EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Shippensburg University men's cross country program will compete this Saturday at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships to be held on the University of Southern Indiana's home course. The men's race will begin at 2 p.m. ET.

Shippensburg won its first men's Atlantic Region Championship in school history on November 7 at Mansfield and the Red Raider runners will be looking to continue building off their sensational scoring performance in which the team's Top 5 runners were among the first 13 finishers in the race.

Guiding Shippensburg is 12th-year head coach Steve Spence, the 2009 USTFCCA Atlantic Region Cross Country Men's Coach of the Year. Spence has once again masterfully guided the program on the strength of his excellent foundation for running and the seemingly limitless depth that his team boasts.

All five of Shippensburg's regional scoring runners finished the day with all-region certificates, a first in program history, while the Red Raiders were the only competing program to have six all-conference runners and nine runners among the Top 30 at the PSAC Championship meet held on October 31 in Edinboro.

About the Red Raiders:

Junior Bryan Beegle battled injury to post his best career place to date at the regional championships with a third-place effort in 31:26. His average mile was 5:04, and his final time on Saturday was 38 seconds faster than his previous turn on the 10K course back in September. He will look to be among the team's top runners on Saturday.



Junior Ethan Rissell ran at a relentless pace in the regional meet and never relinquished his momentum throughout entire race, finishing sixth overall with a time of 31:53 to earn his first all-region merit. The run was a 48-second improvement from earlier this season and Rissell has continued to save his best running for the end of the season.



Sophomore Stephen Schelander, last year's PSAC Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Year, matched Rissell's average mile split at the regional meet and improved his showing by 29 places from his freshman season. He finished in eighth place, posting the best effort in the regional field from a sophomore runner, and is shooting to be one of the Red Raider scorers this weekend.


Freshman Matt Gillette was the team's top performer at the PSAC Championship meet and finished ninth at the regional meet, serving as the regional field's second fastest freshman behind IUP's Hillary Mugun. Gillette has been a scoring performer in five of his six meets this season and will look to continue that success this weekend.



Fellow freshman Ed Buck has also thrived in his first year with the Red Raider program and rounded out the SU scorers at the regional meet with a 13th-place finish in 32:12. Both Buck and Gillette have earned All-PSAC and All-Region honors as freshmen and will be seeking to score at the national meet.



Junior Sean Stetler is a fine example of Shippensburg's depth. Stetler finished just one place short of becoming SU's sixth all-region runner at Mansfield, finishing in 16th place (32:21), but he has the capability of being the team's No. 2 runner at any given meet. His average split of 5:13 at the regoinal championships helped him finish 14 spots better than any other No. 6 runner in the field.


Redshirt junior Josh Neyhart is the most veteran competitor in the group and had another strong performance at the regional meet as the team's No. 7 runner. Neyhart would have ranked as the top runner for 12 of the 21 teams in the regional field and would have scored for 18 of the other competing institutions. He will be among the Red Raider pack this weekend.