On Friday, September 14, Penn State Behrend hosted the Behrend Invitational, while the Franciscan University cross country teams traveled to South Bend, IN for the National Catholic Championship hosted by the University of Notre Dame. Medaille College and La Roche College also competed at the Behrend Invitational.

The Behrend women had a strong performance on Friday night, finishing in second place at the 2018 Behrend Invitational. Junior Riley Crissman was the first Behrend Lion, and AMCC runner, to cross the finish line, earning a third place overall finish with a time of 20:05.9 Fellow junior Jenna Shelton placed seventh overall in the race with a time of 21:06.2. Mount Union College senior Hilary Reigle was the individual champion, crossing the finish line first in 19:37.2. Medaille senior Alyssa Murzynowski led the way for the Mavs finishing 42nd (26:53) and leading the Mavs to seventh place finish. Closely behind her was junior Brandi Jezerski finishing in 43rd (28:21). La Roche sophomore Seirra Anderson finished in 32:58.

On the men's side, The Penn State Behrend men's cross country team finished in fourth place while the Mavs took home a ninth place finish. Behrend junior Chris Drozynski led the Lions, and all AMCC runners, on Friday night with a seventh place overall finish in a time of 28:00.6. Lion freshman Mark Bierly was the next Behrend runner to cross the finish line, doing so in 28:17.6 for an 11th place finish. Leading the Mavs was freshman Nicholas Cicero, finishing in 32nd overall (31:00). Freshman Giovanni Anderson led the Redhawks with a 43:37 finish.

All eight runners for the Franciscan women's cross country team set personal bests as the Lady Barons finished eighth out of the 15 non-DI teams to compete at the National Catholic Invitational. Senior Grace Galligan led the Lady Barons as she finished 41^st overall but eighth among the DII and DIII runners with a time of 19:02.88 in the 5K race. Freshman Alison Bryant took 16^th against DII/III schools and 69^th overall with a time of 19:47.65.

The Franciscan men's team placed sixth out of 18 DII/DIII teams. Sophomore Liam Galligan set his personal best time in a five-mile race as he finished third among the DII/DIII runners and 23^rd overall with a time of 25:50.5. Classmate Mark Borek was just two seconds off his personal best as he took 32^nd in his division and 91^st overall with a time of 27:25.46.