NEW ORLEANS — Will Xavier University of Louisiana cross country do it again?
     XULA is the defending women's and men's team champion of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, and the teams' success is approaching generational. XULA won the last 12 women's team titles and 11 of the last 12 men's titles. The Gold Nuggets and Gold Rush will defend their titles Saturday in the league meet at NOLA's City Park.
     The women will run 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) starting at 3 p.m., and the men will run 8,000 meters (4.97 miles) starting at 3:45 p.m. Course address is 65 Diagonal Drive, zip code 70124. Admission is free.
     Weather website darksky.net predicts a temperature of 82 degrees and clear skies at the start of the meet.
     Another defending champion is XULA senior Taylor Price, who will attempt to become the first GCAC athlete to win three individual titles at this meet. Price was women's champion as a freshman in 2016, finished second to teammate Maliya Vaughan in 2017, then returned to the winner's circle last season.
     Vaughan also will compete Saturday.
     Also running for the Gold Nuggets will be Darryan Horton, Ky'Reon McBride, Hajjia Mohammed, Toni Trail and Alexis Williams. The Gold Rush runners will be Samuel Abdellatif, Ghassan Alansi, Jordan Ashmore, Kadeem Burton, Devin Macklin-Jackson, Langston Scott, Adrian Thornton, Oji Wells and Ahmad Wilson.
     At the 2018 GCAC meet in Clinton, Miss., the Gold Nuggets outscored Philander Smith 30-61 for the women's title, and the Gold Rush outscored Edward Waters 34-50 for the men's title.