SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University women's cross country team claimed the team title at the annual Galen Piper Alumni Open/Cross Country Challenge for the first time in six years Friday night, as the Raiders placed all five of their scoring runners among the Top 15 finishers in 4K action under the lights at the campus recreation fields.
 
Shippensburg posted a team score of 30 points for an 11-point victory margin. Gettysburg took second with 41 points, and Ursinus was third with 83 points.
 
Neely Spence Gracey '12, 11-time All-American and eight-time National Champion, claimed the individual championship with a course record time of 14:03. Mary Dell Fuller '10, owner of the previous course record, took second with a time of 14:56. It's the first race win for an alumna since Dell in 2016.
 
Graduate Kyra Gerber paced the Raiders with a fourth-place finish, running 15:24. Gerber improved seven seconds from her fifth-place finish last year.
 
Freshman Livi Rieck had an impressive debut, posting a Top 5 finish in her collegiate debut. She crossed the finish line as the No. 2 runner in 15:35.
 
Junior Isabelle Gulgert cracked the Top 10 with a time of 15:55, while freshman Morgan Hess debuted with a 13th-place time of 16:08.
 
Sophomore Belle Weikert rounded out the Raider scoring contingent by running 15th in 16:12. One spot behind was redshirt-Freshman Kelsey Hull, whose 16th-place finish was clocked at 16:17.
 
SU's team score of 30 points is its best at the Piper Alumni Open in more than a decade, since posting a total of 15 points in 2010.
 
Shippensburg returns to action in two weeks at the Division II Challenge hosted by Kutztown.
 
Shippensburg (1st, 30 points)
4. Kyra Gerber 15:24.9
5. Livi Rieck 15:35.0
9. Isabelle Gulgert 15:55.1
13. Morgan Hess 16:08.6
15. Belle Weikert 16:12.2
16. Kelsey Hull 16:17.9
21. Natalie DiCriscio 16:24.9
22. Katy Todd 16:28.3
24. Amanda LaVana 16:42.9
25. Helene Shevick 16:46.0
34. Emilea Alleman 16:56.8
36. Mallory Sunderland 16:58.8
40. Sadie Hostler 17:15.8
44. Ella Smith 17:27.3
52. Victoria Mattioli 17:55.1