Red Wolves - IU East

The road from Richmond, Ind., to Vancouver, Wash., goes through Nashville, Tenn.

The Indiana University East cross country teams head to Nashville on Nov. 6 to compete in races that will determine the qualifiers for the NAIA National Championships on Nov. 21 in Vancouver, Wash.

The IU East women will compete in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet at 2 p.m. at Percy Warner Field.

The Red Wolves men will take part in an NAIA National Championships qualifying meet at 4 p.m., also at Percy Warner Field in Nashville. The meet will include runners from the KIAC, the TranSouth Conference, the Southern States Conference and independent Voorhees College. The KIAC did not have enough full men's teams to conduct an independent qualifying meet.

The team champions and the top five runners not on the winning teams qualify for the trip to Vancouver. The top seven men's runners not on qualifying teams could advance if 12 full teams take part in the men's meet.

IU East had two runners fall a few seconds short of a trip to nationals this year. Red Wolves coach Pam Mertz hopes to send multiple runners to the nationals this fall.

"We have several runners who could make it," Mertz said. "It will depend on the course, if the course is hilly or not, and who wants to run and who wants it the most."

Any IU East runners who do qualify would be the first Red Wolves athletes to earn a spot in an NAIA national championship.

Red Wolves sophomore Nicole House (Hagerstown, Ind./Hagerstown High School) is second on the KIAC performance chart with a 5K time of 21:32.

Sophomore Kelsey West (Cambridge City, Ind./Lincoln High School) and junior Vanessa Legg (Lynn, Ind./Randolph Southern High School) have lowered their times throughout the season.

House and West were just three and 11 seconds, respectively, from earning trips to nationals in 2008. Both are well ahead of their pace from last season.

IU East freshman Zach Burns (Cambridge City, Ind./Lincoln High School) tied for the top time in the KIAC this fall with an 8K mark of 26:35. Burns is one of about a dozen runners in the men's meet with times in the 26-minute range.

Sophomore James Healton (Centerville, Ind./Centerville High School) and freshman Jon Strong (Connersville, Ind./Connersville High School) have times within striking distance of a Sophomore Nick Reece (Fountain City, Ind./Richmond High School) also will represent the Red Wolves. Some junior varsity basketball players will compete in the race so the IU East men can field a full team.