Sewell, Price extend season dominance of GCAC awards

NEW ORLEANS — Camren Sewell and Taylor Price, Xavier University of Louisiana's standout harriers, have won Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Runner of the Week awards for the fourth time in as many opportunities this season.

The GCAC awards covered Sept. 11-17.

Sewell, a freshman from Cincinnati and a graduate of LaSalle High School, broke the XULA men's record for 6,000 meters Saturday at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, La. Sewell's time was 20 minutes, 8.1 seconds. The previous mark was 21:08 set in 2010. Sewell finished 45th out of 77 runners and was faster than 19 NCAA Division I runners. XULA is a longtime NAIA member.

Price ran the women's 5K at LSU in 20:08 and placed 28th out of 68 runners. A sophomore from Missouri Park, Texas, and a graduate of Ridge Point High School, Price finished ahead of 30 runners from NCAA Division I. The GCAC award is the ninth of her career.

Next for the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets will be a non-scored exhibition Oct. 14 in the UNCF Walk/Run for Education at Audubon Park in New Orleans, then the GCAC Championships Oct. 20 at Choctaw Trails in Clinton, Miss. XULA's men and women are 10-time defending GCAC team champions.

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Gold Nuggets are road warriors in 8th straight victory

HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — Xavier University of Louisiana rolled to its eight straight volleyball victory, a 25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16 decision Tuesday against William Carey.

The Gold Nuggets (9-1) got double-doubles from Kayla Black (18 kills, 10 digs), Eva Le Guillou (23 assists, 12 digs) and Juliana Tomasoni (14 kills, 19 digs), plus a career-best 10 kills from Jaida Dowd.

Black, Le Guillou and Dowd are freshmen.

It was the first time since Aug. 30, 2014, that the Gold Nuggets won a regular-season non-conference match on an out-of-town opponent's court.

"It was a great team effort," first-year head coach Pat Kendrick said. "Adili (Rikondja) and Jaida did a nice job in roles they hadn't played much this season. Kayla and Jules (Tomasoni) had great connections with the setters. Anna (Dalla Vecchia) was very efficient."

Rikondja, normally a right-side hitter, started at middle blocker and finished with four kills and two blocks. Dowd replaced Rikondja on the right side and finished with a flurry, hitting .750 with six kills over the final two sets.

Black produced the most kills in a match by a XULA player this season, and the double-double was her third. Tomasoni matched her season best for digs in her sixth double-double of the season. Le Guillou reached career highs for assists, digs and aces (3).

Black and Tomasoni combined for 21 kills and a .568 hitting percentage in the first two sets.

Also filling up the stat sheet were Tiffany Phillips with 25 assists, Dalla Vecchia with 20 digs — her sixth consecutive match in double figures — and Vivica Price-Spraggins with five kills, three blocks and a career-best five digs.

Megan Zulli had 10 kills and hit .370 for William Carey (7-5), which dropped its third straight. Emma Cotney and Lisa Faolotoi had 13 digs apiece.

XULA outhit William Carey .240 to .199 and had advantages of 56-53 in kills, 8-3 in aces and 6-3 in blocks. Both teams had 79 digs. The Gold Nuggets hit .336 in the sets they won.

XULA, the leader in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference at 3-0, will visit SUNO at 6 p.m. Thursday in a GCAC match. The next home match will start at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 against Dillard at the Convocation Center.

BOX SCORE

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Breaking down Prairie View A&M vs. Alabama State

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas  -- Records: Prairie View A&M 0-2, Alabama State 0-3.

Series history: Alabama State leads 25-7.

Key players: Prairie View - QB Lavell McCullers, RB Dawonya Tucker, LB Anthony Stubbs; Alabama State - QB Kobie Jones, RB Darrel King, S Treyon Garnett

Who has the edge

Offense – Prairie View A&M. Coach Willie Simons is looking for a faster start this week after his Panthers were outscored a combined 64-20 in the first half by Sam Houston and Nicholls. Still, they trailed only 30-24 against the high-scoring Bearkats after Tucker scored on a 19-yard run with 5:59 showing in the third. The Panthers average 5.0 yards per carry behind Tucker (19-107, 3 TDs) and McCullers (22-131, 1 TD).

Defense – Alabama State. Hornets opponents are averaging ...

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One last chance: Southern to face Alcorn State quarterback Lenorris Footman one more time after years of giving Jaguars fits

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana --The first time Kentavious Preston saw Lenorris Footman on a football field, he had no idea who the Alcorn State quarterback was.

Preston remembers it quite vividly.



It was 2015, and it was pouring in A.W. Mumford Stadium. The Jaguars thought they got a break when Alcorn’s starting quarterback, John Gibbs, left the game on the first drive with an apparent injury.

At the time, Gibbs was the reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, a perpetual thorn in Southern’s side. Over the previous three seasons, he had led the Braves to three straight wins, scoring six touchdowns and piling up 770 yards of total offense.

The Jaguars didn't know who was waiting for them behind Gibbs.

Over the next 46 minutes, Footman ran for 274 yards and four touchdowns, a SWAC record for a quarterback. He also threw for another two touchdowns on 71 yards.

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Visiting bands welcome again for CIAA games

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina -- And the band played on….

The bands that are a big part of the HBCU game-day experience will be allowed to play in the CIAA this season.

The athletics directors from all the CIAA schools held a conference call with commissioner Jacqie McWilliams on Thursday morning and decided that home-team athletics directors will make the decision on whether visiting team’s band will play, said Tonia Walker, athletics director at WSSU.

Earlier this year, the NCAA mandated a strict 20-minute halftime would be enforced this season for all divisions of football. That means penalties could be called if bands are not off the field before the start of the second half.

With that in mind, there was talk of the CIAA limiting its halftimes to allowing only the home team’s band to play. But Walker said that won’t happen at WSSU home games this season.

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A Day in the Life of the BGMM (N.C. A&T): Alex Somar, Baritone - Euphonium Section Leader

S.C. State Bulldogs prep for Thursday night ESPNU game at North Carolina Central

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- The South Carolina State Bulldogs football team needs to hit the ground running, and passing, and kicking and tackling when they open Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play on ESPNU this Thursday night at North Carolina Central.

S.C. State head football coach Buddy Pough realizes the MEAC standings picture could be a lot clearer by the end of this month, once his team plays the league favorites.



S.C. State's next two opponents are in the Top 4 rankings in this week's SBN Sports Network Black College Football Poll and in both the coaches' and media polls from BoxToRow.

The Bulldogs will play in Durham, N.C., against the Eagles (1-1) this week and then play host to unbeaten North Carolina A&T (3-0) on Saturday, Sept. 30. NCCU, the defending conference champion, was picked to finish first again this season, followed by N.C. A&T and S.C. State, at Nos. 2 and 3 respectively.

Coming off Saturday's home-opening 41-0 win against Johnson C. Smith, Pough likes the direction his team is headed, with solid play on defense and special teams supporting an emerging offense.

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