Not sure if there are tryout periods anymore though. Either the athlete is on scholarship, or they’re not. Or maybe there is a time period where a coach can decide to give them a scholarship based on prior (unattached) performances, and that is the tryout period.
Seems as though the “team practices” are easy to replicate outside of the team. Especially if there is a group of runners working out together outside of the team. 1K repeats on the intermural fields. Uptempo up Hobble Creek Canyon. Eyestone has his favorite workouts and general training plan, and it’s not difficult to find out when these are being run and what your pace should be.
BYU should be able to execute something like this better than other schools for a multitude of reasons.