Results
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's
Lejaune George picked up where he left off.
George, the 2023-24 HBCU Makeda Excellence Award winner in men's cross country,
ran a career-best 16 minutes, 19.95 seconds for 5,000 meters Friday at the season-opening Battle for New Orleans at Lake Oaks Park.
George's time is XULA's fastest in eight years and No. 7 on the Gold Rush all-time list.
George finished 31st out of 85 runners.
Also competing for the Gold Rush
were
Landan Gillespie, 59th place in 18:06.53;
Jayden Bratton, 60th in 18:08.81;
Skyler Madison, 63rd in 18:23.24; and
Caydon Carpenter, 80th in 23:09.26. Bratton is a freshman.
XULA scored 226 points to place eighth out of 10 teams.
Tulane won with a perfect score of 15 points, and Lamar
was second with 50.
Tulane freshman Bernard Cheruiyot won in 14:00.05.
XULA's men and women will compete next Friday in the Mississippi College Opener at Choctaw Trails
in Clinton, Miss. The men's 5,000-meter race will start at 6 p.m., followed by the women at 6:45 running the same distance.
XULA men's cross country — fastest times at 5,000 meters
15:30.90 — Kwame Jackson, Sept. 6, 2014
15:41.6 — Christopher August, Sept. 10, 2016
15:46.8 — Farris Gransberry, Sept. 8, 2000
15:48.14 — Brent Kitto, Sept. 6, 2014
16:12.13 — Kwame Jackson, Sept. 10, 2011
16:13.00 — Christopher August, Sept. 6, 2014
16:19.95 —
Lejaune George, Aug. 30, 2024
16:21.5 — Kwame Jackson, Aug. 29, 2014
16:25.4 — Samuel Abdellatif, Aug. 30, 2019
16:27.76 — Ray Walston, Sept. 10, 2011