SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Senior Stephen Schelander and junior Matt Gillette set new 6K PRs on Saturday morning in guiding the Shippensburg University men's cross country team to a second-place finish at the second annual Galen Piper Alumni/Open Cross Country Challenge.

The alums, coached Saturday by SU hall of famer Paul “Killer” Kaiser, had five runners place among the Top 10 for the victory. Matt Wagoner (2nd, 19:21), Jake Sitler (4th; 19:25), Sean Stetler (5th; 19:28), Josh Neyhart (6th; 19:30) and Brandon Boyer (10th; 19:38) were the scoring performers for the alumni squad – who emerged victorious for the first time since 2006.

Schelander won the race by 11 seconds, posting a time of 19:10 that sits tied for seventh-best in race history along with Stetler's time from 2009. Gillette was one second behind Wagoner with a time of 19:22 that ties Bryan Beegle's time from 2008.

Redshirt freshman Scott Armstrong impressed in his debut race with Shippensburg, finishing 14th in 19:47. Senior Wade Miller improved his PR by 25 seconds with a time of 19:49.

Junior Kristofer Kroeger ran the Alumni Open for the first time in two years and improved his 6K PR by 1 minute 50 seconds, posting a 17th-place time of 19:58 as SU's No. 5 runner. Senior Eric Evans also ran well, setting a new 6K PR of 20:03.

True freshmen Bernard England and Peter Gelston finished within one second of each other after posting times of 20:12 and 20:13 respectively.

Shippensburg returns to action in two weeks at the Division II Challenge hosted by Kutztown.

Shippensburg (2nd, 47 points)
1. Stephen Schelander (19:10) [new PR by 0:11]
3. Matt Gillette (19:22) [new PR by 0:32]
14. Scott Armstrong (19:47)
15. Wade Miller (19:49) [new PR by 0:25]
17. Kristofer Kroeger (19:58) [new PR by 1:50]

21. Eric Evans (20:03) [new PR by 0:27]
25. Bernard England (20:12)
26. Peter Gelston (20:13)
34. Brian Quintrell (20:24) [new PR by 0:59]
40. Jake Jones (20:42) [new PR by 0:01]
44. Greg Ahlswede (20:49)
49. Matt Ahearn (21:02)
55. Ethan Pealer (21:13)
64. Matt Bee (21:32)
77. John Reilly (22:03)