Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Defending champion XU teams to begin season Aug. 30


Xavier women's cross country 
Xavier men's cross country

Both XU teams in 2012 recorded perfect scores at the GCAC Championships.

NEW ORLEANS — Five regular-season meets and a venue change for the NAIA National Championships are included in the 2013 Xavier University of Louisiana men's and women's cross country schedules.
    
Ninth-year head coach Joseph Moses announced the schedules Tuesday. Both the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets are seven-time defending champions of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.
    
Xavier will begin the season Aug. 30 in the Mississippi College Opener at Choctaw Trails Course in Clinton, Miss. The women's 4,000-meter race will start at 5 p.m., followed by the men's 5,000 at 5:30.
    
The other regular-season meets will be the Loyola Wolf Pack Invitational on Sept. 7 at Metairie, La. — Xavier's only competition in its home state — the Gulf Coast Stampede on Sept. 14 at Pensacola, Fla., the Ram Ramble Invitational on Sept. 21 at Fort Worth, Texas, and the
    
Mississippi College/Watson Ford Invitational on Oct. 4 at Clinton.
    
The Rush and Nuggets will return to Clinton for the third time in 2013 when they play host to the GCAC Championships. Both XU teams will try to qualify for the NAIA National Championships at Lawrence, Kan., for the third consecutive year and the fifth time in six years. Both GCAC team champions will receive automatic bids to the national meet, which is moving to the Midwest after four consecutive years at Vancouver, Wash.
    
Xavier has 11 returning runners who were All-GCAC in 2012: Emmanuel Detiege, David Holobowicz, Kwame Jackson, Javon Mead and Aaron Yarmush on the men's team and Donyé Coleman, Catherine Fakler, Hannah Finnegan, Zahri Jackson, Briana Simms and Hali Yarmush on the women's. Zahri Jackson is a two-time defending GCAC individual champion, and Kwame Jackson, her brother, was a GCAC individual champ in 2011. Both Jacksons are juniors. Mead and Fakler are Capital One Academic All-Americans; Mead earned that honor each of the past two years.

2013 Xavier University of Louisiana Cross Country Schedule
all times Central unless noted

Aug. 30 (Fri.):  Mississippi College Opener, Clinton, Miss. — women 5 p.m., men 5:30 p.m.
Sept. 7 (Sat.):  Loyola Wolfpack Invitational, Metairie, La. — women 7:50 a.m., men 8:25 a.m.
Sept. 14 (Sat.):  Gulf Coast Stampede, Pensacola, Fla. — women 7:15 a.m., men 8 a.m.
Sept. 21 (Sat.):  Ram Ramble Invitational, Fort Worth, Texas — 8:15 a.m.
Oct. 4 (Fri.):  Mississippi College/Watson Ford Invitational, Clinton, Miss. — women 4:30 p.m., men 5:15 p.m.
Oct. 26 (Sat.):  Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships, Clinton, Miss. — women 8 a.m., men 8:30 a.m.
Nov. 23 (Sat):  NAIA National Championships, Lawrence, Kan. — times to be announced
 
 
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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