The Youngstown State men's and women's cross-country programs will compete in seven races during the fall of 2025, highlighted by two home meets at the Gorby Family Championship Cross Country Course in September and a trip to the Joe Piane Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational in October.
Upon the regular season's end, the Penguins will travel to Fort Wayne, Ind., to compete in the Horizon League Championships on Nov. 1 at the Mastodon Cross Country Course.
As the three-time reigning Horizon League Champions, the men's team will look to four-peat as conference champions in November. The women, having finished in the top three seven times since the 2011 season and coming off a fourth-place finish a year ago, will look to return to the top of the podium for the first time since 2014.
Tobias Jones and Blaze Fichter, who finished sixth and seventh, respectively, at the Horizon League Championships last season, will make their return to the course in 2025. Jones and Fichter were two of five Penguins who placed in the top eight a year ago, as the team totaled a staggering 26 points, finishing 48 points ahead of second-place IU Indianapolis. McKinley Fielding and Caleigh Richards each return for their second season with the Penguins. Fielding finished runner-up at last season's conference championships in her first season with the team after transferring from Toledo, while Richards, the 2024 Horizon League Cross Country Women's Freshman of the Year, placed eighth.
The season-opening meet will be held at the Mastodon Cross Country Course in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Sept. 6, when the Penguins will compete in the Mastodon Alumni Open. YSU will return to the same course two months later for the conference championships.
The Penguins will then return home later in September when they host two meets on their home soil at the Gorby Family Championship Cross Country Course on Sept. 20 and Sept. 27. The course hosted its first collegiate races in 2024.
The month of October features two races hosted by Power Four programs. First up for the Penguins will be their return to South Bend, Ind., for the Joe Piane Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 3 at the Burke Golf Course. YSU will then wrap up regular season action on Oct. 18 when they travel to Columbia, Mo. For the Pre-National Invitational.
Following the conference championships, the Penguins will return to the Hoosier State for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships on Nov. 14 at the Angel Mounds Cross Country Course in Evansville, Ind.
For live updates and results throughout the 2025 season, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on X.
