Xavier Nuggets beat 3 NCAA DI teams at LSU meet

First time since Sept. 22, 2012, that NAIA member XULA finishes ahead of
3 NCAA Division I teams in a women's cross country meet.

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Eight-of-10 from Xavier University of Louisiana produced career- or season-best times, and the Gold Nuggets finished ahead of three NCAA Division I teams Saturday at the LSU Invitational cross country meet.

Led by freshman Brianna Pace's career-best time of 21 minutes, 2.50 seconds for 5,000 meters, NAIA member Xavier scored 131 points to finish fourth out of eight women's teams. The Gold Nuggets finished ahead of NCAA DIs Alcorn State (fifth place, 154 points), Nicholls State (sixth, 176) and New Orleans (eighth, 184).

It was the first time since Sept. 22, 2012, that the Gold Nuggets finished ahead of three NCAA Division I teams in a meet.

Pace finished 28th out of 66 women and was the Nuggets' fastest runner for the third consecutive meet. Also finishing for Xavier were Zahri Jackson (31st, season-best 21:21.67), Dionysia Love (33rd, career-best 21:24.49), Brianna Simms (41st, 22:19.49), Hannah Finnegan (50th, season-best 23:15.11) and Kailey Williams (55th, career-best 24:33.11). Jackson made the most dramatic drop, running 65 seconds faster. Love dropped by nearly 53 seconds.

Three of Xavier's four men improved. Christopher August, the top Gold Rush finisher in all four meets this year, placed 20th out of 49 runners with a season-best 5K of 16:57.90. The other Rush finishers were Darrick Williams (41st, 19:47.13), Xaiver Latting (43rd, career-best 22:18.91) and Felipe Perrier (45th, career-best 23:19.16).

August's time was his second-fastest at Xavier and No. 15 on the Gold Rush 5K performance list of the past 13 seasons. "I expected to go even faster," August said, "but I had a little trouble with my calf the last 800 meters. But I was still happy to drop time and get under 17 minutes."

Southern Miss (18 points, five of the six fastest women) and LSU (18 points, seven of the nine fastest men) won team titles. Rebecca Ulrich (17:44.99) of Southern Miss was the fastest woman, and Dajour Braxton (15:20.65) of LSU was the fastest man.

It was Xavier's final competition before the Red River Athletic Conference Championships Nov. 6 at San Antonio, Texas. Coach Joseph Moses said his teams will not compete Oct. 9 in the Mississippi College/Watson Ford Invitational as originally scheduled. Instead they'll participate Oct. 10 in the 28th annual UNCF 5K Run/Walk for Education at 8:30 a.m. at the Audubon Park Riverview in New Orleans.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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