Hoosiers finish 6th at Mideast Regional

IU gave the hometown crowd plenty to be excited about with a strong overall showing of sixth place in the NCAA Mideast Regional Friday and Saturday at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex. \nIn the process of finishing in sixth, seniors Aarik Wilson and Tom Burns and juniors Sean Jefferson and Stephen Haas will continue on to the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Sacramento, Calif. The Hoosiers will also be joined by senior Jake Wiseman in the decathlon. Wiseman qualified for the NCAAs by placing second at the Big Ten Championships.\nWilson, an All-American, was IU's top performer grabbing a victory in the triple jump and a fourth-place finish in the long jump, earning him slots at the NCAA's in both events. Top-five finishers in each event earn a trip to Sacramento.\n"The whole goal of today was to go out and get a good jump in early so I don't have to strain myself with a nagging injury," said Wilson, who won the NCAA indoor long jump and triple jump titles this year. "I'll be ready. I got through this weekend pretty well."\nIU's distance corps came out with runner-up finishes and NCAA berths at every distance contest. The Hoosiers will send All-Americans Jefferson and Haas along with Burns to the NCAA Championships. \nStrong thunderstorms forced NCAA administrators to shift the 5,000 meter final from 8:30 p.m. Friday to 11:20 a.m. Saturday. The change suited Haas just fine, as he determined where he would have to finish based on other NCAA Regional results, he said. \n"After the cancellation we looked at other Regional results and I knew I only had to be top eight," said Haas, who finished 2nd in 13 minutes and 58 seconds, three seconds back to Michigan Olympian Nick Willis. "I felt great. I didn't even start to hurt at all until the last lap."\nNext on the track was the 1,500 meters. The early portion of the race saw two runners build a big lead while Jefferson relaxed in the pack. When the early leader started to fade, Jefferson extricated himself from the crowd and put in a fast final lap. His finishing kick nearly brought him the win and gave him a final time of 3 minutes and 45.73 seconds.\n"The Arkansas guy was just too far ahead," Jefferson said. "It's good to feel the faster gears coming back though. By NCAA's they'll all be ready."\nClosing the meet for IU was Burns in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. After red-shirting last season, despite running fast times, Burns came into the race with a lot on the line. He spent much of the early part of the race towards the back of the pack, staying out of traffic before making a quick move into the top five. In the final lap, Burns kicked into high gear closing a huge gap to finish less than three seconds behind the winner finishing in 8 minutes and 41.14 seconds, a personal best and also a USATF qualifying mark.\n"For a little while I was thinking I would just run for top five to get in to NCAA's," said Burns, who this year became the first Hoosier to win the Big Ten steeple since 1987. "I had to elbow a few guys in traffic, and I just decided to try to go for the win. I've had a little bit of hamstring trouble, so I didn't want to go all out, but I almost caught him anyway"