GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Day 1 of the Southern States Athletic Conference Indoor Championships is in the books, and both the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets had athletes step up in a big way. 

See below for the top performances and to see how Xavier is faring in the team competition. 

Men's Results for Day 1

The Xavier men's track team finds itself in 6th place overall after the first of two days of competition at the 2026 SSAC Indoor Championships.

Xavier, which currently has 19 points, is well behind first-place Life and second-place William Carey, which have 100 and 81 points, respectively, but is well within striking distance of places 3 through 5. 

The big news of day 1 came in the 400-meter sprint, where Karri Noel took second with a 48.08 run, just one-one-hundredth of a second behind first-place Jovel Madourie of William Carey. Noel also scored in the 200-meter race, placing 8th with a run of 22.12. 

Other top finishers for the Gold Rush included Mansur Ali, who took 5th in the weight throw, and Kameron Lloyd, who placed 5th in the long jump. 

XULA's 4,000-meter mixed distance relay team - composed of Benjamin Ford, Derek Favorite, Ivory Montgomery, Kamal Webb, and Collin Wright Jr. - placed 6th. 

Women's Results for Day 1

The Gold Nuggets are in an almost identical situation as their male counterparts, comfortably in 6th place, within distance of 3rd, 4th, and 5th place overall, but likely out of the running for first and second. 

Xavier's athletes scored 21 total points on Day 1, but William Carey leads with 114 total points, while Life is securely in second with 77.

The 4,000-meter mixed distance medley relay team of Chris-Ann Edwards, Jayda Love, Madison Marshall, and Kayla Garrett took third place in their race, and were the highest-placing Xavier athletes on the day. 

Edwards and Garrett also had strong showings in the 800 individual race, placing 6th and 7th, respectively. 

Other top performers included Charity Johnson, who placed 4th in the weight throw, Jaelyn Mitchell, who placed sixth in the 200, and Jordyn Hentz, who placed 7th in the long jump. 

Looking Ahead 

Friday, the Southern States Athletic Conference staged 8 of the 19 events that comprise the championship meet. The remaining 11 events will be contested Saturday.