SPOKANE, Wash. – The No. 24 Shippensburg University men's cross country team will compete in the NCAA National Championships for the third consecutive season this Saturday from the Plante's Ferry Athletic Complex in Spokane, Washington. The Raiders enter Saturday's meet after a second-place finish at the PSAC meet and a third-place turn at the regional meet.

Admission for those attending the festivities is $5 for adults and $3 for students aged 18 and younger. Tickets can be purchased at the gate. A live video feed of the race is expected to be provided by the NCAA but a link is not yet available.

This year's trip to the NCAA championship meet can be booked because of the success of last year's team. Because of Shippensburg's seventh-place finish at the 2010 NCAA championship meet, the Atlantic Region was granted a third team in the 2011 NCAA championship meet after having sent just two in previous seasons. SU will be joined this weekend by Edinboro and Lock Haven – the top finishers at the regional meet two weeks ago.

Senior Stephen Schelander is seeking his first All-America certification in his final collegiate cross country race. SU's 2010-11 Men's Student-Athlete of the Year was the No. 1 runner for the Raiders at the 2009 national championship meet and the No. 2 runner at last year's NCAA meet with a 50th-place finish.

Junior Matt Gillette also has All-America potential and has placed among the Top 10 runners in all three of the Atlantic Regional championship meets in his career. Gillette, an All-American on the track in the 1,500 meters, was SU's No. 3 runner a year ago with a 54th-place finish.

Senior Eric Evans had never finished higher than 28th at the conference championship meet before this season but has taken his running to the next level in his final season of competition. Evans earned his first career All-PSAC and All-Atlantic Region honors with a 20th-place turn at the conference meet and his 13th-place finish at the Atlantic Regional meet two weeks ago. 

Senior Wade Miller made his 10K debut two weeks ago with a 32nd-place time of 33:44 after serving as SU's No. 3 runner at the PSAC championship meet with a 93-second PR in an 8K race.

Freshman Bernard England, a runner whose specialty came at the mid-distance level in high school, was another one of the Raiders who made a 10K debut at the Atlantic regional meet. He finished in 34:42. 

Redshirt freshman Scott Armstrong was SU's No. 6 runner at the Atlantic Regional championship and the No. 7 runner at the PSAC championship meet.

Freshman Peter Gelston recorded a 54-second PR in the 8K as SU's No. 6 runner at the PSAC meet. Gelston was the No. 7 runner for the Raiders at the Atlantic Regional meet.

Senior Greg Ahlswede will serve as the alternate.