XU's Harding, Dotson are runners-up at Demon InvitationalOctober 23, 2009NATCHITOCHES Ed Cassiere -- Xavier University of Louisiana's Ebony Harding and Mark Dotson earned second place Friday in the Demon Invitational cross country meet.Harding ran three miles in 19 minutes, 52.87 seconds in the women's division to earn her third top-five finish of the season and her 11th in four years. Dotson ran the same distance in the men's race in 16:22.25 and placed in the top five for the fifth time this season.Also finishing in the top 10 for Xavier were Sabrina Vargas (seventh, 21:02.95) and Anna D'Souza (eighth, 21:21.77) in the women's race and Ray Walston (sixth, 16:46.54), Darren Wallace (seventh 16:54.51) and Matt Pieri (eighth, 17:03.68) in the men's. The top-10 finish was D'Souza's first of the season after collecting three as a freshman in 2008.Northwestern State, the host, had both individual winners: Karensa Ellis (19:07.44) and Josh Crandell (16:15.30). NSU scored 19 points to win the women's team title and 31 points to win the men's. Xavier was second in both divisions, with the Gold Nuggets scoring 42 points and the Gold Rush 38."The course conditions were muddy because of recent rains, but all our runners ran well," Xavier Coach Joseph Moses said.Xavier does not list a school record for three miles for its men or women because of insufficient data. However, Harding's time is the fastest by an XU female at this distance by nearly 50 seconds in the past eight seasons. It was the first time since 2006 for the Rush and since 2004 for the Nuggets that they competed at this distance.This was the final regular-season meet for both Xavier squads, whose next event will be the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships on Nov. 7 at Choctaw Trails in Clinton, Miss. Xavier is the three-time defending team champion in both divisions.