Rush, Nuggets will compete for GCAC and Red River titles in 2015

From Ed Cassiere
Xavier University Sports Information
     
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's men's and women's cross country teams will take shots at a pair of conference team championships this year.
     Joseph Moses, beginning his 11th season as head coach, announced Thursday the 2015 schedules of the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets.
     Xavier recently announced its affiliation with the Red River Athletic Conference for cross country only in 2015. The Red River men's and women's champions will qualify automatically for the NAIA National Championships. But Xavier's longtime conference home, the Gulf Coast Athletic, still will offer a league meet, even though it is not an NAIA automatic-qualifying conference this season.
     The GCAC meet — which will be scored as part of the Choctaw Open in Clinton, Miss. — will be Oct. 17. The RRAC meet will be Nov. 6 in San Antonio, Texas.
     Xavier is the nine-time defending GCAC men's and women's team champion.
     For the second straight year, Xavier will begin the season at home in its Big Easy Opener Aug. 28 at nearby City Park. Xavier's other metro New Orleans competition will be Sept. 12 in the Louisiana Army National Guard / ROTC Wolf Pack Invitational in Metairie, La.
     Xavier will compete in two meets hosted by NCAA Division I schools: Sept. 4 in the Southern Miss Invitational and Sept. 19 in the LSU Invitational.
     Charlotte, N.C., will be the site of this year's NAIA national meet. Lawrence, Kan., was the site the previous two years.
     Xavier returns 2014 All-GCAC runners Christopher August and Brent Kitto from the men's team and Hannah Finnegan and Briana Simms from the women's. August and Finnegan were GCAC second-place finishers a year ago.