopher, Wilkinson was 72nd in the country in cross country and made the D1 NCAA final in the steeplechase, ultimately garnering All-American status. He was 19th of 25 competitors at the outdoor U.S. championships.
Perhaps the athletes who have already made this transition from D3 to D1 can offer the most sage perspective on the demands of transferring across divisions.
Former D3 athletes Ryan Cutter and Jack Whetstone, similarly to Wilkinson, already have some experience in D1 programs under their belts. Whetstone competed for Emory before transferring to Syracuse University due to the pandemic, while Cutter transferred to Villanova after competing at the University of Chicago.
“Overall, it felt like a gradual process where my goals and aspirations made D1 the next step up,” Cutter explained. “I anticipated a huge jump in intensity, but it has been a pleasant surprise to find that training and competing still feels natural. I found that running is running no matter what level you’re at, and the essence of it stays the same.”
Whetstone expressed a similar transition experience into Syracuse’s program, the ease of which he attributed to his time as an athlete at Emory working toward making a national meet, a feat he didn’t accomplish until his junior year.
“For me, the adjustment from high school to college was a lot bigger than the adjustment from Emory to Syracuse,” he said. “Aiming to compete at the national level in D3 was the biggest mountain I'll ever have to climb when it comes to running, so coming to Syracuse, I wasn't worried. I had to be in D3 to become a good runner, and it prepared me to be running D1 and for so much more.”
While the transition to Syracuse was smoother overall than Whetstone’s transition from high school, it was not without some bumps. He explained that the training at Emory and Syracuse were drastically different, which was a big adjustment for him at the start, sometimes making him feel like a freshman back at Emory again. He didn’t communicate his training well enough with his coach at Syracuse, which only exacerbated his struggles.
Graduate students are in a unique position because they don’t have four years to draw out their transition as they did in their undergraduate programs, making communication crucial for success. Whetstone uses his experience to emphasize this need for openness with coaches to incoming transfer athletes.
“For anyone making this transition in the future, the biggest advice I have is to make sure you tell your new coach what you've been doing and see how they want to handle the transition,” he said. “Regardless of how successful you've been or how good your coach is, it's just a fact that a lot of great coaches have different training styles than other great coaches.
For Cutter, the strategy behind a successful transition was more about managing emotions. Though the program and stakes might be variables that change during a transfer, how one handles the pressure and preparedness can remain constant.
“My mindset when I arrived at Villanova centered on enjoying the day-to-day training and focusing on the process rather than the outcome,” he explained. “To make the most of this experience, I could not fixate on racing well or qualifying for championships to feel fulfilled because then everything else would pass me by. Fulfillment instead results from cherishing the mundane and relatively boring parts of showing up every day.”
He explained that he adopted this mindset while still at the University of Chicago and then made it an intentional activity when he was transferring to Villanova. He believes it is a useful way to frame running challenges at any level, but especially in high-stakes environments like D1 programs.
A second chance
In her experience as a D3 athlete in the middle of a pandemic, Maletich has also picked up on this need to be present under all circumstances.
Three years ago, she was coming off her first long jump national title indoors and a big PB in the outdoor long jump. No one could have ever predicted that she would spend the next two seasons sidelined alongside the rest of the country as we waited for a raging pandemic to pass.
Perhaps being present was something she took for granted at the time. With a new opportunity to continue competing at UNC, however, Maletich is prepared to cherish the day-to-day.
“I think that because I had come to terms with losing the ability to compete, it makes being able to continue jumping next year so special and exciting,” she said.
As she joins Csiki-Fejer, Hutchison, Seeland, Dailey, and many others on their quests for redemption following the COVID-19 year, she reaffirms what every D3 student-athlete knows to be true: amidst the noble pursuit of an academic degree can come remarkable athletic achievement.
While each student-athlete packs their bags at the end of the summer, ready to take the full plunge into a completely new campus territory, they clear a special space for D3—the friendships, the memories, the lessons to carry with them, knowing these form the foundation on which they were built.
