CLINTON, Miss. — The men and women of Xavier University of Louisiana swept the team titles Saturday in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference cross country championships at Choctaw Trails.
The GCAC titles are the first ever for Xavier\'s men and the second in five years for the women, who also won in 2002. Xavier did not field cross country teams in 2005 because of the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
\"First of all, praise the Lord Jesus Christ,\" Xavier coach Joseph Moses said. \"Our kids pulled together after a major disaster a year ago. They said before the season that winning this meet was a critical goal, and they went out and did it.\"
Xavier scored 26 points to win the women\'s title by 31 points over runner-up Spring Hill. Xavier\'s men, despite a larger collective time than Spring Hill, outscored the Badgers 37-38 to win that title.
\"I knew the men\'s race was close,\" Moses said. \"I didn\'t know we won until I was handed the official results.\"
The Gold Rush finally earned a title after four runner-up finishes in five years from 2000-04.
A school-record 10 Xavier runners — Ebony Harding, Lonique Moore, Mimi Mornay, Stacey Young, Ashley Broden and Amani Harlee on the women\'s side and Darren Wallace, Chris Butler, Bryan Khan and Joshua Miles on the men\'s — earned all-GCAC honors by virtue of top-10 finishes. Miles and Harlee were all-conference for the third time, and Broden and Moore were all-GCAC a second time.
Moses earned GCAC men\'s and women\'s Coach of the Year honors as a result of his teams\' performances.
The individual titles went to another New Orleans school, Loyola. Matt Cagigal won the men\'s race and Mary Erin Imwalle took the women\'s.
Cagigal ran 8,000 meters in 20 minutes, 49.12 seconds, followed by teammate Richard Bouckaert and Spring Hill\'s Patrick Aucoin. Wallace (28:55.28) was fourth and freshman teammate Chris Butler (28:58.83) was fifth. Imwalle won the 5,000-meter women\'s race in 20:49.12, with Harding (21;14.88) second and Moore (21:31.87) third.
\"Ebony fell in a hole on the course,\" Moses said. \"She lost some time but made a nice recovery.\"
Broden\'s eighth-place time of 22:04.76 was her best at that distance this season, and all five of her teammates were within 10 seconds of season bests. Khan (seventh place in 29:39.97) and freshman freshman Chase Guidry (13th in 30:20.60) had season bests at 8,000 meters.
Xavier will return to Choctaw Trails for the NAIA Region XIII Championships on Nov. 4. \"That meet will be a challenge for us,\" Moses said. \"We\'ll have to work hard to improve. But I think we have a shot to win both titles.\"
Results:
Women (5,000 meters)
Team: 1, Xavier 26. 2, Spring Hill 57. 3, Loyola 65. 4, Belhaven 86. 5, Tougaloo 135.
Individual: 1, Mary Erin Imwalle, Loyola, 20:49.12. 2, Ebony Harding, Xavier, 21:14.88. 3, Lonique Moore, Xavier, 21:31.87. 4, Amy Lyon, Spring Hill, 21:35.74. 5, Jessica Gunning, Belhaven, 21:44.31. 6, Mimi Mornay, Xavier, 21:53.37. 7, Stacey Young, Xavier, 21:59.53. 8, Ashley Broden, Xavier, 22:04.76. 9, Amani Harlee, Xavier, 22:30.78. 10, Emily Staffer, Spring Hill, 22:37.06. 11, Katie Goodwin, Spring Hill, 22:42.90. 12, Jennifer Wade, Belhaven, 23:16.97. 13, Ashley Sutton, Loyola, 23:50.28. 14, Gussie Altman, Spring Hill, 24:06.87. 15, Rebecca Reed, Loyola, 24:26.16.
Men (8,000 meters)
Team: 1, Xavier 37. 2, Spring Hill 38. 3, Loyola 62. 4, Belhaven 97. 5, Tougaloo 138.
Individual: 1, Matt Cagigal, Loyola, 27:04.77. 2, Richard Bouckaert, Loyola, 27:19.18. 3, Patrick Aucoin, Spring Hill, 28:10.61. 4, Darren Wallace, Xavier, 28:55.28. 5, Chris Butler, Xavier, 28:58.83. 6, Randy Giveans, Spring Hill, 29:11.61. 7, Bryan Khan, Xavier, 29:39.97. 8, Ben Lauber, Spring Hill, 29:45.95. 9, Joshua Miles, Xavier, 29:58.55. 10, Brad Bergan, Spring Hill, 30:06.10. 11, Jimmy Newman, Spring Hill, 30:07.90. 12, Joe Drexler-Dreis, Xavier, 30:20.05. 13, Chase Guidry, Xavier, 30:20.60. 14, Ross Parrish, Spring Hill, 30:20.92. 15, Matt Kirkkis, Spring Hill, 30:59.45.