The Shippensburg University’s men’s and women’s track-and-field teams brought home hardware as both teams won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships over the weekend.
SU hosted the events, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The women’s team scored in 17 of 21 events and had 24 individual place winners to take home the crown. This is the women’s 14th outdoor conference championship and their first since 2018.
The men’s team scored in 20 of 21 events and scored just five points shy of the league’s championship scoring record with 273 points to win their 12th straight PSAC title.
The men never trailed in the championships and won nine events with multiple place winners in 14 different events.
Freshman Drew Dailey was named the 2021 PSAC Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships Most Valuable Athlete. Dailey became the first Raider to ever win the 800 and 1,500-meters in the same season. He also ran the third leg of the victorious 4x400 relay that concluded the meet.
Sophomore Josh Herbster was named the 2021 PSAC Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Outstanding Field Athlete. Herbster claimed first in hammer Thursday and also placed sixth in discus and seventh in shot put.The women’s team finished with 131 points after ranking third most of the final day. The 17 points in the 400 hurdles —including a conference title for freshman Lieke Black — gave SU the boost it needed to move into first place.
Junior Kate Matrisciano took home the shot put title, a top throw of 14.50 meters. This was Matrisciano’s first career conference title in shot put after finishing Top 5 the past two years.
The quartet of junior Rachel Bruno, freshman Caroline Mastria, freshman Leah Graybill and Black punctuated the women’s victory with a win in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:55.12. Raiders’ sprinters contributed 75 points to the SU total score.
Graybill finished as the runner-up in the Most Valuable Athlete race as she posted a school record time of 11.95 seconds in the 100-meters and 24.83 seconds in the 200-meters.
The men’s team had a balanced scoring breakdown with 77 points from sprints/hurdles/relays, 75 from throwing, 63 from the mid-distance/distance crew and 58 from jumps/multis.
The men had three or more place winners in five different events.
For more photos from the PSAC Track and Field Championships, turn to E2.
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