XU runners to begin 2011 season Sept. 1 in Mississippi

Matt Pieri, shown competing in 2010 at Lafreniere
 Park in Metairie, La., is one of seven returning
All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference runners for
 Xavier's men and women.  Pieri is the defending
 GCAC men's individual champion.

NEW ORLEANS — The Xavier University of Louisiana men's and women's cross country teams will run on familiar territory throughout the 2011 season.

Joseph Moses, back for his seventh season as coach of the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets, announced the schedule Wednesday.

Xavier will begin the season Sept. 1 in the Mississippi College Opener at Clinton, Miss., and return there Oct. 22 for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships. Those will be XU's ninth and 10th appearances in seven seasons at Choctaw Trails Cross Country Course.

Both Xavier teams are five-time defending GCAC champions. The Rush and Nuggets won GCAC team titles at Choctaw Trails in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Xavier's second, third and fourth events will have the same Louisiana destinations as last year. The Rush and Nuggets will compete Sept. 10 in the Four Points by Sheraton Loyola Wolfpack Invitational at Lafreniere Park in suburban Metairie for the third consecutive year, followed by the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational in Lafayette on Sept. 16 and the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge on Sept. 24.

It will be the third straight year and the fourth time in six seasons that XU competes in the Ragin' Cajuns meet. The Rush and Nuggets will appear at LSU for the third straight year and the seventh time in nine seasons. The fifth meet, Oct. 1 at the Gulf Coast Stampede in Pensacola, Fla., will be XU's third time there in four years.

The final regular-season meet will be Oct. 8 in the University of Dallas Invitational, where XU also competed in 2008.

The GCAC has reclaimed its automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships after a one-year hiatus, so several from the conference — the top men's and women's team, plus the fastest five males and females not on those winning teams — will qualify for the NAIA meet Nov. 19 at Vancouver, Wash. Xavier's men and women qualified for nationals in 2008 and 2009.

Xavier has seven returning All-GCAC runners: Matt Pieri, Ray Walston, Javon Mead and Charles Shaw on the men's team and Anna D'Souza, Ashley Taylor and Donyé Coleman on the women's. Pieri was the 2010 GCAC men's champion. Both teams conducted their first preseason workouts Friday.

2011 Xavier University of Louisiana Cross Country Schedule

all times Central unless noted

Sept. 1 (Thu.): Mississippi College Opener, Clinton, Miss. — women 5 p.m., men 5:30 p.m.
Sept. 10 (Sat.): Four Points by Sheraton Loyola Wolfpack Invitational, Metairie, La. — women 8 a.m., men 8:35 a.m.
Sept. 16 (Fri.): Ragin' Cajuns Invitational, Lafayette, La. — women 6 p.m., men 6:30 p.m.
Sept. 24 (Sat.): LSU Invitational, Baton Rouge, La. — women 8:05 a.m., men 9:15 a.m.
Oct. 1 (Sat): Gulf Coast Stampede, Pensacola, Fla. — women 7:30 a.m., men 8 a.m.
Oct. 8 (Sat.): University of Dallas Invitational, Irving, Texas — women 9 a.m., men 10 a.m.
Oct. 22 (Sat.): Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships, Clinton, Miss. — women 8 a.m., men 8:45 a.m.
Nov. 19 (Sat): NAIA National Championships, Vancouver, Wash. — men 10:30 a.m. PST, women 11:45 a.m. PST

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

The Xavier Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets compete in Division I of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) as a member of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC). Xavier fields men's teams in basketball, cross country and tennis and women's teams in basketball, cross country, tennis and volleyball.