As a build up to the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Friday, July 26, Saint Francis Athletics will unveil its profile series on each of the nine inductees. Today, we feature the 2000 men's cross country team.

Due to its size and enrollment, it is always remarkable when a Saint Francis athlete or team does something to garner national recognition. The Saint Francis men's cross country team from 2000 did all that and more, turning heads in arguable the finest team performance in school history at the University of Michigan Open on Oct. 15, 2000.
 
The 2000 cross country team entered the season with lofty goals after returning the majority of the group that won the 1999 NEC Championships handedly.
 
Rumor spread at the start of the season that Saint Francis would be challenged to defend its title by Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
"Fairleigh Dickinson added four really talented Kenyan runners going into the 2000 season and it really motivated our guys to stay hungry," said head coach Kevin Donner. "We had a blue collar program that prided itself on hard work and commitment. These guys worked their tails off for 3-4 years and weren't going to be beat by a program that was essentially built overnight."
 
Donner, the current cross country and track & field coach at Bucknell, calls the 2000 Saint Francis cross country team the closest-knit group he has ever coached.
 
Talented across the board, the team motivated and pushed each other. Donner could see the team's hunger so he decided to implement optional practices.
 
"They never missed a run," said Donner. We would have Sunday morning runs that were 12-15 miles and weekday morning runs during the season and everyone showed up throughout the entire season even to the ones that weren't mandatory."
 
Donner knew his team was good, he just didn't realize how good until the Michigan Open, which was the last regular-season meet of the year.
 
Saint Francis finished second among 12 elite programs, ahead of Washington, UCLA, Michigan, Purdue, Florida and Tennessee, and only slightly behind Texas. 
 
"I specifically remember in the middle of that race, spectators were running around the course asking 'who is Saint Francis and where are they from'?" said Donner.
 
"I was approached by many coaches and fans after that race who congratulated me because the buzz was all about Saint Francis," Donner continued. That was the race that put us on the map."
 
Saint Francis continued its momentum by defending its NEC Championship just a few weeks later and placing third at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional ahead of Princeton and Big-10 runner-up Penn State.
 
Despite a snub from the NCAA Tournament, which eventually forced the NCAA to change its at-large selection process, the 2000 Saint Francis cross country team heads into the Hall of Fame as one of the greatest Saint Francis teams ever.
 
"In my mind we were one of the best 15 teams in the country," said Donner. "Even to this day, I have coaches tell me how much they admired our team."
 
Student-Athletes on the team included Travis Bailey, Andrew Catton, Terry Ditmars, Kevin Doyle, Michael Hancharik, Matthew Hartman, Wesley Hummel, James Kawalek, Aaron Kelly, Benjamin McCulloch, Michael Murray, Steven Petrosky, Lawrence Quinn, Brian Sell and Travis Singer.
 
Five of its members earned all-conference honors with top-12 finishes in the NEC Championship, led by Brian Sell's second-place finish.

Sell, Doyle, Ditmars and Catton earned All-Mid Atlantic Region honors with Sell's fourth-place finish leading the way.