Student athletes look to start their seasons and continue success from the prior year, or start fresh after having struggled. For the men’s and women’s cross country teams, the fall season means time to run toward a successful season.

In the 2013 men’s cross country PSAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, SU was voted No. 4. The Raiders enter the season without two of their top runners that included Matt Gillette and Bryan Quintrell.

Overall, the men’s team is very young. The roster does not include any seniors and only three juniors. SU will need these runners to continue their success and represent the team in the PSAC championship and national championship at the end of the season.

On the women’s side, the runners will also look to move forward and have a successful 2013 campaign.

At the end of last season, the women finished the year at No. 8 in the Division II Women’s Program. In the upcoming season, the women’s squad will look to move up in the rankings.

This year SU is the favorite in the PSAC Preseason Coaches Poll, earning 13 first-place votes. The Raiders are seeeded ahead of Edinboro University.

In order to run their way up the rankings, the Women’s XC team will need senior Stephanie Pryor, junior Caitlin Perry, senior Emma Shank and junior Heather Weiss to continue the effort that earned them All-American status last year.

Hopefully when the PSAC championship and NCAA championship roll around at the mid-point and end of the season, several Raider runners will be mentioned at the top of the standings, and will need to find new talent in the new members of the team, but will need continue success from the returning members.

SU hopes to get started off on the right foot when both the men’s and woman’s teams partake in the Galen Piper Alumni Open and XC Challenge. The Open will take place on the campus of Shippensburg University.

The Raiders hope to repeat last year. The women placed first and the men took third.

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