Mental Health in College Athletes

By Skylar Stephens On March 10, 2022, Ohio State lineman, Harry Miller, decided to retire from his career as a college football player. After playing since 2019, he was done with the sport for his senior year. In his retirement announcement, Miller said that his retirement would be for the sake of his own mental health. “Prior to the season last year, I told Coach Day of my intention to kill myself. He immediately had me in touch with Dr. Candice and Dr. Norman, and I received the support I…

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From Bison to Gold Rush: Hannah Stoutmire Restarts Her College Athletic Career

By Kareemah Muhammad She transferred from Howard University. Now at Xavier, Hannah Stoutmire has had to start over her career in track and field after injury and setbacks. But she has been surrounded by sports ever since she was a little girl. Giving up is not in her DNA. “I grew up running track because it was always just around me,” said Stoutmire, who is from Dallas, Texas, majoring in Mass Communication. “My parents both ran track in high school. My mom ran track at LSU, and my dad played…

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Xavier Tennis Team Gears up for start of 2022-2023 season

By Kareemah Muhammad Xavier University of Louisiana’s women’s tennis team will start their 2022-2023 season on Thursday, Sept. 15, at the HBCU National Championships in Atlanta, Ga. with the addition of three newcomers on the team. New to the Gold Nuggets are: Mbali Langa of Johannesburg, South Africa. Langa is a transfer student from Hillsborough Community College located in Plant City, Fla. and is a sophomore now majoring in accounting. McKenna Danielle Wheatley of Madison, Miss. will also join Xavier women’s tennis and is a freshman majoring in biology/pre-medicine. Yi…

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XULA Track athletes heading to NAIA in May

By Karrington Stewart After competing in March, XULA added four new athletes to the NAIA national qualifying list to be ableto automatically compete at the NAIA Championship meet that is being held in San Antonio, Texas at the end of May. With most athletes the closer they get to the end of the season their body starts to break down, causing more injuries to rise after competing each week. Now the question is will XULA track and field athletes be able to stay healthy and have a top performance, despite…

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XULA Softball Team powers through first season despite Covid regulations

By Endya Gillard In March 2020, Xavier University of Louisiana announced they were launching a SoftballProgram starting in the Fall of 2020. The team’s first opening day was against Texas University-Texarkana and they did not look like a first-year program. Despite taking the Covid test twice a week, transfer Junior Mecolett Bradley is the team’s firstbaseman and she did not let Covid affect her. “When I am on the field, it doesn’t even feel like covid is a thing until we go back to the dugout and put our mask…

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XAB aims to get students more involved on campus 

By Jasmine Christopher Xavier Activities Board, XAB, hosts an event almost every week to get students involved with their community and make Xavier University of Louisiana a fun and comfortable place for students.  They have many different things planned for this year, each event correlating with whichever theme is fitting from month to month, such as their upcoming Movie Night, a screening of Batman. “We’re just trying to figure out different ways to combine ourselves with other organizations to keep that school spirit alive,” said Dee Nichols, president of XAB. …

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New Year, New Season, Still COVID

By Mekayla Marshall Amid uncertainty for a complete athletic season last year at the Xavier University of Louisiana, the university launched a new softball program. Last year, Leslie Ballard and LSU standout, Shemaiah Sanchez, coached the first-ever softball team at the Xavier University of Louisiana. “Last year, we had a lot more challenges not knowing if we were going to play because of COVID,” Ballard said. “We’ve had a few scares, one that resulted in canceling a series of games.”  Considering this is the first colligate softball program in New…

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XULA student-athletes face challenging work-life balance

By Karrington Stewart In the 2021-2022 school year, multiple athletes have complained about being overworked, burned out, and not receiving enough breaks to recover their bodies.  The majority of sports teams in Xavier University attend practice early mornings about five to six times a week.  “Being a student-athlete at Xavier is all about what you make it out to be. You have to give it your all or nothing at all,” said Kynnedy Turner, a Xavier track and field athlete. “I am homesick because of track. I haven’t been able…

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The Women’s Athlete Perspective on the Disparities Between Men’s and Women’s Sports at the Collegiate Level

By Kiersten McCollum The U.S. Women’s soccer team has just settled their equal pay lawsuit after a six-year legal battle and yet discrepancies between Women’s and Men’s sports continue at a rampant rate. While inequity at the professional sports level is beginning to receive more national attention, these same issues at the collegiate level are still yet to be widely covered. despite collegiate athletics being the root of many of the problems seen in professional leagues.  “Honestly, after looking at the numbers and stuff and being realistic, you can’t be…

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XU Herald Sports - Jamal Allen

By Daylan Paige Jamal Allen is a junior Business Finance major from Birmingham, Ala. He is currently a right-hand pitcher on the Xavier Baseball team. In the future, he aspires to be an entrepreneur or an MLB pitcher, or an investor. The future holds no limit. Fun fact: He enjoys cookies and cream ice cream. What position do you play on the team and how do you think you impact the team? I’m a pitcher and I try to have a positive impact on my teammates on and off the…

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