Shippensburg University’s men’s cross-country team travelled to Joplin, Missouri, and competed in the 10K at the NCAA Division II National Championships in cross country on Saturday. Sophomore Garrett Quinan served as front runner for the team once again.

The Raiders finished 31st in the nation as a team with 824 points, falling just short of head coach Steve Spence´s hopes. Roberts Wesleyan finished 30th with 823 points, so SU was just outside the Top 30.

“I was hoping to at least break into the Top 30 and I thought that we could score about 500 points and possibly break into the top 20 if we had a good day,” Spence said.

Quinan paced the Raiders with a 66th-place finish in a time of 30:47.9, just 11 seconds slower than at the Atlantic Region Championship, but on a course with more twists and turns than the fast course in Lock Haven. It has been an outstanding season for Quinan, who paced the Raiders in every race except the first two of the season. He won the individual Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) title and was recognized as a PSAC Men’s Cross Country Co-Athlete of the week twice. His development came as no surprise, according to Spence.

“Garrett was not a surprise, but he was the one that showed the most improvement, the one who rose to the occasion and is poised to go for all-American next year,” Spence said.

Graduate Hayden Hunt made his return to the National Championship meet after competing there in the 2021 season. Hunt served as the No. 2 runner of the team in 188th place, an improvement to his 210th-place finish in 2021.

Senior Aiden Gonder was SU’s No. 3 runner, finishing the course in 32:23. Graduate Nathan Harding and senior Kevin Wagner rounded out the scorers for Shippensburg, crossing the finish line in 32:34 and 33:07 respectively.

Sophomore Ryan Wolfe and junior Ian Sherlock also finished the race, each posting a time of 33:52.

After the regional meet, Spence had his athletes do two hard workouts before they hit their taper, since he was careful not to overwork them at this late point in the season.

“We cranked up the mileage after the regional meet and did  two hard workouts before tapering for NCAAs. The workouts were similar to what we’ve done in preparation for regionals,” Spence said. “I was careful not to overdo it because at that point of the season, the hay is in the barn. I wanted them to have fresh legs and feeling spunky.”

Spence sees a reason for his missed goal of cracking the Top 30 as a team in the fact that it was the first national meet for almost all his runners and that they already had a long season.

“The challenge was that it was the first NCAA meet for all but Hunt and we were probably past our peak,” Spence said.

After all, Spence was still very satisfied with his team’s season, where he led his team to an individual and team PSAC Championship and saw them qualify for the NCAA National Championship.

“I feel that we had an amazing season, and we achieved our goal of winning a PSAC championship and qualifying for the NCAA meet,” Spence said. “We gained some valuable experience at the NCAA level that will serve us well if we earn a berth in 2024.” 

The NCAA Division II National Championships conclude the season for the men’s cross-country team. The runners will return to action soon, as the indoor track-and-field season starts in December.

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