Red Wolves - IU East

Nicole House and Zach Burns ran into Indiana University East history on Friday.

House and Burns both earned spots in the NAIA National Championships with their finishes Friday in races in Nashville, Tenn.

House (Hagerstown, Ind./Hagerstown High School), a sophomore, was second in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet at Percy Warner Field.

Burns (Cambridge City, Ind./Lincoln High School), a freshman from Cambridge City, was 12th in a qualifying meet at Percy Warner Field that included the KIAC and two other conferences.

House and Burns are the first IU East athletes to earn a spot in an NAIA national competition.

"When I was hired, I told people we were going to nationals," IU East coach Pam Mertz said, remembering her promise during her job interview to take IU East runners to nationals during her first year.

"People gave me the look of, 'That is nice, but really, we are going to nationals? That's crazy'

"Who is crazy now?"

The national meet is Nov. 21 in Vancouver, Wash.

House lowered her own school record by finishing the 5K women's race in 21:30. Kelsey West was 19th in 24:07. Vanessa Legg was 28th in 26:29.

Ashley Miller of Brescia won the women's race in 20:02.

Burns finished 12th in the 8K men's race in a time of 26:53. He was second among KIAC runners.

James Healton (Centerville, Ind./Centerville High School) finished 50th in 29:52. Jon Strong (Connersville, Ind./Connersville High School) finished in 35:40. Sean Schuyler finished in 37:51. Nick Reece (Fountain City, Ind./Richmond High School) finished in 43:06.

Schuyler, an IU East junior varsity basketball player, competed in his first collegiate cross country meet so the Red Wolves could field a full team. Had Schuyler not run, the qualifying standards would have changed and Burns would have been one spot short of qualifying for the national meet.

IU East finished fourth among KIAC schools in the men's race. The Red Wolves were 11th overall.

Alex Bett of Union College won the men's race in 25:59. Shorter won the team competition.

Mertz expressed thanks to Danny Sexton and Ron Puckett, who volunteered their time to help the Red Wolves this season.

"We accomplished everything we wanted to accomplish this year," Mertz said. "We increased our numbers (in recruiting) and we're taking two people to nationals."