XU's Pieri equals GCAC mark with his 8th weekly award

Gold Rush Matt Pieri

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Matt Pieri equaled a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference mark Monday when he was selected GCAC Runner of the Week in men's cross country for the eighth time in his career.

Pieri is a junior from New Orleans, a graduate of Brother Martin High School and the defending GCAC individual champion. He matched the mark of Kate Imwalle, who won eight women's awards for former member Spring Hill from 2008-09.

The GCAC instituted its cross country awards in 2008. Pieri won it once in 2009, five times in 2010 and twice this season.

Pieri ran 8,000 meters in 29 minutes, 18.5 seconds to finish 29th out of 97 runners Saturday in the LSU Invitational at Baton Rouge, La. He led the Gold Rush to seventh place out of 13 colleges and eighth place out of 14 teams overall. Xavier finished ahead of three NCAA Division I schools.

The XU men are 4-for-4 this season in winning the GCAC award — freshman Kwame Jackson earned the other two — and have won 11 consecutive times dating to 2009.

Xavier's men and women will compete Saturday morning in the Gulf Coast Stampede at Pensacola, Fla.

Most GCAC Runner of the Week Awards in a Career
Men 8 — Matt Pieri, Xavier (2009-11) * 5 — Mark Dotson, Xavier (2009) 4 — Ray Walston, Xavier (2008-2010) * 3 — Patrick Aucoin, Spring Hill (2008) 2 — Kwame Jackson, Xavier (2011) * 1 — Kieran Harper, Loyola (2009) 1 — Will Kirkikis, Spring Hill (2009) 1 — Michael Sinkey, Mobile (2008)	Women 8 — Kate Imwalle, Spring Hill (2008-09) 5 — Ebony Harding, Xavier (2008-09) 3 — Zahri Jackson, Xavier (2011) * 3 — Sherri McIntosh, Mobile (2008) 2 — Monicah Jepkemboi, SUNO (2009-10) * 1 — Anna D'Souza, Xavier (2010) * 1 — Yazmin Ramirez, Xavier (2010) 1 — Hannah Reese, Belhaven (2009)
* active GCAC runner

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Southern sweeps to end XU Gold Nuggets' record win streak

BATON ROUGE, La. — Ja'Quincia Williams had 13 kills Monday, and Beonka Savoy served three aces to lead Southern to a 25-19, 25-21, 27-25 women's volleyball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Lady Jaguars (4-11) won for the fourth time in six matches and snapped the school-record eight-match win streak of the Gold Nuggets (9-3). Xavier beat Southern in three sets one week ago at The Barn.

Taylor Reuther had 16 kills and 13 digs for Xavier (9-3) — her sixth kill-dig double-double of the season — Moira Kirk had 10 kills, Chinedu Echebelem had 11 digs, and Kerris Crier had four blocks.

The teams were tied at 24 in the third set before Southern three of the final four points.

Southern outhit Xavier .252 to .173 — it was the Nuggets' lowest attack percentage since their fourth match — and had advantages of 5-2 in aces and 9-5 in blocks. Xavier committed 39 total errors, 11 more than in the earlier match against Southern. Reuther had a season-worst 12 attack errors. The Lady Jaguars committed 29 errors.

The Nuggets' two aces were a season low, and they committed five reception errors after a collective 10 in the previous seven matches.

Xavier's next match will start at 6 p.m. Saturday at Dillard, the defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament champion. Xavier leads the GCAC regular season at 4-0.

Box score

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Miami Hurricanes have respect for Bethune-Cookman

Miami, Florida -- If Miami running back Lamar Miller’s left shoulder injury is bearable, he will play against Bethune-Cookman University at Sun Life Stadium on Saturday.

It became evident late Sunday afternoon that Miami coach Al Golden in no way intends to peek past Bethune Cookman to plan toward 11th-ranked Virginia Tech — the Canes’ Atlantic Coast Conference road opponent on Oct. 8.

Not after UM’s 28-24 loss to Kansas State in which the defense allowed 265 yards rushing and couldn’t come up with a turnover after four Wildcats’ fumbles. And not after the Hurricanes offense couldn’t score the winning touchdown after four chances from within 2 yards.

“All respect,’’ Golden said Sunday during his Kansas State recap teleconference, “we’re trying to win the game. That’s all we’re trying to do. … We’re not there right now.



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KEYS: Complete game still eludes SU, Mitchell

Baton Rouge, LA - It happened less than 20 minutes after Southern gave away yet another game, blowing a fourth-quarter lead and losing to an old rival for the second consecutive week.

It happened less than 20 minutes after the Jaguars failed yet again to play a complete game from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. This time, Saturday evening inside the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, they squandered a 16-point second-half lead and fell apart in a 38-33 loss to Florida A&M.

Less than 20 minutes after the teams exchanged handshakes, Stump Mitchell was behind a microphone, addressing a dozen or so reporters, trying to explain how Southern lost for the 12th time in his 15 games as coach.

The question was simple: You had so many Southern fans come to Atlanta, spend a good bit of money getting here, and obviously, they just watched another frustrating loss. Where do you stand, and what do you tell the Jaguar Nation?

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Improved North Carolina A&T Aggies lose game, but win respect

Greensboro, NC -- Coastal Carolina hosts N.C. A&T next season in the final meeting of their second home-and-home series. Don’t bet on a renewal of the series after that.

“You hired a guy away from Grambling who won nine games there last year?” Coastal coach David Bennett drawled, shaking his head. “Shoot. After next year, we won’t be scheduling them. They’re going to get it right. I promise you. I just hope they’re two years away.”

Bennett’s Chanticleers led wire-to-wire in their 31-14 victory over A&T in a less-than-half-full Aggie Stadium on Saturday. But short-handed A&T is a better football team than it was three weeks ago, when the Aggies trounced start-up Virginia University of Lynchburg.

The 9,709 who paid to get in saw the Aggies shuffle their offensive line and struggle to protect quarterback Lewis Kindle. They saw a tiring defense give up too many big plays and 354 total yards.



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Another XU record, this time for Fakler at LSU Invitational

Catherine Fakler

BATON ROUGE, La. — Xavier University of Louisiana's Catherine Fakler ran 6,000 meters in 24 minutes, 10.3 seconds Saturday to break a 3-year-old school record and finish 16th out of 76 runners in the LSU Invitational cross country meet.

Fakler, a freshman, broke Ebony Harding's school mark of 24:41.13 set Oct. 11, 2008, in the University of Dallas Invitational at Irving, Texas.

Also exceeding Harding's record was XU freshman Zahri Jackson, who placed 17th in 24:14.4. Jackson broke the XU record for 4,000 meters on Sept. 1 and the 5K record Sept. 10. Fakler and Jackson are the first XU females to finish in the top 20 at LSU's meet.

The Gold Nuggets scored 128 points to tie for fourth place with NCAA Division I member Louisiana-Lafayette. Ten schools scored. XU's women have placed in the top half of all four meets this season.

 Zahri Jackson

This was the Nuggets' highest team finish at LSU, too. A year ago the Gold Nuggets were 11th out of 12 schools in this meet.

In the 8,000-meter men's race, XU's Matt Pieri was 29th out of 97 runners in 29:18.5, and Kwame Jackson, Zahri's brother, was 32nd in 29:25.3. The Gold Rush scored 229 points to finish seventh out of 13 college teams and eighth out of 14 overall.

Individual winners were LSU's Laura Carleton, who is redshirting and ran unattached, in 21:04.4 in the women's race, and Houston's Baptist's Matt Perri in 26:59.9 in the men's. Team champions were LSU's women with 19 points and Miami of Ohio's men with 32.

Xavier's next meet will be the Gulf Coast Stampede at Pensacola, Fla., next Saturday morning. The women's 5K will start at 7:30, followed by the men's 8K at 8.

Results:  Men    Women

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Atlanta Football Classic Parade, Half-Time Shows & 5th Qtr.