4 Louisiana meets on Xavier cross country schedules
July 21, 2009

     NEW ORLEANS — Four Louisiana meets, including three in a row in September, are on the 2009 Xavier University of Louisiana men's and women's cross country schedules.
     Joseph Moses, in his fifth season as Xavier's coach, announced the schedules Tuesday. It will be the first time since 2003 that Xavier competes in four Louisiana meets.
     The Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets, both three-time defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champions, will open their seasons Sept. 4 in the Southern Miss Invitational at Tatum Park in Hattiesburg, Miss. The women will run 5,000 meters at 6:30 p.m., followed by the men's four-mile race at 7. Xavier will compete at Southern Miss for the third consecutive year, and it will be the first of three Friday meets this season.
     The second meet, the Wolfpack Invitational on Sept. 12 at Lafreniere Park in suburban Metairie, La., will be Xavier's only local appearance of the season.
     The Rush and Nuggets will stay in-state for the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational at Lafayette on Sept. 18 and the LSU Invitational at Baton Rouge on Sept. 26.
     October meets will be the Gulf Coast Stampede at Pensacola, Fla., on the 3rd, the Choctaw Open at Clinton, Miss., on the 17th and the Demon Invitational at Natchitoches, La. on the 23rd. Oct. 10 is an open date.
     Xavier will return to Clinton and be the host school for the GCAC Championships on Nov. 7. The GCAC team champions and the five fastest men and five fastest women not on those teams will qualify for the NAIA National Championships at Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 21. It will be the first time that the NAIA runs its national meet on the West Coast.