Hall of Fame
Stephen Schelander is an All-American and Academic All-American in track & field and cross country who was named the 2010-11 SU Student-Athlete of the Year.
In cross country, Schelander was a three-time All-PSAC and All-Region performer. He delivered Top 3 individual finishes at the PSAC Championships as a junior and senior and Top 8 individual finishes at the NCAA Atlantic Regionals as a sophomore, junior, and senior. SU competed at the NCAA Championships in each of his final three seasons, and Schelander served as SU’s No. 1 runner in two of those three championship races.
On the track, Schelander was 17-time PSAC place-winner, a 12-time All-PSAC (Top 3) finisher, and a three-time PSAC Champion who competed at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in his final season.
As a senior, Schelander had his greatest seasons as a Raider. Beginning in cross country, Schelander capped off his career with a 41st-place finish at the NCAA Championships, a feat that left him just one spot shy of an All-America classification. Schelander did achieve All-Region (3rd, 31:53) and All-PSAC (3rd, 24:37) accolades.
In indoor track & field, Schelander earned his first NCAA All-America citation with SU’s distance medley relay (DMR) squad that placed third at nationals in 9:56.36. He was named the Most Valuable Athlete of the 2012 PSAC Indoor Track & Field Championships after winning his first individual conference championship with a victorious mile run of 4:17.54 and anchoring the conference-champion DMR squad (10:12.52) in addition to achieving All-PSAC honors in the 3,000 meters (2nd, 8:35.46). Schelander earned USTFCCCA All-Region indoor honors in the mile, 5,000 meters, and DMR and ran the opening leg of the DMR that broke the all-time PSAC indoor record at the Penn State National Invitational (9:47.57).
In outdoor track & field, Schelander wrapped up an impressive Raider running career by competing in the 1,500-meter run at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships – placing ninth in the finals and just one spot shy of an All-America designation. In addition to his NCAA appearance, Schelander earned All-PSAC honors in the 5K (2nd, 14:59.05) and the 1,500 meters (3rd, 3:52.58).
Schelander was an integral member of SU’s dominant resurgence in Track & Field/Cross Country. In cross country, the Raiders won the school’s first-ever NCAA Atlantic Region Championship in his sophomore season (2009) and its first-ever PSAC Championship in his junior season (2010). In track & field, SU won three PSAC Indoor Track & Field Championships (2009, 2011, 2012) and three PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships (2010, 2011, 2012), with 2010 marking the first “Triple Crown” in school history.
A sociology major and business minor, Schelander graduated summa cum laude in May 2012 with a 3.8 cumulative grade-point average. He earned four consecutive PSAC Top 10 awards spanning Spring 2011 through Spring 2012. He is the only male student-athlete in SU history to receive three or more PSAC Top 10 awards. After earning Academic All-District honors as a sophomore and junior, Schelander was named to the Academic All-America First Team in 2012. To this day, he is one of three men’s track athletes in school history to earn First Team Academic All-America recognition.
After graduation, Schelander went on to earn an MBA in economic development from Eastern University in 2015. He spent five years working for a community and economic development non-profit in the country of Jordan. While in Jordan, he coordinated a youth running club and was active in an Ultimate Frisbee league. Schelander is now working as an analyst for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Schelander has also stayed active as a runner, including earning Top Philadelphian and 5th overall at the 2015 Broad Street Run 10-miler and taking part in a 150-mile relay race from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea in Jordan.
Schelander resides in Enola and is married to Heidi Schelander, a class of 2012 Shippensburg University alumna. They are proud parents to three daughters.
