SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Garrett Quinan delivered the fastest 8K cross country time in school history Friday morning to pace the Shippensburg University men's cross country team at the prestigious Paul Short Run presented by Asics held at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus Course.
 
The Paul Short Run, one of the most prestigious cross country meets annually held in the Northeast, features five races for each gender to which teams are assigned based on season times and projections. SU and No. 1-ranked Wingate were the only NCAA Division II schools in the elite Gold race; there were three NCAA Division III schools (RPI, Johns Hopkins and Geneseo) and one NAIA school (Rio Grande) alongside 34 NCAA Division I programs.
 
Quinan broke the 24-minute mark over 8K – a fantastic performance that resulted in a 34th-place finish and a time of 23:53.6. He was slotted as high as 31st place in the race at the 5K split (14:54) and he completed his final 3,000 meters in a stunning 8:59.
 
It is an 8K personal best (PR) of 50 seconds for Quinan, who ran 24:43 at last year's Paul Short when he finished third overall in the Brown race.
 
Tommy Crum Jr. was among the race's Top 75 finishers with a sterling performance of his own. Crum's time of 24:14.9 – good for 72nd place – featured a split of 9:08 over his final 3K. He improved his 8K personal best by 38 seconds.
 
Ryan Wolfe was SU's No. 3 scorer and crossed the finish line with a time of 24:52 – a 36-second PR. Ben Devine improved his personal best by 14 seconds and nearly broke the 25-minute mark, clocking in at 25:01.3.
 
Daniel Naylor, the only Raider in the Gold race making his collegiate 8K debut, completed the SU scoring contingent with a time of 26:03.1. Brennan Wellock was three seconds behind. Brayden Boyd and Kyle Baker rounded out the SU lineup in the Gold race.
 
It was the first 8K of the season for the Raiders after having run races of 6K, four miles (approximately 6.4 K) and 4K. Competing on a dry course that was running especially fast, SU posted a 25th-place team finish. Wingate ended up fifth behind Georgetown, Utah State, Texas A&M and Harvard.
 
In addition to the Gold, the Brown, the White (exclusive to NCAA Division III) and the Green races, there is also an open race held in the morning for which there is no team scoring. Ben Hummel paced four Raiders in this race with a time of 26:27.4. Jackson Gutekunst crossed the finish line in 26:39.9 – which is more than 70 seconds faster than his previous two runs at the Paul Short. Owen Shrader clocked in at 26:49.1 (67 seconds faster than last season) while Davey Johnsonran 27:10. It was the first collegiate 8K for Hummel and Johnson.
 
Eleven of the 12 Raiders who took to the Goodman Campus course on Friday either established their 8K personal best or recorded a new 8K PR.
 
Overall, there were nine Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) schools who took to the course in various races Friday. East Stroudsburg, Gannon, IUP, Kutztown and West Chester competed in the Brown race, while Bloomsburg, Mansfield and Shepherd competed in the Green race. IUP's Mike Formica won the Brown race with a time of 24:18.2 – about 25 seconds off from the pace of Quinan in the Gold race.
 
Friday marked the final competition of the regular season for the Raiders. Shippensburg will now revert to training before returning to action in three weeks for the 2025 PSAC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Edinboro.
 
Shippensburg (25th in Gold Race, 656 points)
34. Garrett Quinan 23:53.6 (PR of 50 seconds; previous 8K PR 24:43 at '24 Paul Short)
72. Tommy Crum Jr. 24:14.9 (PR of 38 seconds; previous 8K PR 24:52 at '24 Paul Short)
154. Ryan Wolfe 24:52.2 (PR of 36 seconds; previous 8K PR of 25:28 at '23 Paul Short)
175. Ben Devine 25:01.3 (PR of 14 seconds; previous 8K PR of 25:15 at '23 D3 Mid-Atl. Regionals)
290. Daniel Naylor 26:03.1 (first collegiate 8K)
296. Brennan Wellock 26:06.8 (PR of 15 seconds; previous 8K PR of 26:21 at '24 PSACs)
317. Brayden Boyd 26:33.0 (8K PR is 26:13 at '23 Horizon League Championships)
320. Kyle Baker 26:45.2 (PR of 35 seconds; previous 8K PR of 27:20 at '24 Paul Short)
 
Open 6K
243. Ben Hummel 26:27.4 (first collegiate 8K)
265. Jackson Gutekunst 26:39.9 (PR of 12 seconds; previous 8K PR of 26:51 at '24 PSACs)
285. Owen Shrader 26:49.1 (PR of 67 seconds; previous PR of 27:56 at '24 Paul Short)
336. Davey Johnson 27:10.7 (first collegiate 8K)

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