Xavier teams win fifth straight GCAC championships
November 5, 2010

Men's Results: GCAC and NAIA qualifying
Women's Results: GCAC and NAIA qualifying

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Xavier University of Louisiana cross country teams won their fifth consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's and women's championships Friday.
     The GCAC team and individual titles were determined from scoring at the NAIA Championships qualifying meet.
     Xavier sophomore Matt Pieri ran 8,000 meters in 28 minutes, 57 seconds to win the GCAC men's individual title. SUNO sophomore Monicah Jepkemboi won the GCAC women's individual title, running 5,000 meters in 19:37.
     Jepkemboi and teammate Trydy-Ann Williams both qualified for the NAIA National Championships in two weeks. Jepkemboi was second in the qualifying meet — which included teams from the TranSouth Athletic Conference and the Association of Independent Institutions — and Williams finished three seconds ahead of Xavier's Anna D'Souza for the last of five women's at-large individual berths.
     Xavier won the GCAC men's title with 19 points, followed by Edward Waters with 50 points and Dillard with 55. Xavier scored 27 points to repeat as GCAC women's champion, followed by SUNO with 59 points, Edward Waters with 76 and Dillard with 78.
     All-GCAC honors went to the top 10 men's and women's finishers. Earning that men's honor included Xavier's Pieri and teammates Ray Walston, Javon Mead, Charles Shaw and Ryan Thompson, Dillard's Emory Nash and Byron Myles and SUNO's Norbert Miller. The women's All-GCAC performers are SUNO's Jepkemboi and Williams, Dillard's Destinee Showell and Xavier's D'Souza, Brianna Dekine, Donyé Coleman, Ashley Taylor, Dominique Webb, Yazmin Ramirez and Rubeneisha Cooper.
     Walston and D'Souza were All-GCAC for the third time. Pieri, Dekine and Taylor are two-time All-GCAC runners. Xavier set school records with seven All-GCAC women and five All-GCAC men.
     It was the second straight year and the third time in the program history that the Gold Rush produced the GCAC individual champion. Walston won the award a year ago but finished 16 seconds behind Pieri this time. Last year Pieri was fourth in the GCAC and 45 seconds behind Walston.
     Pieri was 16th in the qualifying standings and missed the final at-large spot by nearly a minute.
     Xavier's Joseph Moses was chosen GCAC Coach of the Year by his peers for the fifth straight time on the men's side and for the second straight year and the fourth time in five seasons on the women's.
     Union (Tenn.) qualified both its teams for the NAIA national meet and had the fastest overall finishers — Edwin Kurgat (26:28) in the men's race and Allison Martin (19:20) in the women's.
     The Gold Nuggets scored 84 points to finish third out of 10 women's teams in the NAIA qualifier. Union scored 21 points, and Blue Mountain had 57. XU scored 110 points to finish fourth out of eight men's teams. Union won with 28 points, followed by Blue Mountain with 50 and Bethel (Tenn.) with 51.
     This was the final meet of the season for Xavier, which automatically qualified its teams for the NAIA National Championships in 2008 and 2009.