PREVIEW: 2026 Women's Cross Country

9/2/2026 11:00:00 AM

By: Bill Morgal, sports information director

2026 SCHEDULE

2026 ROSTER

The Shippensburg University women's cross country team begins the 2026 season at 8 p.m. Friday when it hosts the 16th annual Galen Piper Alumni Open & Challenge at the campus recreation complex.

The team will have four regular-season meets in advance of the 2026 PSAC Championships, which are not held until early November this season due to it being an NCAA Championships Fall Festival year (in which cross country, volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer and field hockey championships will all be contested the same weekend in Kansas City).

Something I've been thinking even for myself is pushing myself...and I'd like to see how, as a team, we can push ourselves beyond our boundaries, and maybe get comfortable with being uncomfortable during the season - so that we can see future success.

Mya Trotty (Sophomore • Parkesburg, Pa. • 2025 All-PSAC First Team and All-Atlantic Region)

We know that we're in it for the long haul. Because it is a Festival year, Nationals is in December, and that's our end goal - to get to nationals. We know that right now where we're at, we have to be chill and patient, and later on we will up it a little bit more.

Victoria Bartholomew (Junior • Danville, Pa. • 2025 All-PSAC Second Team)

The class breakdown of the 2026 roster is listed below. It is using the “traditional” eligibility model. There are no seniors on this year's team.

Shippensburg is under the direction of head coach Steve Spence, who is in his 29th season leading the Raider distance runners. Spence has guided SU Women's Cross Country to six PSAC Championships and six Atlantic Region Championships. The Raiders have posted 18 Top 5 finishes at the conference meet during Spence's tenure.

One of the keys is that, even though we don't have any seniors, that our upperclassmen are serving as mentors for our seven freshmen and one transfer. They're doing a great job with that.

- head coach Steve Spence '85

We have a lot of talent in this group, and it's a lot of mid-distance talent that just needs some miles under their belt, and I think they could be really great cross country runners. I'd like to see that come together this year.

- head coach Steve Spence '85

NOTES FOR 2026:

• Shippensburg finished in seventh place at last year's PSAC Championships but delivered a second-place performance just two years ago. Two of SU's Top 3 finishers at last year's conference meet, Mya Trotty (11th place) and Victoria Bartholomew (25th place), are among the team's 12 returners.

• SU has three runners on its roster with All-PSAC accolades in their career. Ella Hartel, who redshirted last season, earned All-PSAC First Team (seventh place) and All-Atlantic Region (19th place) honors as a freshman in 2024.

• The Raiders were picked fifth in the PSAC's preseason coaches' poll.

2026 Schedule