NEW ORLEANS — The cross country teams of Xavier University of New Orleans will compete Friday in the Red River Athletic Conference Championships at San Antonio, Texas.
        The men's 8,000-meter race will begin at 8 a.m. CDT, followed by the women's 5,000-meter race at 8:45 a.m. Meet venue is Culebra Creek Park (10919 Westwood Loop, zip code 78254).
        Competing for the Gold Rush will be Dominick Baptiste, Damoy Boyd, Lejaune George, Skyler Madison and Ahmad Wilson. George, a freshman, has been XULA's fastest finisher in every meet this season.
        Competing for the Gold Nuggets will be Reagan Collins, Jalyn Jenkins, India Mastin, Janell Nixon and Amber Parks. Mastin, a junior and a transfer from Cumberland, was the Gold Nuggets' first finisher in every meet this season.
        Other RRAC members in the meet will be Huston-Tillotson, Jarvis Christian, Our Lady of the Lake, Southwest (N.M.) and Texas A&M-Texarkana. OLLU is the host. Winning teams and a few individuals will advance to NAIA nationals Nov. 18 at Tallahassee, Fla.
        A year ago XULA's women placed second, and the men were third at the RRAC meet. Our Lady of the Lake won both team titles. OLLU senior Nadia Sifuentes returns to defend her RRAC individual title. Sifuentes' winning time in 2021 was 18 minutes, 50.4 seconds, and she was the only woman to finish in less than 20 minutes.
        The Friday-morning temperature is expected to be in the low 70s with overcast skies and a 30-percent chance of isolated thunderstorms.