The Shippensburg University men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in their second race of the season this past Saturday at Lock Haven University.
The meet was one of the largest in the region, leaving the course packed with 375 finishers for the men and 404 for the women.
“There were over 400 girls in the race so we really had to get out and place ourselves well in that first mile,” said freshman Isabelle Gulgert. “It was also a lot warmer then everyone had initially expected which made the race more difficult.”
The SU men placed sixth overall out of 32 teams with a score of 241.
Freshman Chayce Macknair was the first finisher for the Raiders and fifth for the PSAC conference. Macknair came in at 25:49.5 to take 11th place overall in the 8,000-meter race.
“The course consisted of mostly hard compact dirt for much of it along with stones and grass in the other areas,” Macknair said. “It was a really fun time.”
Freshmen Andrew Foster was second for the Raiders, running 26:32 to take 42nd place in his second collegiate race.
Macknair thinks the men’s team will slowly progress each meet leading up to the PSAC Championships and hopes the team can compete with Edinboro and Lock Haven — two PSAC men’s crosscountry powerhouses — at that point in the season.
The women’s race was very competitive and dominated by West Virginia with a score of only 15 points. The Raiders took 18th out of 37 teams with a score of 448.
Gulgert was the first Raider to finish the 6,000-meter course and 11th PSAC finisher. Gulgert was 39th overall running 22:51.0 in her second colligate race.
“The course was really nice and flat which was had its positives and negatives,” Gulgert said. “The first mile being one of the fastest made it difficult to stay positive and not back off from the competition.”
Sophomore Kyra Gerber was the second Raider for the women to finish. Gerber was 92nd overall with a time of 23:54.4 in the 6,000-meter race.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will race next on Saturday, Oct. 5, at Lehigh University’s Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
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