CLINTON, Mississippi -- Taylor Price won her second individual title in three years, and Xavier University of Louisiana women's cross country rolled to a 12th straight team title in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships Friday morning.
The team title earned the Gold Nuggets an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships Nov. 16 at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Yhann Plummer, who joined the XULA staff in August, was voted GCAC Coach of the Year by his peers.
Price and teammate Maliya Vaughan, the 2017 GCAC champion, ran side-by-side for most of the 5,000 meters at Choctaw Trails. But Price pulled away in the final 300 yards for a nearly four-second victory. Price's time was 21 minutes, 20.07 seconds. Vaughan placed second in 21:23.65.
A year ago on this course, Vaughan pulled away late to dethrone Price with a victory of nearly nine seconds.
"Over the summer I decided to work harder," Price said, "because I wanted to win this again."
The top 10 finishers — including XULA's Brianna Pace (third, 22:20.01) and Ky'Reon McBride (10th, 23:43.53) — earned all-conference. It was the first collegiate meet for McBride, in her fourth year at XULA and on the cross country roster two years ago.
Price, Vaughan and Pace were All-GCAC and the first three finishers for the third consecutive year.
Also finishing for the Nuggets were Toni Trail (14th, 24:53.92), and Mariah Cox (15th, 25:10.60). There were 46 runners overall.
The Gold Nuggets scored 30 points to post a comfortable winning margin against second-place Philander Smith (61 points) and third-place SUNO (62). Edward Waters and Dillard, the 2-3 finishers a year ago, slipped to fourth and fifth this time. Edward Waters scored 99 points, and Dillard had 117. Talladega was sixth with 145 points, and Tougaloo was seventh with 171. GCAC newbie Rust had only four finishers and did not qualify for team scoring.
It was XULA's third meet in 14 days at Choctaw Trails, and Price was grateful for another opportunity. "Those first two appearances were not good for me," she said, "so I prepared to do better this time."
The GCAC team title is XULA's 13th in women's cross country, which extends its league record for this sport. Price joined Katrina Davis (2002, 2003) and Zahri Jackson (2011, 2012) as two-time individual champions from XULA. No GCAC woman has won three championships.
Later in the morning, Plummer coached XULA to the GCAC men's team title.
Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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