SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Messiah Women's Cross Country team opened the 2026 season with a fifth-place finish on Friday evening at the 16th Annual Galen Piper XC Challenge hosted by Shippensburg University. The season opener proved to be a non-standard race as the team took to the course under the lights and for a 4k distance rather than the standard 6k. The race took place on a 1,000-meter loop around the Raider athletic facilities and pinned the Falcons against eight other collegiate teams and a Shippensburg Alumni team.

The Falcons will have the next two weeks to prepare for their next competition on Friday, September 18th. Messiah will travel to Stevenson University for a preview of the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship site for later this season.

Action on the Course
As a team, the Falcons claimed fifth overall with 106 points. George Washington claimed the team title with 24 points, placing all seven scoring runners in the top ten. Shippensburg finished in second with 87 points while the Ship Alumni team claimed third with 98. Dickinson finished just ahead of Messiah with 104 points.

Delaney Turk started her junior season strong, crossing the line in a time of 15:06.0 to finish in seventh. Madison Kimmel was the next Falcon to cross the line, running a new personal best of 15:29.0 to finish in 18th.

First-year Kendall Chandler kicked off her Messiah career strong, finishing as the third Falcon to cross the line in a time of 16:15.8, finishing 31st overall. The next 10 Messiah runners crossed the line within 16 seconds of each other as park of a large pack of runners who found themselves finishing under the 17-minute mark.

A trio of Falcons lead the way with Elana Pineda (16:37.8), Gracelyn Lacoss (16:38.6), and Ava Shirk (16:39.0) all crossing in quick succession of each other, with Shirk running a new best at the 4k distance. The first-year duo of Lily Mellinger and Katie Brass were the next Falcons to finish with Mellinger crossing in a time of 16:43.8 and Brass crossing in a time of 16:46.7.

Meagan Kime (16:47.3), Emmie Battersby (16:48.1), and Kenzee Wiker (16:48.5) also found themselves together at the line. Ella Swayne and Lila Kretzing rounded out the Falcons under 17 minutes with Swayne finishing in a time of 16:50.1 and Kretzing finishing in a time of 16:54.5)

The next contingent of Falcons found themselves a bit more spread out with Kayra DeVries crossing in a time of 17:01.4, Samantha Mynio crossing in a time of 17:05.0, and Emily Prothero crossing in a time of 17:48.2.

Addie Shuff and Caroline Shutts were next to cross the line, finishing in respective times of 18:11.9 and 18:13.6. Aubrey Yeager then crossed the line with a time of 18:31.3 before Elizabeth Anthony crossed in a time of 18:35.1.

Kelsey Hoffman and Grace Bath rounded out the Falcon efforts with respective times of 19:32.7 and 20:42.4.

From Head Coach Dale Fogelsanger, "This was a great opening meet. Although it was very humid, many times were faster than last year at this same race. They were ready to race after consistent summer training and four first-years finished in our top ten."

The Falcons will have the next two weeks to prepare for their next competition on Friday, September 18th. Messiah will travel to Stevenson University for a preview of the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship site for later this season.