Shippensburg University’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams prevailed in both races of the Division II/III Challenge at Kutztown University on Friday.
The men’s team posted a perfect score of 15 points, while the women’s team edged out Kutztown with 36 points, two better than the Bears.
In the men’s 8K race, six Raiders pulled ahead and stayed in a small pack for the remainder of the race. Junior Ryan Wolfe took the overall event victory with a time of 26:57.32, finishing just 0.53 seconds ahead of junior Garrett Quinan.
The top six were separated by less than two seconds at the finish. Graduate Ian Sherlock took third overall, less than one-tenth of a second behind Quinan.
Finishing in positions 4-6 overall were freshman Tommy Crum Jr., sophomore Brennan Wellock and senior Aiden Gonder.
No schools dominated in the women’s 6K race with athletes from five different schools finishing in the top nine positions.
SU runners claimed two of the top three spots, with graduate Kelsey Hull placing second at 23:38.04, with freshman Ella Hartel finishing just two seconds behind to take third.
Senior Victoria Mattioli made it three Raiders in the top five with her time of 23:45.69 being good enough for fifth place.
The other two scorers for Shippensburg were a pair of freshmen, with Victoria Bartholomew placing 12th at 24:05.83, followed by Shaela Kruskie in 14th at 24:24.12.
The five scorers did well enough to barely take the event win over Kutztown, whose scorers placed fourth, sixth, seventh, tenth and 11th. Bloomsburg senior Kelley Selheimer won the race overall, finishing 24 seconds clear of the field.
Both teams will have a week off before getting back to competition on Sept. 28, competing in the Long-Short Invitational hosted by Dickinson University.
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