International Recruits Are Providing More Than Just Depth

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If you're an athlete and interested in joining a track and field program collegiately, get ready to compete to earn your spot. 

But keep in mind one thing: NCAA Division I athletics isn't exclusive to just American athletes. 

And that's been a major shift in the quest for talent acquisition. Coaches, and their directors and coordinators of recruiting, now spend more time on international recruiting sites, painstakingly digging into results-based sites like Tilastopaja and IAAF.

It would be naive to think that talent is only here, stateside.

So team's have broadened their scopes and moved some of their resources to talent overseas. But in the NCAA, it's also working. International student-athletes are helping programs win national championships, they're making school history, and they're even setting event records for their home countries. 

With the NCAA Cross Country Championships less than three weeks away, the Northern Arizona University men's program is one such example. The ...