Shippensburg University sophomore Chayce Macknair made Saturday’s 5K road race at the Lock Haven Winter Classic look effortless.
Macknair, who earned All-PSAC First team honors in his freshman campaign, tallied a first-place finish for the Raiders in 14:51, besting East Stroudsburg University’s Casey Ellis by 1.3 seconds.
Macknair’s improbable time propelled the men’s cross-country team to a first-place curtain as well, starting off their truncated season on a high note. SU won with 21 points; 31 points ahead of home favorite, Lock Haven University.
Macknair was not the only speedy sophomore to show out Saturday afternoon. Drew Dailey, 2020 PSAC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Freshman of the Year, notched a third-place finish with a 15:06 time, making him the team’s No. 2 runner.
Behind Dailey, two other Raiders cracked the Top 5. Freshmen Hayden Hunt and Aiden Gonder made their SU debuts, with Hunt finishing fourth in 15:11, and Gonder not far behind, hitting a 15:32 time to claim fifth place.
Sophomore Alexander Ermold marked as the fifth Raider to reach the Top 8, finishing in 15:38 and obtaining the eighth spot.
Other notables for SU included redshirt-junior Nate Kaplon (16:03), sophomore Kevin Wagner (16:10) and freshman Ryan Scicchitano (16:28). The trio ranked as the other Raiders to notch a Top 20 finish.
Sophomore duo Cole Harris and Nathan Harding finished nearly side-by-side with times of 16:43 and 16:45, collecting 24th and 25th place tallies. Junior Andrew Feldman finished 29th in 17:08.
For the women, Saturday’s race also resulted in an impressive outcome. SU tallied a third-place finish of 76 points behind Lock Haven and Gannon University, with several freshman making statements in their debut run.
Freshman Belle Weikert burst onto the scene, placing as the Raiders’ No. 1 runner. Weikert notched a 18:52 time, earning fifth place overall.
Sophomore Isabelle Gulgert, a 2019 All-Atlantic Region and All-PSAC First Team honoree, finished 10 seconds shy of her teammate, with a 19:02 time and claimed sixth place.
Freshman Leah Moffit sported a 19:05 time in her debut, tallying an eighth-place mark and rounding out the Raiders’ top runners.
Sophomore Mackenzie Kurtz and junior Sydney Sirois were the remainder of SU representatives to crack the Top 30, running in 20:54 and 20:57, respectively. Kurtz completed the race in 28th and Sirois in 30th.
Sophomore Amanda LaVana clocked a time of 21:00, earning her 33rd place. Freshman Shelby Hay finished 35th with a time of 21:12.
Senior Ava Franklin, junior Olivia Sommers and freshman Emily Velez concluded the Raiders’ day with 39th, 40th and 46th placings.
Both teams are scheduled to wrap-up their 2020 regular season Saturday on the home course at the Shippensburg Invitational.
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