Pieri, Ramirez set the pace for Xavier at LSU Invitational
September 25, 2010

Results:  Men    Women

     BATON ROUGE, La. — Sophomore Matt Pieri and freshman Yazmin Ramirez were Xavier University of Louisiana's first finishers Saturday in the LSU Invitational cross country meet.
     Pieri led the Gold Rush, running 8,000 meters at Highland Road Park in 29 minutes, 11.82 seconds to finish 32nd in a field of 81 men. His time was approximately 52 seconds slower than his time at this event a year ago, but it's still one of the Gold Rush's four fastest times in its last six LSU appearances dating to 2002.
     Ramirez, who last week set a women's school record for 4,000 meters in the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational, ran 6,000 meters in 25:25.80 to place 74th out of 110. It's the fastest time by a Xavier female freshman since Katrina Davis ran a 6K in 24:47.2 at the 2001 University of Dallas Invitational.
     Junior Ray Walston, who set the XU men's 6K record at the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational, finished 39th in 30:03.38.
     Xavier's men finished ninth in the team standings with 212 points, and Xavier's women were 11th with 323 points.
     Southeasterm Louisiana's Henry Rop won the men's race in 25:40.49, and Houston scored 47 points to win the team title by six over runner-up LSU. Tulane's Julia Whitrock won the women's race in 20:53.40. McNeese State, with three of the first eight scorers, won the women'c championship with 38 points.
     This was the fourth meet in as many weeks for Xavier, which will return to competition Oct. 9 in the ASICS McNeese Cowboy Stampede at Lake Charles, La.