BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Shippensburg University women's indoor track & field team battled with Slippery Rock on Monday for the 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Indoor Track & Field Championship and finished in second place, wrapping up the annual league meet with 106 points in action at Lehigh University's Rauch Fieldhouse.
 
Shippensburg had 19 individual scoring performances, including eight All-PSAC (Top 3) efforts and three event championships. SU also finished second on both relays – the distance medley (contested Sunday) and the 4x400-meter.
 
The 106 points scored by the Raiders is just five points less than its victorious total from last season, which was a 16.5-point victory over Edinboro. Slippery Rock – buoyed by the inspiring performance of distance star Anna Igims (mile, 3K and 5K champion and champion DMR relay anchor) went from a third-place total of 86.5 points last year to 136 points this year and a convincing 30-point victory. It gives The Rock claim to the last three league titles spanning cross country in the fall and outdoor track & field last May. Igims was named the 2024 PSAC Indoor Championships Most Valuable Track Athlete and Overall MVP.
 
SU's two event champions Monday were Leah Graybill, who claimed her first 200-meter title by running 24.75 seconds, and Sasha Lee, who won her second league title in the triple jump with a top mark of 39 feet, 4 inches. Lee and Cal's Alice Etienne both had the same mark – but Lee's second-best jump was farther and gave her the league title.
 
For Graybill, she becomes a four-time All-PSAC finisher in the 200, having finished second the last two years and third in 2020. Lee is now a two-time All-PSAC finisher in the triple jump, having won in 2022 and this year to sandwich a fourth-place finish last year.
 
Field Events
Lee's triple jump battle with Etienne was a splendid one. Her victorious jump came on her second attempt but was matched by Etienne on her final jump. Lee's third attempt – a mark of 38 feet, 11 ¾ inches (11.88 meters), was the best of the two competitors "second-best" jumps, which is the tiebreaker, so Lee did have the league title heading into her final attempt. That being said, Lee still managed a jump of 39 feet, 2 ½ inches (11.95 meters) which ended up an improved "second-best" mark.
 
Some of the tone was set early at the throws area, as Makayla Decker and ShanAnn Simmons both unleashed new personal bests in the shot put. Decker's prelim throw of 40 feet, 6 ¾ inches was the first of her career over 40 feet either indoors or outdoors – and held up for seventh place and two team points. Simmons had a top throw of 40 feet, 4 ¾ inches – which was also her first-ever throw of 40 feet either indoors or outdoors. It resulted in an eighth-place finish.
 
Four Raiders took to the high jump, with two scoring. Allyson Richwine made it back-to-back scoring efforts, finishing fifth with a clearance of 5 feet, 3 ¼ inches. Her new season best was just a half-inch off her PR that got her second place last season. Norah Vallon scored for the third time in her career in the high jump, tying for eighth place on a clearance of 5 feet, 1 ¼ inches. Vallon was one of multiple athletes with the same clearance, but achieved the tie for eighth due to less misses than others.
 
Track Events
The sprints/hurdles squad totaled 55 points from five events: the 60 (15 points – SU's highest-scoring event), the 200 (12 points), the 400 (nine points), the 60-meter hurdles (11 points) and the 4x400-meter relay (eight points). Graybill and Aliyah Serrano each ran in three of those five events – Graybill was the runner-up in the 60 (7.63 seconds) while Serrano was fourth in the 60 (7.71 seconds) and seventh in the 200 (25.82 seconds). Sara McKean finished the meet with 12 points total, as her long jump title from Sunday combined with a seventh-place run of 7.80 seconds in the 60.
 
Caroline Mastria nearly came away with the 400-meter dash title – running 58.05 seconds in the first of two timed finals heats. Edinboro's got across the finish line in 57.83 seconds in the second timed finals heat for the win. Mastria ended up as the runner-up for the second straight year and now has three Top 5 finishes in the indoor 400 (fifth in 2022). Alyssa Wert placed for the first time in the 400, finishing eighth.
 
Ryleigh Marks and Lee broke the nine-second mark in the 60-meter hurdles, with Marks achieving an All-PSAC finish in third place of 8.91 seconds that is just a hundredth of a second off her PR (which ironically was set in December at Lehigh). Lee ran fourth with a time of 8.94 seconds, giving her three career Top 5 finishes in the event (second last year, fifth in 2022).
 
Kelsey Hull delivered an excellent performance in the mile, claiming an All-PSAC finish of third place with a time of 5:13.71. Hull's time, upon conversion, is just three-tenths of a second off her PR set last season at Boston. It is her second straight scoring effort in the mile after a seventh-place finish last season.
 
Wert, Serrano, Graybill and Mastria concluded the meet with a 4x400-meter relay time of 3:55.07. Graybill's split of 56.83 seconds was the fastest of anyone in the competition by six-tenths of a second.
  
COMPLETE RESULTS
 
60
2. Leah Graybill 7.63 (7.60p)
4. Aliyah Serrano 7.71 (7.69p)
7. Sara McKean 7.80 (7.74p)
 
200
1. Leah Graybill 24.75 (24.97p)
7. Aliyah Serrano 25.82 (25.66p)
 
400
2. Caroline Mastria 58.05 (59.06p)
8. Alyssa Wert 1:00.36 (1:00.08p)
 
800
12. Faith Wilson 2:25.06
 
Mile
3. Kelsey Hull 5:13.71
 
3K
10. Victoria Mattioli 10:33.47
Livi Rieck DNF
 
5K (contested Sunday)
11. Belle Weikert 18:36.25
 
60 Hurdles
3. Ryleigh Marks 8.91 (9.08p)
4. Sasha Lee 8.94 (8.95p)
10. Madison Malcolm 9.33
 
4x4 Relay
2. Alyssa Wert, Aliyah Serrano, Leah Graybill, Caroline Mastria 3:55.07
 
Distance Medley Relay (contested Sunday)
2. Livi Rieck, Melanie Barger, Faith Wilson, Kelsey Hull 12:25.73
 
High Jump
5. Allyson Richwine 5' 3 ¼" (1.61m)
T8. Norah Vallon 5' 1 ¼" (1.56m)
10. Ashley Laukus 5' 1 ¼" (1.56m)
T11. Elliot Oliphant 4' 11 ½" (1.51m)
 
Pole Vault (contested Sunday)
T7. Carissa Bender 11' 3" (3.43m)
12. Katie McNesby 10' 9" (3.28m) (SB)
 
Long Jump (contested Sunday)
1. Sara McKean 18' 8 ½" (5.70m)
7. Ryleigh Marks 17' 9 ¾" (5.43m)
10. Sasha Lee 17' 5 ½" (5.32m)
 
Triple Jump
1. Sasha Lee 39' 4" (11.99m)
 
Shot
7. Makayla Decker 40' 6 ¾" (12.36m)
8. ShanAnn Simmons 40' 4 ¾" (12.31m)
 
Weight (contested Sunday)
11. Lauren Bellows 46' 1 ½" (14.06m)
14. ShanAnn Simmons 43' 4 ½" (12.22m)
 
Pentathlon (contested Sunday)
3. Nicola Puggé; 3335 (3356 with conversion)