“Remember that the track is the exact same length as always. Keep your focus and good things will happen.”

Wise words of advice from 10-year Shippensburg University head coach Dave Osanitsch on the eve of his team’s trip to the 2015 NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field National Championships sum up the mentality that the Raider squad used to find success throughout their 2014-15 campaign.

Five days later, 10 different Raiders that attended the event in Birmingham, Alabama returned home with All-American honors to wrap up another successful season for the dynasty that is Shippensburg University track & field.

For the 14 years that indoor track has been a PSAC sport, Shippensburg has dominated the conference. The men have won half of the league’s championship titles, and the women’s squad have brought home one less, totaling six.

The Raiders continued their winning ways this year, each team taking home a title three weeks ago at the PSAC Indoor Championships at Edinboro University.

The men’s team seemed to be set on cruise control at PSAC’s, outscoring second-place Slippery Rock University by 57.5 points for its fifth-consecutive conference championship title. The senior-heavy roster closed out the season with a school-record total of 22 all-region performers.

“I knew our men’s team was going to be very strong coming into the season,” Osanitsch said. “The expectations were to win a conference championship, which they did, and to get a number of athletes to nationals and qualify for two relays, which they also did.”

Redshirt-sophomore LeQuan Chapman tops the men’s list of standout performers. He earned the Raider’s lone first-team All-American spot at long jump, with a seventh-place mark of 23 feet, 4 3/4 inches, and earned second-team honors in triple jump with a 48-foot, 6 1/4-inch effort that was good for 11th-place.

“My family always supports me 100 percent, so that and the way we train were my major keys to success this season,” Chapman said. “You don’t win meets at the meet, you win them training in the weight room and on the field. Putting in that extra time and extra work gives you that extra edge over the next person.”

Shippensburg’s 4x4 relay squad also earned second-team honors at nationals, after a successful season in which they placed fifth in Division II during the regular season. Senior Eric Bologa, senior Andrew Kujawski, sophomore Tim Usher and senior Robert Bales wrapped up nationals with a 3:15.25 finish, good for ninth place and All-American honors for the relay team.

Other All-American finishers for the Raider men included senior Brayden Burleigh and sophomore Kieran Sutton in the 3K. Burleigh finished 13th at nationals with a time of 8:23.81 and Sutton placed 15th at 8:27.51 to cap off strong seasons for the pair.

The women’s team finished 2014-15 with nine all-region performers. The lineup entered the PSAC championships as underdogs, but rode a late comeback run to edge longtime rival Slippery Rock by eight points.

“This year at regionals was pretty awesome,” Osanitsch said. “The women just took it event by event and didn’t get caught up in any of the drama that was going on around them. They exceeded themselves on paper by almost 30 points, which was fantastic. They did a great job of supporting each other, and really came together as a team.”

Standout performers for the Lady Raiders include sophomore Sarah Hunt, who broke the school’s long-jump record earlier in the season with a mark of 19 feet, 6 3/4 inches. The effort earned her a trip to nationals, at which she finished 16th with a mark of 18 feet, 2 1/2 inches.

Senior Liz Ross also paid a visit to Birmingham after setting a school record of 46 feet, 9 inches during the season in shot put. Her toss of 45 feet, 4 1/4 inches at nationals ranked her No. 14 in the country after placing second in PSAC play.

“Some of our younger players like Sarah Hunt really stepped it up this year,” Osanitsch said, “So there’s really some young talent there that’s going to be coming through once our many seniors leave. Overall these student athletes are outstanding, and work really really hard. Talent will only take you so far, and these men and women have really done an excellent job during the indoor season in preparing for success.”

The Raiders look to build off of a prosperous indoor campaign, travelling to Williamsburg, Virginia on Saturday for the Tribe Open to kick off the spring season of outdoor track & field.

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