After a wave of veteran athletes graduated in May, the Shippensburg University men’s track & field and cross-country programs announced a 2019-2020 recruiting class on Wednesday.
The recruiting class, which is littered with high school state champions and medalists, is made up of 16 incoming freshmen. Nine of the recruits are distance or mid-distance runners, while three are primarily sprinters. Two jumpers, a hurdler and a thrower round out the crop of recruits.
The distance crew is headlined by Drew Dailey, a three-time Maryland state champion and 2019 Gatorade Track & Field Athlete of the Year nominee. Dailey sports a 1600-meter run personal best of 4:14.60 and an 800-meter run best of 1:54.30. He also nearly cracked the 16-minute barrier in the cross country 5,000-meter run in high school, notching a career-best time of 16:07.80.
Zander Ermold, a product of Governor Mifflin High School, holds comparable personal bests in the 1600-meter run (4:16.56) and 800-meter run (1:55.78). Ermold beat the 16-minute mark in the 5K in high school, though, clocking a best time of 15:45.
The deep group of athletes includes one more runner who broke the 16-minute mark in the 5K in high school, and three others who were just seconds away.
Joey Cintavey recorded a high school personal best just a shade under the 16-minute mark in the 5K at 15:59.56. The Tatnall School (Delaware) graduate is well-rounded on the track as well, boasting personal bests of 4:24.44 in the 1600-meter run and 9:38.43 in the 3200-meter run.
Mifflin County High School’s Chayce Macknair, Downingtown West High School’s Kevin Wagner and Ephrata High School’s Andrew Foster come to SU with 5K career bests of 16:01, 16:04 and 16:05, respectively. Macknair — a 6-time state medalist — also boasts an exceptional 9:07.88 3200-meter run time.
Stephon Brown, a recent graduate of Central Dauphin East, leads the group of new Raider sprinters. In the 400-meter dash, Brown dropped a blazing-fast 47.47 second performance that earned him runner-up honors at the 2019 PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) State Championships.
Naheem Moore of Coatesville High School excels in the jumps, where his 48-foot triple jump personal best earned him second place at the 2019 PIAA State Championships.
The crop of talent is stacked, and arrives at a great time for a program that has lost a number of key contributors in recent years despite its reign atop the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference).
"This class is loaded with incoming freshmen who will be high-impact contributors to our team right out of the gate," Shippensburg Track & Field coach Dave Osanitsch said. "I am highly optimistic that this might be one of the best crops of young talent we have brought to our program."
The Slate welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic. Read our full guidelines here.