Men's Cross Country Schedule | Women's Cross Country Schedule

LORETTO, Pa. – Saint Francis University cross country head coach Doug Hoover has announced the men's and women's schedule for the 2023 season. Two home meets highlight the slate, including opening the season with the annual Father Bede Invitational on September 1. 
 
The Red Flash will hold the Father Bede Invitational for the second-straight year at the B & D Acres in Tyrone, Pennsylvania to open the month of September and its 13th season under Hoover. The Father Bede Invitational has been Saint Francis' home meet since 2007 and this season will be the seventh time in the last eight years the two teams will open a campaign with the competition. 
 
The Loretto programs return to action with its first trip to the Lock Haven Invitational on September 23 on the West Branch Cross Country Course in Lock Haven. It will be the 22nd iteration of the event. 
 
After the Lock Haven Invitational, Saint Francis will compete at the 49th Paul Short Run on September 30, hosted by Lehigh University on the Goodman Campus Course in Bethlehem. It is the eighth-straight year the Red Flash will run in this race and the ninth time dating back to the 2007 season. 
 
The final tune up for the Northeast Conference (NEC) Cross Country Championships will be a trip to the historic Civil War battlegrounds on the campus of Gettysburg College for the Aubrey Shenk Invitational on October 14. The cross country teams will participate in the event for the fifth-straight campaign. 
 
The NEC Cross Country Championships head to Long Island, New York for the first time in Brookville on October 28.  
 
The Red Flash men's team finished sixth last year and will be looking for its seventh NEC crown after winning the team championship in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. The men will also be looking for its fifth individual champion and first since Bryce England in 2017. The Saint Francis women placed fifth in 2022 and will be looking for its seventh team title after winning in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2016. The women are looking for its second individual champion and first since Kim Cerasi in 2002.  
 
After the NEC Championships, Saint Francis returns home to host the Saint Francis Red Flash Rally for the second-straight year in Tyrone on November 5. 
 
The Red Flash will then head back to Lehigh University for the NCAA Division I Mid-Atlantic Region Championships on November 10, and if a runner qualifies for the NCAA Division I National Championships that would take place at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Virginia with the University of Virginia serving as the host of November 18.  
 
Saint Francis has had a participant in the NCAA Championships four times in program history, while the women would be looking for its first participant. For the men, Brian Sell (2000), Kevin Doyle (2001) and Ryan Sheehan (2002, 2003) all made the national stage and all three are in the Saint Francis Athletics Hall of Fame.