NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana reached new heights Wednesday in the NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 poll. The Gold Nuggets received a school-record 18 points from the panel of 25 coaches and rank 34th.
The previous XU mark for poll points was 14 in the 2008 preseason. This is the 23rd time that the Gold Nuggets received points — the first time was in 2002 — and the fourth time they collected 10 or more points. Three of those double-figure occasions occured this season.
This is the third time this season that the Nuggets rank 34th. They were 37th a week ago with three points.
The XU women qualified automatically for the NAIA National Championships after a resounding victory Saturday in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships at Clinton, Miss. Xavier had the top six finishers — Zahri Jackson, Catherine Fakler, Briana Simms, Hali Yarmush, Hannah Finnegan and Donyé Coleman — in the 5,000-meter race, and Jackson and Fakler became the first Nuggets to run that distance in less than 19 minutes. Jackson (18:54.69) won by about a half-second over Fakler to repeat as GCAC individual champion. Xavier won the team championship for a GCAC-record-tying seventh consecutive season, this time by 63 points over runner-up Edward Waters. Xavier is 33-9 against all opponents this season.
Both XU teams qualified for the national meet, which will be Nov. 17 in Vancouver, Wash. The Gold Nuggets and the Gold Rush will compete at nationals for the second consecutive year and the fourth time in five years.
The final two polls of 2012 will be released Nov. 4 and 22.
| NAIA Women's Cross
Country Coaches' Top 25 Poll(first-place votes in parentheses)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment