On Saturday, the cross country runners competed against their two previous coaches, who coach for the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Tulane, respectively.
The women’s team, led by sociology junior Natalie Sargent (who ran two miles in 13 minutes and 23 seconds for 33rd) and communications sophomore Natalie Miller (13:37 for 41st), finished in a tie for seventh with Xavier.
Other schools who ran were LSU, Louisiana Tech, Southern Mississippi, and Southeastern Louisiana.
“This was a strong group” (of teams),” Loyola coach Al Seither said. “I didn’t think we’d have all these schools.”
Xavier, the Wolfpack’s rival in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, was the only other National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics team in the race. and the Wolfpack’s archrival in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.
Despite the fact that there were only eight teams in the race, “a tie for seventh is good,” according to Seither. “We had a lot of girls come out, which is also good.”
“Most of (the women) met their goals for the race, ” Seither added, “but we still have a long way to go to be where we need to be.”
The men’s team would have finished similarly if it had another runner who was capable of running three miles in 17 minutes.
“Two guys is all we need,” Seither said. “We could have been pleased with the results as a team.”
Along with history senior Mike Gulotta, who finished sixth in the race with the time of 15:54, two other runners finished in the top 40 for the ‘Pack.
They were business freshman Matt Cagigal, 33rd with the time of 16:48, and history freshman Richard Bouckaert, 38th with the time of 17:03.
International business junior Andrew Fell, the only returning team member ere besides Gulotta, is overcoming a stress fracture but posted a respectable time of 18:11, good for 56th place.
“I’ve only worked out two months since March, so 18 (minutes) is about what I expected,” Fell said. “It’s a long process, but there’s nowhere to go but up.”
“I have a lot of faith Andrew is going to come back,” Seither said.
On the women’s side, depth is a major strength. General studies sophomore Sarah Miles St. Clair finished 43rd in 13:53.
The final two runners who scored were within a minute of each other.
Elementary education junior Jean Cassandra finished 52nd in 14:24, and psychology sophomore Kim Kujanek finished 62nd in 14:50.
Two other runners had strong performances as well. General studies freshman Courtney Gist finished in 15:19 for 67th place, and psychology freshman Nyssa Coelho was right behind her with a time of 15:34.
“Physically, training is still a work in progress,” Seither said. “I’m going to be making sure we can get quality work in this month.”
“There’s good unity, and that makes me feel good,” he added.
