FREEPORT — Carrie (Bullman) Miles never intended to compete in the javelin — it just worked out that way.

Now, Miles will be honored for her efforts with Karns City High School and Clarion University when she is inducted into the Armstrong County Hall of Fame April 29 at Laube Hall.

“I'm very honored to be picked, absolutely,” Miles said. “It's surprising. When I got the application and filled it out, you forget all the things you did.

“As you get older, you don't think about it, but it's nice to be selected,” Miles added.

Miles, a 2000 graduate at Karns City, had played youth softball, but the Gremlins did not field a softball team until the 1999 season.

“I was a softball player and wanted to play softball in college,” Miles said. “In my younger years, I threw the discus in seventh, eighth grade.

“The javelin was not at the forefront when I went to college,” Miles added.

Miles, 30, had success in high school with the javelin, turning in the top throw in the Butler County area her junior year (123 feet, 4 inches) — qualifying for the PIAA Class AA Championships — and had the second-best distance her other three years.

“I think the biggest thing to help my confidence was going to the Mars Invitational and placing there,” Miles said. “It was the first time I realized I could compete. It was big to get a second or third place.”

She was a second-team all-KSAC choice as a freshman and a first-teamer the final three seasons and also was named all-conference her two seasons for softball.

At Clarion, Miles was looking to just play softball, until the track and field coach came around.

“He told me the school record was 114 feet and I had been throwing in the 120s,” Miles noted.

“I said, ‘Sign me up!' And, they did give me some financial support,” she added.

The only problem about being a javelin thrower was that Miles wasn't feeling the part.

“The shocking thing is I kind of lacked the confidence,” Miles said. “I didn't have access to the best coaches, nothing against the coaches I had before, but I didn't have the technique. Some of these kids had been throwing the javelin since junior high.

“I knew that I could throw it, but I didn't look like they did.”

Miles eventually improved during her stint at Clarion. She placed eighth in the PSAC championship meet, was second as a sophomore and was the first Golden Eagles thrower to compete at the NCAA Division II national championship meet in San Angelo, Texas.

She had similar successes as a junior and advanced to the national championships in Springfield, Ill.

Miles, who expressed appreciation to her mother, Sherry, for support and being her biggest fan through the years, finished the career with a bang, qualifying for the national meet in Pomono, Calif., where she placed 15th, was runner-up at the PSAC Championships and third at the Division I Coastal Carolina Invitational.

She also took part in the Penn Relays, was honored as an NCAA Scholar-Athlete and was the team's MVP.

After graduation with a social studies degree as well as math, Miles — who lives in Karns City with her husband, Jonathan — became an assistant track and field for the Moniteau girls team, which won two KSAC titles.

Miles, now a junior high teacher in the Kittanning school district, will serve as the Wildcats' varsity girls track team coach this year.

For tickets to the Hall of Fame banquet, call Dennis Wolfe at 724-882-3557.