The top of the lineup was different than in recent years, but the outcome was the same: another dominating performance for Xavier University of Louisiana women's cross country at the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships.
Freshmen Jalyn Jenkins and Reagan Collins finished 1-3 Wednesday to help XULA outscore Philander Smith 28-51 for the team title. It was the 14th consecutive time that the XULA women won the GCAC and the 10th straight time their winning margin was 20-or-more points.
Jenkins ran 5,000 meters in 21 minutes, 10.24 seconds to become the third XULA woman to win the GCAC individual title as a freshman. Jenkins won by 54 seconds over another freshman, Philander Smith's Ishmia Black.
Collins's time was 22:33.27.
The other XULA finishers were Emerald Carter, seventh place in 23:26.95; Alexis Williams, eighth in 24:07.53; Darryan Horton, ninth in 24:22.04; and Hannah Young, 11th in 24:48.45.
The top-10 finishes of Jenkins, Collins, Carter, Williams and Horton earned them All-GCAC awards. Williams and Horton were All-GCAC for the second consecutive year.
XULA's Yhann Plummer was voted Coach of the Year by his peers for the third consecutive year. Jenkins also received the women's GCAC Most Valuable Runner award.
Philander Smith was runner-up for the third consecutive year.
Dillard placed third with 56 points, and Edward Waters was fourth with 85. Tougaloo did not qualify for team scoring because only four of its runners finished. The other two league members, Rust and Talladega, did not compete.
XULA didn't miss a beat in replacing Taylor Price and Maliya Vaughan, both seniors on the 2019 team. Price was the GCAC individual champion in 2019, 2018 and 2016 and the runner-up in 2017; Vaughan won the GCAC in 2017 and was a three-time runner-up.
This was XULA's final GCAC cross country meet. The school will compete next season as a full-time member of the NAIA's Red River Athletic Conference.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Wednesday, November 4th 2020 at 10:15PM
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