Saturday, September 7, 2019

Lamar sees resemblance in MVSU

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Jaguar buzz: South Alabama host Jackson State in home-opener

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SIU volleyball | Salukis get past Alabama A&M in Bash opener

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Memphis Football sets their sights to Southern after opening game victory

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Southern looks to compete with Memphis

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'It's like a homecoming feeling': JSU's Terrell Kennedy on playing South Alabama in Mobile

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UH looks to turn the page after rough start to season

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The Labor Day Classic: ASU-Tuskegee 5 Things to watch

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College football preview: Houston vs. Prairie View A&M

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XULA hires Kaisha Weeks as assistant track/XC coach

Xavier University of Louisiana track and fieldNEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has hired Kaisha Weeks as assistant coach in its men's and women's track and field and cross country programs.
     
Weeks worked her first day at XULA Thursday (Sept. 5, 2019).
     
"Kai has a lot to offer and brings a lot to the table," XULA head coach Yhann Plummer said. "The team will benefit from her being part of the program."
     
Weeks joins XULA after coaching the sprinters and hurdlers at Oviedo (Fla.) High School. The Oviedo boys won three events at the 2019 Class 4A state meet, and the girls 400 relay qualified for regionals for the first time in more than 10 years and broke the school record.
     
Weeks also was an assistant coach at her alma mater, Lake Brantley (Fla.) High School. She coached her girls to school records in the 400 relay and the individual 100 and 200 at Class 4A state meets.
     
"I'm extremely pleased and grateful to be working alongside head coach Yhann Plummer and the rest of the XULA track and field / cross country staff," Weeks said. "It feels great to be back in the collegiate sector, but on the other side. I'm looking forward to working with my group of athletes and providing them with all the tools I have for them to maximize their full potential in their respective events.
     
"I'm here to assist, grow and help produce a solid track program while promoting the importance of academic success. I thank Jason Horn as well for this opportunity. And I'm thankful for my family who are major supporters in my career as a coach, along with many others."
     
A 2007 graduate in communications from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., Weeks was a seven-time Southwestern Athletic Conference track and field champion — hurdles, sprints, relays and javelin. She was a four-time NCAA regional qualifier in the 100 hurdles and was All-Louisiana in 2006 in the 100 hurdles and 400 relay.
     
On Nov. 3, 2017, Weeks was inducted into the Southern University Sports Hall of Fame.
     
Weeks is the younger sister of Rickie Weeks and Jemile Weeks, who played a combined 20 seasons of Major League Baseball.
     
XULA is a longtime member of the NAIA and the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and sponsors 11 intercollegiate teams. Women's outdoor track produced its highest-ever team finish, 23rd, at the 2019 NAIA National Championships. In January the Gold Nuggets will compete indoors for the first time since 2004.

What They're Saying About Kaisha Weeks

Dave Tibbets, Head Track and Field Coach, Oviedo High School
     
"A mutual friend gave me Kaisha's name after the 2017 season. I called her and we spent over an hour on the phone going over coaching styles and experience. I knew right away she would be perfect for the job. She agreed to take over our sprint/hurdle program, and from day one the culture of our sprinters completely changed. They came to practice each day ready to work and eager to take on the days challenge. Our sprinters completely bought in to Kaisha's program, and the results were amazing. She had a perfect blend of discipline along with a wonderful sense of humor. Her passion for track and field was contagious. Our sprinters had the best season Oviedo High School had seen in many years. The success of our sprint and hurdle program was directly due to Kaisha Weeks. We will miss Kai, but I know the passion, energy and love of track and field Kaisha brought to Oviedo High School will be immediately be felt at Xavier University."

Khalid Elmatbagi, Track and Field Student-Athlete, Oviedo High School
     
"Coach Weeks was there for us on and off the track. She was a mentor for the track team. She helped us believe in ourselves and brought out of us the performance we didn't know we had. With coach Weeks hard work wasn't a choice. Every workout was meaningful, and nothing seemed unorganized or quickly strewn together. As the season progressed, so did our times. What was an athletics team became a family, and we pushed not only to help ourselves, but to also give our teammates and relay members an edge. Coach Weeks let us believe there was a champion in each of us, and so we persevered with the vision of gold in our minds. She taught us that running was a craft. She went over every step in meticulous detail until technique became muscle memory. She taught us that every race ends ten meters past the line, and every hundredth of a second mattered. Every timed step and every strong bound mattered in a jump. It was this 110-percent effort that really drew the athlete out of the team. No one is better qualified to lead a group of athletes to victory and achievement on and off the track than coach Weeks."

Jordan Butler, Track and Field Student-Athlete Trained by Weeks
     
"What a wonderful coach she is. Not only did coach Weeks shape me into a better athlete, she believed in me. She's a great person all around and cares deeply for her athletes and their success. I wouldn't be where I am today without her, and I will forever be grateful I received the opportunity to become one of her athletes."

Tony Moore, Girls Track and Field / Cross Country Head Coach, Lake Brantley (Fla.) High School
     
"Kaisha Weeks was an outstanding athlete and a pleasure to coach at Lake Brantley. She still holds the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles records at the school. Xavier University, you are getting an outstanding coach."

 Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
XULAgold.com
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold 
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Defending champion Nuggets announce 4 more signees

Xavier University of Louisiana women's basketball NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana announced Friday four more signees for its 2019-20 women's basketball team.
     
Joining the Gold Nuggets, who won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship last season, are:

     •  Jade Alexander, a 5-foot-7 guard from Miami Gardens, Fla., and Hallandale High School. A transfer from city and GCAC rival SUNO, Alexander is a pre-pharmacy major at XULA.
     •  Mackenzie Davis, a 5-7 guard from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, and Reynoldsburg eSTEM Academy. A transfer from NCAA Division I Stetson, Davis is a psychology major.
     •  Kira Mercado, a 6-2 center from Hollywood, Fla., and South Broward High School. Like Alexander, she's a transfer from SUNO. Mercado is a mass communications major.
     •  O.C. Mbakop Ngassam, a 6-2 center from Yaounde, Cameroon. A transfer from two-year Roane State (Tenn.) Community College, Mbakop Ngassam is a business management major with a minor in accounting.
     
Mbakop Ngassam is a junior; Alexander, Davis and Mercado are sophomores.
     
Alexander averaged 2.7 points and 1.5 rebounds in 21 games for SUNO last season and produced back-to-back 10-point games. She averaged 16 points as a senior at Hallandale, was second-team All-Broward County and made six 3-pointers in Hallandale's first victory in 16 years against rival South Broward. As a ninth-grader at Dillard in Fort Lauderdale, Alexander helped the Lady Panthers win a state championship and finish second in a national prep tournament in New York.
     
"Jade Alexander is a good 3-point shooter and a good defensive player," said 21st-year XULA head coach Bo Browder. "She's going to help us with our inside-outside game."
     
Davis averaged 3.8 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and one steal in 31 games with 21 starts for Stetson last season. She was a three-time Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Week and had game highs of 14 points, seven assists and five steals. As a senior at Reynoldsburg eSTEM, she helped her team finish 20-6 and win a conference championship. Davis averaged 5.8 points, 6.8 assists and 2.3 steals that season, was all-conference and all-district, and she led central Ohio with a school-record 177 assists.
     
"Mackenzie Davis will be a big-time difference-maker in our program this season," Browder said. "She's an outstanding defensive player. She has great leadership skills. She can make plays when her team needs them."
     
Mbakop Ngassam averaged 7.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots in 30 games last season for Roane State. She ranked 18th in NJCAA Division I with 57 blocks. As a freshman she averaged 8.5 points, five rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 28 games.
     
"O.C. is an outstanding defensive player in the post. She runs the floor extremely well," Browder said. "She can score around the bucket, and she will give us additional rim protection."
     
Mercado averaged 8.2 points, eight rebounds and 3.1 blocks in 28 games with 21 starts last season for SUNO. Mercado led the GCAC in blocks per game — she had the league's highest average since the 2013-14 season — and ranked fourth in NAIA Division I.
     
Mercado played for Hallandale and South Broward and helped the latter finish second in Class 8A as a freshman and reach the semifinals as a junior.
     
"Kira Mercado has a chance to be one of the best post players in the GCAC this season," Browder said. "She will have a major impact on our program the next three seasons."
     
XULA has announced five signees for 2019-20. Announced in April was guard Abryhia Irons of Boutte, La., and John Curtis Christian School.
     
XULA will open the season Oct. 25-26 in the Lawrence Tech Blue Devil Classic at Southfield, Mich. The Gold Nuggets' home opener will tip off at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 against William Carey. The Gold Nuggets last season were 23-8 overall, 13-1 in the GCAC. They qualified for the NAIA Division I National Championship tournament and ranked 24th in the final coaches poll.
2019-20 XULA Women's Basketball Signees
NamePos.Ht.Yr.*HometownHigh School (Previous College)
Jade AlexanderG5-7So.Miami Gardens, Fla.Hallandale (SUNO)
Abryhia IronsG5-7Fr.Boutte, La.John Curtis Christian
Mackenzie DavisG5-7So.Reynoldsburg, OhioReynoldsburg eSTEM Academy (Stetson)
O.C. Mbakop NgassamC6-2Jr.Yaounde, CameroonCollege de La Retraite (Roane State JC)
Kira MercadoC6-2So.Hollywood, Fla.South Broward (SUNO)

* XULA athletic classification in 2019-20

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
XULAgold.com
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold 
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Friday, September 6, 2019

Can Norfolk State rebound from deflating loss to Old Dominion? The Spartans think so.

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Richmond native helping to diversify NASCAR pit crew

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All Norfolk State University football games to be broadcast

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Basketball star Jermaine Marrow to remain with Hampton University

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Dillard Hosts Wiley Monday at 6 p.m.

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2019 CIAA Football: Weekly Report #1

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Cross Country Gears Up For Central Arkansas XC Challenge

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Lincoln Harriers Sets to Open Season at Philadelphia Metro Championship

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Randy McClure Announced as New Head Coach For Men's & Women's Soccer at Shaw

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Shaw Men's and Women's Soccer Adds Matt McCormick To Coaching Staff

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#SWACFB Game Preview- Mississippi Valley State at Lamar

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CSU Volleyball Falls to UTEP in Three Sets at Borderland Invitational

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WATCH WVSU FB Highlight: Senior wide receiver Zach Pate flips into the end zone for two-point conversion and sticks the landing!

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Jemele Hill Claps Back After Backlash Over Her Article About HBCUs And Black Athletes

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