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ALMA MATER
In the Mississippi Valley,
In the Crescent Bend
Stands our loved and noble Xavier,
Far her praises send.
Refrain:
Wave her colors bear them onward
Gold and white so true
Hail to thee, all hail, dear Xavier
Hail, all hail, X.U.!
Xavier, ever be our guide
And lead us on the way,
Through life's journey, onward, upward
To the eternal day. (Refrain)
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2012 Xavier University of Louisiana Men's Cross Country Preview
Rush seek GCAC perfection, another berth at nationals
See also:
Schedule
Roster
Quick Facts
Men's Cross Country Home Page
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The Xavier University of Louisiana men's cross country
team will aim for a perfect score in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and much
more during the 2012 season.
The Gold Rush return five lettermen, including 2011
GCAC individual champion Kwame Jackson and 2010 champion Matt Pieri,
from a team which earned a school-record 46 victories and was 13-8 against
NCAA Division I opponents. The XU men will attempt to win a seventh consecutive GCAC team championship and reach the
NAIA National Championships for the fourth time in five years.
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About the Gold Rush
• Head Coach: Joseph Moses (LSU 1994), eighth season; 184-275 at Xavier
• 2011 Overall Record: 41-46
• 2011 GCAC Finish: 1st place out of 6 schools
• 2011 NAIA Finish: 31st place out of 32 schools
• Lettermen: 5 returning, 2 lost
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"We have good talent and good leadership," eighth-year
coach Joseph Moses said. "We have a good chance to have a better team than
we did last season."
The Gold Rush were four points shy of a perfect score
in each of the past two GCAC championship meets. No GCAC men's champion has produced
a perfect score — 15 points when the top five finishers are from the same team
— since Mobile in 1996.
"Coach Moses has mentioned that to us," said Pieri,
a three-time All-GCAC runner — he placed third in the conference
in 2011 and fourth in 2009 — and a college division second-team Capital One Academic All-American®
this past season. "We would like to make a perfect score
at conference. I think we can. This bunch of guys works harder than any team I've been
with at Xavier. We're all competitive and cheer each other on. I've never been this
excited before a season."
Jackson made a sensational XU debut in 2011.
The first freshman in at least 13 years to win the GCAC men's individual title,
Jackson posted five top-10 finishes in eight races and the No. 2 four-mile time
in XU history, 21 minutes, 46.1 seconds. He was chosen All-Louisiana and
Louisiana Freshman of the Year.
"This summer was the first one where I actually trained
for cross country so I could see what kind of runner I could be," said Jackson,
who competed in cross country, track and baseball in high school. "I miss
baseball, but now I found a new love."
If Jackson wins the GCAC this year, he'll be the league's
first repeat men's champion since Spring Hill's Patrick Aucoin (2007-08) and the
third in 21 seasons. A Jackson or Pieri victory would give the GCAC its third
multiple champion during that time, and it would give the GCAC
four straight men's individual titles from the same school for the first time
since Mobile in the early 1990s.
Also returning are juniors Javon Mead and Charles Shaw
and sophomore Emmanuel Detiege. Mead has been All-GCAC twice (fifth place in 2011,
third in 2010) and made the Capital One Academic All-America third team this past year.
Detiege was All-GCAC in 2011, and Shaw, a 37-year-old ex-Marine, earned that honor in 2010.
New to the Rush this season are freshmen David Holobowicz
and Aaron Yarmush. Holobowicz recorded the third-fastest 4,000-meter time (12:47.7) during the 2010 U.S. prep cross country
season, according to the website MileSplit.us, and qualified four times in Texas for the regional meet
and twice for the state meet. Yarmush finished eighth in 2011 and 2010 in Louisiana's
Class 4A state meet and has run three miles in 16:38.85. They and their teammates
will attempt to offset the graduation of Ray Walston, the 2009 GCAC champion and
three-time conference runner-up.
Yarmush's arrival gives Xavier a pair of distance-running
siblings. Jackson's sister Zahri is a sophomore and the defending GCAC women's
champion. Yarmush's sister Hali is a sophomore and was All-GCAC in 2011.
Hurricane Isaac canceled Xavier's scheduled opener,
Aug. 31 at Mississippi College. The XU men and women will get
their first chance to compete Sept. 8 in the Loyola Wolf Pack Invitational.
The GCAC Championships will be Oct. 20 in Clinton, Miss., and team champions there
will qualify automatically for the NAIA National Championships on Nov. 17 in
Vancouver, Wash. The Gold Rush placed 31st at nationals in 2011.
"We want to win the GCAC again and place higher than we ever have at nationals,"
Jackson said. "Matt and I are going after the school record (for 8,000 meters). We're trying
to work hard every day. I hope we can get everyone on board with us."
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The Xavier Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets compete in Division I of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) as a member of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC).
Xavier fields men's teams in basketball, cross country, tennis and track and field and women's teams in basketball, cross country, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
Department of Intercollegiate Athletics
Xavier University of Louisiana
1 Drexel Drive
Campus Box 92
New Orleans, LA 70125
(504) 520-7329 phone
(504) 520-7934 fax
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