Sunday, November 23, 2014

Fakler, Jackson lead Xavier at NAIA national meet

LAWRENCE, Kansas -- Seniors Catherine Fakler and Kwame Jackson closed their cross country careers Saturday by leading Xavier University of Louisiana at the NAIA National Championships.

Fakler ran 5,000 meters in 21 minutes, 22.3 seconds to tie for 290th place out of 336 women. It was the first meet for Fakler, the 2013 Louisiana Runner of the Year, since Sept. 20. An injury sidelined her before she was cleared this month to resume workouts and competition.

In the men's 8,000-meter race, Jackson, a three-time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champion, placed 307th out of 320 runners in 30:27.3.

The Gold Nuggets' other finishers were Hannah Finnegan (315th, 22:23.7), Carlie Calais (323rd, 22:57.0), Hali Yarmush (324th, 22:59.5) and Reeka Belton (328th, 23:42.9). All the Nuggets finished ahead of Edward Waters' Joy Miller, the GCAC champion who placed 332nd in 25:00.50.

Also finishing for the Gold Rush were Christopher August (315th, 32.51.8), Emmanuel Detiege (318th, 36:46.3), Alex Xavier (319th, 45:11.8) and Xaiver Latting (320th, 50:08.20).

XU CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS ARRIVE AT KANSAS
Yarmush and Detiege are seniors.

In team scoring, the Gold Nuggets had 1,214 points to place 38th out of 38 women's teams. The Gold Rush's 1,205 points placed 36th out of 36 men's teams. Team champions were British Columbia's women (43 points) and Oklahoma City's men (55). British Columbia won the women's title for the third consecutive year.

Individual champions were British Columbia's Maria Bernard (17:03.8) in the women's race and Wayland Baptist's Benard Keter (24:36.4) in the men's.

Temperatures during the meet were in the mid-50s.

Next for the XU distance runners will be the outdoor track and field season, which will begin in early March.



Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

No comments: