Saint Francis will host the 2025 Northeast Conference men’s and women’s cross country championship races at its home course, B&D Acres in Tyrone, next Saturday, Nov. 1.
The 8K men’s race will begin at 11 a.m. The 5K women’s final will follow at noon.
Both the Red Flash men’s and women’s teams competed at the Gettysburg Invitational last weekend. The top SFU men’s finisher at Gettysburg was junior Carlos Cheruiyot, who placed 15th in a time of 25:16.6.
On the women’s side at Gettysburg, the top finisher for SFU head coach Doug Hoover’s team was Anna Quackenbush. The junior from Mount Airy, Maryland, finished second overall in a time of 21:32.4.
Quackenbush has earned All-NEC honors each of the last two seasons. She placed 12th at the NEC Championship in 2024 and finished seventh in the league finals as a freshman in 2023.
The Physician Assistant major earned the NEC Rookie-of-the-Year Award in 2023.
“I’ve really enjoyed competing in the NEC cross country championships for the past two years, and the team has performed well, individually and as a team,” said Quackenbush.
This will be the last NEC championship races for Saint Francis. SFU Athletics will move to Division III next season and join the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
“It will be an odd experience joining a new conference, especially after getting to know many of my competitors over the years,” said Quackenbush.
“But the unique thing about cross country and track is that, throughout the season, we compete against teams from many different conferences. I think the team will be prepared to compete in a different environment.”
Quackenbush said she tries to keep her approach to every race consistent, whether it’s a conference championship or a regular-season dual meet.
“I try to approach conference meets like I do any other meet and try not to put too much pressure on myself,” she said. “I remind myself of all the hard work I have put into training since the beginning of the summer.”
Last season, the Red Flash men finished seventh out of nine teams at the NEC Championship. The SFU women placed second in a nine-team field last fall, 18 points behind 2024 champion Central Connecticut State.
“We have been preparing since the end of track season,” said Hoover, who is in his 14th season as head cross country and track and field coach at SFU. “The hay is in the barn. All we have to do now is sharpen the tools.”
“There are a lot of good teams coming into this meet. We are going in ready to face the people on the starting line beside us, regardless of what uniform they are wearing,” said Hoover.
Both of next weekend’s championship races will be streamed on NEC FrontRow.
