LORETTO, Pa. – Saint Francis track and field head coach Douglas Hoover has announced the indoor and outdoor schedules for the 2023-24 season.
 
"The meet schedule provides our student-athletes with a good competitive experience throughout the season and will prepare them for the Northeast Conference (NEC) Championships at the end of the season," Hoover said.
 
The teams will compete in seven regular season meets for the indoor season and six outdoor regular season meets for the outdoor season.
 
The Red Flash will begin the indoor season with the Bison Opener on Dec. 2 at Gerhard Fieldhouse hosted by Bucknell University. At last season's opener, James Parmelee (500m dash), Caleb Nelson (triple jump), and Kameron Stevens (long jump) each won their events.
 
Saint Francis will return to action in a month on Jan. 13, 2023, at the Nittany Lion Challenge hosted by Penn State University. Nelson achieved first place in the long jump at last year's event with a 14.21m mark.
 
Then, the teams will travel to Bucknell again for the Gulden Invitational on Jan. 20. At last year's invitational, Monica Gregg (1000m dash) and Nickolas Hyde (shot put) took home first-place finishes. 
 
The squads will end the month with a split at the Penn State National Open and The Bison Open on Jan. 26-27.
 
The Red Flash will next compete at the Liberty Open hosted by Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA on Feb. 3. The teams will round out the indoor regular season on Feb. 9 at the River Hawk Friday Night Showdown hosted by Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA. The women's team had five event victories at last year's showdown.
 
Postseason competition will begin with the NEC Championships from Feb. 18-19 in Staten Island, NY. Following will be the IC4A/ECAC Championships at Boston University from March 2-3. Hyde will look to defend his shot put title for the third straight year after winning the event last season with a score of 17.28m. 
 
The indoor season will conclude with the top athletes competing at the Division-I National Championships on March 8-9.
 
Saint Francis will open the outdoor regular season on March 23 at the Virginia Quadrangular hosted by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. In the same week, the teams will make a trip to York, PA for the York College Twilight Meet on March 27. At last year's event in York, the 4x800 relay team of Gregg, Baylee Carpenter, Emma Fleck, and Mariclare Anderson, Hyde (shot put), and John Flynn Jr. (3000m steeple chase) earned first place finishes. It was Flynn Jr.'s first event victory in his career.
 
The teams will then have back-to-back meets at Bucknell, the first being the Bison Outdoor Classic on April 13-14 and the second being the Bucknell Team Challenge on April 20. At last year's Team Challenge, Stevens (long jump) and Julian Saunders (200m dash) took home first place. 
 
The regular season will conclude with the Red Flash Open at the Father Bede Track on April 27. Last year's home meet saw Saint Francis earn 19 event victories and school records broken in the 4x100 relay, 110m hurdles, and hammer throw.
 
The Red Flash will begin postseason play with a trip to Central Connecticut State University for the NEC Championships on May 4-5. The women's team will look to defend their NEC title crown after winning it all for the third straight year last season. The men's team finished third in the Championships.
 
The IC4A/ECAC Championships will follow on May 11-12. Those who qualify will travel to the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY for the Division-I East Preliminaries from May 22-25. The top athletes will then compete in the Division-I National Championships at the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR from June 5-8.