TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? Indiana State senior Justin Kunz finished 76th at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships hosted today (Nov. 20) at the LaVerne Gibson Championship Course. For the fourth time in the last five years, Indiana State University hosted the event. There were 250 total runners in the championships.

Kunz's time of 32:20.4 was good enough to finish 76th in the event. He crossed the halfway mark of the race (5K) in a time of 15:49 before hitting the 8K spot with a time of 25:45.

Kunz was the first male Sycamore to qualify for the NCAA Championships since Jason Gunn in 2000. He is the first Sycamore to run on the home course during the NCAA Championships. Female Jessica Crowder ran for the women's program during the 2003 national meet in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

He qualified for the event with an 11th place finish at the Great Lakes Regional meet last week at Bowling Green, Ohio. He ran a time of 31:28 in the regionals.

The 2006 event will be known for its warmer than normal temperatures as the mercury soared near 50 degrees at race time. But times proved to be slower because over five inches of rain fell on the course in the week leading up to the event.