XU sweeps final GCAC Runner of Week awards of 2009
November 10, 2009

     NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Ebony Harding and Ray Walston, individual champions at Saturday's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, ran off Tuesday with the GCAC's final Runner of the Week awards of 2009.
     Harding, a senior from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of Baton Rouge Magnet High School, earned the women's award for the third time this year and the fifth time in two seasons. Harding scored her first collegiate victory Saturday, running the 5,000-meter course at Choctaw Trails in Clinton, Miss., in 19 minutes, 41.33 seconds. She led the Gold Nuggets to their fourth consecutive GCAC team championship.
     Walston, a sophomore from Atlanta and a graduate of Mays High School, received the GCAC men's award for the first time this year and third time in two seasons. Walston ran 8,000 meters in 27:55.18 to lead a Xavier sweep of the first four places. The Gold Rush won its fourth straight GCAC team title and scored 25 points, the fewest by a GCAC men's champion since 1998.
     Xavier's men won seven of nine GCAC Runner of the Week awards this year.
     Both Xavier teams will conclude their seasons Nov. 21 in the 2009 NAIA Men's and Women's Cross Country National Championships at Vancouver, Wash. It's the second straight year the Rush and Nuggets qualified for the national meet.