Men's Final Results

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Shippensburg University men's cross country program finished in 13th place on Saturday at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships held on the University of Southern Indiana's home course. SU's top four runners all placed among the Top 70 scoring finishers.

Sophomore Stephen Schelander capped off an unbelievable season as Shippensburg's top finisher on Saturday, placing 67th with a time of 33:02 that ranked him as the fourth-fastest competitor in the field from the PSAC and the 17th-fastest sophomore in the field. He continued his development throughout the year and will be one of the leading runners in the conference for the next two seasons.

The courageousness of junior Bryan Beegle was on display as he gritted through his lingering injuries to finish in 73rd place, posting a time of 33:09. Beegle was the team's top runner at the regional meet and will look to recover from his injuries in time for the 2010 season, when he is expected to be at the top of the Red Raider pack.

Freshman Matt Gillette, the team's top performer at the PSAC Championship meet, finished in 83rd place on Saturday with a time of 33:25 to serve as a scoring performer in six of his seven meets this season. He was the 12th-fastest freshman in the national field and his maturity as a runner was illustrated in his role as one of SU's top competitors this season.

Redshirt junior Josh Neyhart, the most veteran competitor in the group and the team's No. 7 runner at regionals, came through with one of the best races in his career by serving at the team's No. 4 runner on Saturday and finishing one place behind Gillette with a time of 33:27. Neyhart continued to get stronger as the '09 season progressed, and his best race of the season was saved for the last meet on Saturday.

Junior Ethan Rissell, the team's No. 2 runner at regionals, served as the No. 5 on Saturday and finished in 123rd place with a time of 34:16. Rissell posted several strong performances at the end of the season and was the final scoring performer on Saturday for Shippensburg.

Freshman Ed Buck and junior Sean Stetler rounded out the SU field as the team's No. 6 and No. 7 runners. Buck finished 151st in 35:06 and Stetler was one spot behind in 35:08. Buck was an all-PSAC and all-region runner for SU this season.

Saturday's meet concludes a historic 2009 season for men's cross country at Shippensburg University in which the program won its first men's Atlantic Region Championship in school history on November 7 at Mansfield where all five of Shippensburg's regional scoring runners finished the day with all-region certificates.

Head coach Steve Spence earned the 2009 USTFCCA Atlantic Region Cross Country Men's Coach of the Year one week ago after his program was the only one in the PSAC this year to place five runners among the first 13 finishers at the regional meet and have six all-conference runners (and nine runners among the Top 30) at the PSAC Championship meet held on October 31 in Edinboro.

All seven of Shippensburg's top runners this year are on pace to return for the 2010 season.