UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond Spiders men's and women's cross country programs announced its 2017 schedule on Wednesday afternoon.

With the Spider joining the ECAC/IC4A last year, an extended championship segment highlights the nine-event slate.

“We are preparing for and already looking forward to the fall cross country season,” Head Coach Lori Taylor said. “Our schedule provides our athletes with opportunities to compete in several of the highest profile cross country meets in the country with great competition.“

The season gets underway for the Spiders on Sept. 2, when the team will host the Spider Alumni Open at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va.

Before the college meet the Pole Green Park 5K Run/Walk will take place and offer a public event open to anyone who would like to run, jog or walk.  The Pole Green Park 5K will host the USATF-Virginia Association Championships.

The team will then head to the Wolfpack Invitational hosted by NC State University in Cary, N.C. on Friday, Sept. 15, before heading to Bethlehem, Pa., for the Paul Short Invitational on September 29^th, hosted by Lehigh University on their Murray Goodman Campus.

On Oct. 14, Richmond travels to the Pre-National Invitational to be held in Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky.

Two weeks later, on Oct. 28, the Spiders travel to the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championship to be held at the historic Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, Va.

Last season, the women's team placed claimed the team title with a 4.7 second split for their top 5 runners, while the men's squad placed eleventh.

The NCAA Southeast Region Championship will be held in Charlottesville, Va. on Nov. 10 – eight days before the NCAA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky on Nov. 18.

The 2017 cross country season wraps up and kicks off 2018 with a pair of events – the ECAC/IC4A Championships on Nov. 17 and the U.S. Cross Country Championships on February 3 in Tallahassee, Florida.

“We return nearly all of our women's team from the fall and have several freshmen men joining our program this fall,” coach Steve Taylor remarked. “As a staff we look forward to a great fall for both teams. Additionally we will once again travel to the U.S. Cross Country Championships to be held in Tallahassee, Florida in February and we'll have the chance to compete in the Collegiate Running Association National Championship events throughout the year.  The combination of these NCAA, USATF and Collegiate Running Association events and locations provides the opportunity, especially for our men's program, to have a year around national championship events on our calendar.”

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