Results
LAKE CHARLES, La. — Newcomer
Skylah Barton
led Xavier University of Louisiana's women to sixth place Saturday in the Lake Charles Toyota Cowboy Stampede
cross country meet.
It was XULA's season opener — the Gold Nuggets missed
the first three scheduled meets because of Hurricane Ida — and the
collegiate debut of Barton, a freshman from St. Gabriel, La. Barton ran 5,000 meters in 21 minutes, 14.2
seconds to finish 35th out of 61 runners.
XULA was the only NAIA school in the meet.
The Gold Nuggets placed sixth out of eight teams and — for the first time since Sept. 1, 2017 —
finished ahead of two NCAA Division I opponents in the same meet.
Also competing for XULA were
Bria Gaines (43rd place, 22:50.3),
LeilaniCyan Johnson-Gordon
(48th, 23:24.9),
Amber Parks (49th, 23:30.1),
Reagan Collins (53rd, 24:00.7)
and
Darryan Horton (59th, 27:10.2). It was the XULA debut of Johnson-Gordon, a freshman, and Parks,
a sophomore who was on the 2020 team.
Seven runners finished in less than 18 minutes, led
by Houston Baptist's Jessica Rabius in 17:26.6 and McNeese's Aurelia Jepkorir in 17:27.8.
Houston outscored McNeese 40-50 to win the team title. XULA scored 190 points to finish ahead
of Texas Southern (192) and Northwestern State (195).
Next for XULA will be the Nicholls Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 2)
at Thibodaux, La. The women's 5K will start at 8 a.m., followed by the men's four-mile race at 8:30.
