METAIRIE, Louisiana — Xavier University of Louisiana's Kwame Jackson broke a 14-year-old school record, and Catherine Fakler and her teammates extended their winning streaks at the Louisiana Army National Guard/ROTC Wolf Pack Invitational cross country meet on Saturday at Lafreniere Park.
Jackson ran 5,000 meters in 15 minutes, 30.90 seconds to break the XU men's mark of 15:46.80 set by Farris Gransberry in 2000. Jackson finished second in the race, and teammate Brent Kitto was fourth in 15:48.14. Kitto's time is the Gold Rush's second fastest of the last 12 seasons.
It's the first time that Jackson — a two-time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference individual champion and All-Louisiana selection — has held one of the Gold Rush's timing records.
"Glad to get that weight off my shoulders," said Jackson, a senior from the Houston suburb of Kingwood, Texas, and a graduate of Kingwood Park High School. "My teammates had been pushing me all week to try and break the record. This is a victory for all of us."
Fakler, the 2013 GCAC women's champion and Louisiana Runner of the Year, won her 5K race in 18:13.71, the second-fastest time in Gold Nuggets history. Fakler won by less than a second over Southeastern Louisiana freshman Celia Zaeringer. Fakler has won four of her last five cross country races dating to Sept. 21, 2013.
"I'm a morning person, so this was good for me," said Fakler — from Phoenix, Ariz., and a graduate of Xavier College Preparatory Roman Catholic High School — of the 7:50 a.m. start. "I woke up three hours before the race, ate a Clif Bar and a banana, went back to sleep, then woke up again to go to the meet. It felt nice out there. It was a good run."
The Gold Nuggets had five of the top seven finishers and won the women's division with 23 points. Southeastern Louisiana, an NCAA Division I member, was second with 40 points. It's the first time in the history of Xavier's women's program, which dates to 1994, that the Gold Nuggets opened the season with consecutive victories. The team championship is the 18th in Joseph Moses' 10 seasons as coach of the Nuggets.
The Gold Nuggets' other finishers were Briana Simms (fourth place, 19:40.29), Ashley Flournoy (fifth, 20:54.59), Hannah Finnegan (sixth, 20:55.86), Hali Yarmush (seventh, 21:55.69), Carlee Calais (13th, 22:26.42) and Zahri Jackson (14th, 22:35.46). Simms' time is No. 14 on the Nuggets' all-time list.
The Gold Rush did not qualify for team scoring. Christopher August was ninth in 16:13.00 — the Gold Rush's fourth-fastest 5K of the last 12 seasons — and Emmanuel Detiege was 22nd in 17:57.29.
SLU's Harry Wiggins won the men's race in 15:13.68 and led the Lions to the team title with 15 points.
Xavier will compete at the Southern Miss Invitational at Pine Belt National Golf Course in Moselle, Miss., next Saturday. The men's race will begin at 8 a.m., followed by the women at 8:30. Distance for both will be 5K.
NOTES: The Gold Nuggets won the team title of this meet for the second time in three years . . . Zahri Jackson, Kwame's younger sister, competed in cross country for the first time since 2012, the year she won her second consecutive GCAC individual title.
Results: Men Women
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Ed Cassiere,
Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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