Men's Results: GCAC and Region XIII
Women's Results: GCAC and Region XIII
Runners repeat as GCAC men's and women's champs
For immediate release . . . November 3, 2007

MOUNT BERRY, Ga. — Xavier University of Louisiana repeated as men's and women's cross country team champions of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, and both squads finished fourth in the NAIA Region XIII Championships on Saturday at Clara Bowl.

The GCAC team and individual titles were determined from scoring at the Region XIII meet. GCAC coaches voted to void results of the Oct. 20 meet after many runners in both races failed to run the required distances.

Both Xavier teams produced four All-GCAC runners by virtue of their top-10 finishes. The Gold Rush had four of the first seven finishers in the men's division and scored 30 points to win that title by 35 points over runner-up Spring Hill. The Gold Nuggets had four of the first nine finishers in the women's division and scored 33 points to win their title by 17 points over runner-up Spring Hill.

"I'm very proud of my runners," said Xavier Coach Joseph Moses, who for the second consecutive year was voted GCAC Coach of the Year for men and women. "Everybody stepped up and did what they had to do."

For the second straight year Ebony Harding was the GCAC runner-up and, because of her 11th-place finish in Region XIII, second-team all-region. Harding missed qualifying for the NAIA National Championships by approximately 11 seconds. Her time for 5,000 meters was 20 minutes, 36.77 seconds.

Lonique Moore and Ashley Broden both made All-GCAC for the third time. Moore, in her final collegiate meet, finished fourth in 21:21.83, and Broden was fifth in 21:39.68. Freshman Stacey Windon, ninth in 22:13.85, was the other Nugget to make all-conference.

In the 8,000-meter men's race, freshmen David Salmon (27:44.32) and Milo Barry (28:31.59) finished 3-4 in the GCAC to lead the Gold Rush. Darren Wallace (28:51.51) was fifth to repeat as an All-GCAC selection, and Joe Drexler-Dreis finished seventh in 29:21.72. Salmon's time ranked him 17th out 83 runners in the region.

In the Region XIII team standings, Xavier's men finished in the same spot they were ranked. But Xavier's women, who were ranked eighth in the region, beat four schools ranked ahead of them — No. 4 Brenau, No. 5 Spring Hill, No. 6 Reinhardt and No. 7 Southern Wesleyan — to climb to fourth out of 11 schools.

"Our women knew they were better than eighth in the region," Moses said. "They saw that as a slap in the face, so they went out and did something about it."

Xavier's men scored 118 points in the region. Shorter won that title with 24 points and had the individual champion, Martin Hernandez (26:26.50). Xavier's women scored 133 points in the region, and Lee (Tenn.) won the title with 40 points. Lee's Anne Houghton was the individual winner in 18:48.41.

Individual champions in the GCAC scoring were Spring Hill's Patrick Aucoin in 27:02.05 — he was seventh in the region and qualified for nationals — and Mobile's Susanne Klungtveit in 19:47.36, which also ranked her third in the region and qualified her for nationals.