For the second consecutive year, both men and women wore the cream and crimson as they set out to represent Indiana University in the NCAA Cross Country Division-I National Championships. 

Two athletes that helped lead their respective teams, junior Ben Veatch and fifth-year senior Kelsey Harris, are symbolic of the program’s strong recruiting efforts in the city of Carmel, Indiana, and contributed heavily to each team’s success. They are one of seven athletes hailing Carmel High School on the team’s current roster, and both are reaching the end of their collegiate careers. 

But what has made Carmel High School so prevalent within the hierarchy of IU’s running sports?

“All I know is that they consistently do work,” Indiana head coach Ron Helmer said. “A bigger percentage of the work is aerobic-based work, which is fine. They’re improving, they’re getting better, they’re learning how to train and they’re gaining a recruiting base. I don’t think it’s anything crazy, I don’t think it’s anything overly involved, sophisticated, complicated. I just think they train, and train consistently, and get kids fit and have a plan.”

At a high school with more than 5,000 enrolled students, athletes in any sport are going to experience improvement through competition with their peers. Carmel High School has won 16 IHSAA state championships, including five in the last seven years. 

“In ways it’s bigger than some universities, but the athletics there is always top notch,” Veatch said. “You’re always competing against the best, you’re competing not only at the state level but sometimes even the national level. I was blessed to be on three national-level teams that qualified for Nike Cross Nationals. The mentality at Carmel is a little different, it’s state championship and it’s national qualifiers.”

The Hoosiers’ redshirt junior joined the team back in 2016 and instantly made his presence felt in the fall semester. He earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors after racing to an eighth place finish in the conference meet. 

He followed that performance with an All-Region effort as he crossed the finish line in 19th place at the Great Lakes Regional meet. While the team was unable to qualify for the national championships, Veatch was unanimously voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year. 

While Veatch has been a staple for IU men’s distance running, not every Carmel athlete is prone to such success. 

“Not everyone comes to us as talented as Ben Veatch did, having won multiple state championships and all that,” Helmer said.”  but we’ve still recruited some really solid kids there who’ve developed into really nice Big Ten and NCAA-level runners.”

Harris, another Carmel High School graduate, was able to consistently help the Indiana University women’s cross country team for the first time in her career. Harris has excelled in mid distance races on the track, like the 800 meter and 1500 meter runs. 

However, her wealth of experience as a collegiate runner contributed to the training regimine of the team’s top runners — sophomore Bailey Hertenstein and redshirt freshman Sarah Schmitt.

“Kelsey is a grown woman, and when she’s training, she’s in charge,” Helmer said. “People will defer to her for good reason, and the thing I really appreciate about her is she understands what we’re trying to do, how we’re trying to do it. There’s no room for excuses.”

That mindset, on both the men’s and women’s side, propelled them to another national championship bid. Veatch was able to place 61st despite missing all of last season due to an injury, while Harris finished out of scoring position for the Hoosiers at 196th. 

Even though both athletes can look around during workouts and point out those that have had similar athletic and academic backgrounds stemming from Carmel High School, Veatch said it’s a new family here at Indiana. 

“All in all, it’s not about where you came from,” he said. “It’s what you’re going to do here, and it’s what you’re going to do going forward.”