ASHLAND – A lack of depth may keep the Southern Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams out of the title picture, but the Raiders’ top-end talent will have plenty of say at the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank.
The meet is being hosted by Eastern Oregon University at Banner Bank Track in La Grande, with competition starting at 2 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. EOU has won two consecutive men’s titles, British Columbia is the defending women’s champion, and those schools will likely be battling for first place on both sides this weekend. The Raider women are following up the second-place finish they posted in 2022, when the men took fifth.
SOU MEN’S GLANCE:
SPRINTS/HURDLES: Cade O’Connor will carry the torch as SOU’s only representative in this category, entered as the No. 3 seed in the 400 hurdles (55.74) and the No. 5 seed in the 400 (49.79). He placed fourth with PRs in both races at last year’s meet before helping the Raider 4×400-meter relay team to a title.
DISTANCE: Isaac Fernandez’s big fall – which culminated with a CCC cross country individual championship and his second All-American performance at the NAIA Championships – carried over into the spring, where the senior has recorded an automatic NAIA Outdoor Championships qualifying time in the 10,000 meters (30:52.04) that ranks 13th on the national performance list and a provisional qualifying time in the 5K (14:46.59). He’ll sit out the 10K this weekend, running as the No. 2 seed in the 5K and as the No. 11 seed in the 1,500. Two years ago, Fernandez was a top-six scorer in both races. Jensen Salvatori will attempt to repeat his All-CCC performance in the 10K after placing third a year ago – he did not finish his only attempt at the race this spring – and is slated to run alongside teammate Frankie Maciel, the No. 12 seed. Luke Lucchesi gives the Raiders a fourth distance representative as the No. 19 seed in the 1,500.
JUMPS: Cody Le Bel is just two weeks removed from recording a pole-vault mark of 15 feet 9 inches that made him an automatic qualifier for the NAIA Outdoor Championships. After placing sixth in the CCC a year ago, he enters the meet as the co-No. 1 seed with Lewis-Clark State’s Nik Bertling. The Raiders have two more pole vault top-five seeds in Carson Le Bel (14-9) and Keith Sorenson (14-9). Carson Le Bel, a freshman, also owns a top-five seed in the high jump (6-2 ¾).
THROWS: Following a huge regular season, the Raiders have a chance to dominate the throws with a veteran group in the traveling party: Of 156 points available across four disciplines, they’d collect 54 of them if the seeds held true. Andrew Mitchell is the headliner, having placed second in the javelin and third in the discus a year ago. This spring he established a new SOU javelin record (217-3) to claim the top seed with an NAIA ‘A’ mark that ranks third nationally, and he has ‘B’ mark in the discus (158-9) as the No. 2 seed. Luke King is SOU’s other NAIA automatic throws qualifier as the No. 2 seed in the shot put (52-10 ¾) – he’s also No. 5 in the discus – while Wayne Garcia was an All-CCC hammer thrower in third place last year and is now the No. 2 seed at 179-7, a ‘B’ mark that ranks 17th nationally. The Raiders have two more top-three seeds, Tre Holmes in the shot put and Matthew O’Henley in the hammer, who were both scorers in 2022.
COMPLETE SOU MEN’S ENTRIES
400m – 5. Cade O’Connor, 49.79
1,500m – 11. Isaac Fernandez, 3:57.98; 19. Luke Lucchesi, 4:06.81
5,000m – 2. Isaac Fernandez, 14:46.59
10,000m – 12. Frankie Maciel, 32:47.51; 16. Jensen Salvatori, NM
400m Hurdles – 3. Cade O’Connor, 55.74
3,000m Steeplechase – 14. Asher Tatsumi, 10:27.58
High Jump – 5. Carson Le Bel, 1.90m
Pole Vault – 1. Cody Le Bel, 4.50m; 4. Keith Sorenson, 4.50m; 5. Carson Le Bel, 4.50m
Discus – 2. Andrew Mitchell, 48.39m; 5. Luke King, 43.06m; 7. Matthew O’Henley, 42.63m; 9. Tre Holmes, 40.40m
Hammer – 2. Wayne Garcia, 54.74m; 3. Matthew O’Henley, 53.34m; 8. Kianush Behbehani-Escobar, 45.38m
Javelin – 1. Andrew Mitchell, 66.21m
Shot Put – 2. Luke King, 16.12m; 3. Tre Holmes, 15.27m; 8. Matthew O’Henley, 13.49m; 9. Andrew Mitchell, 13.24m
SOU WOMEN’S GLANCE
SPRINTS/HURDLES: Abi Stevens, the six-time All-American who scored 28 points at the CCC Championships last year and has already notched a second-place finish in the conference heptathlon, will be heavily featured again. She’s among four Raiders entered in the 100 hurdles, a race in which she placed sixth last spring, and is the only one in the fast heat as the No. 3 seed (15.10). India Ortiz will look to continue her impressive freshman season as the No. 4 seed in the 400 hurdles (1:09.72), and India Collins is entered in both races. SOU has a 400 representative in Aayzia Dumas, who will be following up on a seventh-place showing in the race last year. Dumas is the lone returning member of a 4×400 team that took eighth at the NAIA Outdoor Championships a year ago and has the No. 2 seed this weekend.
DISTANCE: The Raiders have seven entries across four races from a distance group that has already secured three automatic spots at the NAIA Outdoor Championships. One of those spots belongs to Lauren Forster in a loaded 3,000-meter steeplechase; she’s the No. 4 seed despite ranking 17th nationally with a time of 11:17.13 that she recorded in her first-ever try at the race this spring, taking the No. 4 spot on SOU’s all-time list. Alejandra Lopez and Haylee Brodahl are auto qualifiers in the 10K but will sit that race out and enter as the Nos. 4 (17:52.39) and 8 (18:18.65) seeds in the 5K, running with the No. 10-seeded Forster and No. 11-seeded Maya Smith. Brodahl earned All-CCC status in the 5K last season with a third-place effort. Lopez, an All-CCC performer in cross country, is making her first CCC Championships appearance in track, and Sydnee Kizziar, another cross country all-star, is back for the first time in two years as the No. 3 seed in the 10K (38:47.05). Sarah Mauk is No. 9 in the 800 (2:19.78) after scoring in eighth place last season.
JUMPS: Abi Stevens is already a three-time All-American in the high jump – she placed fifth at last year’s NAIA Outdoor Championships – and will now go for her first CCC title. She and defending champion Jennah Carpenter of Lewis-Clark State posted identical conference-leading marks of 5-5 ¼ this spring, landing them in a tie for eighth on the national performance list. Stevens was the high jump runner-up last year and took fourth in the long jump, where she enters this meet as the No. 6 seed. Jenna Hodges – who is expected to join Stevens at the NAIA Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon – has a history of stellar CCC showings, having placed third in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump last year and fourth in both disciplines in 2021. She’s back for those events, and Sienna Bauer is the leading seed of three Raiders in the triple jump at No. 4 overall. Two SOU underclassmen will gun for All-CCC honors in the pole vault, India Ortiz as the No. 3 seed and Gabi Hansen at No. 6.
THROWS: Andrea Osbon will feature heavily for the Raiders, entered in the shot put as the No. 7 seed, the discus as the No. 15 seed and the hammer as the No. 20 seed. Malaika Quigley is back as the No. 13 seed in the javelin after placing 20th last season.
COMPLETE SOU WOMEN’S ENTRIES
400m – 4. Aayzia Dumas, 59.38
800m – 9. Sarah Mauk, 2:19.78
5,000m – 4. Alejandra Lopez, 17:52.39; 8. Haylee Brodahl, 18:18.65; 10. Lauren Forster, 18:33.84; 11. Maya Smith, 18:39.06
10,000m – 3. Sydnee Kizziar, 38:47.05
100m Hurdles – 3. Abi Stevens. 15.10; 9. Sienna Bauer, 15.60; 12. India Collins, 15.84; 18. Jenna Hodges, 16.61
400m Hurdles – 4. India Ortiz, 1:09.72; 13. India Collins, 1:09.72
3,000m Steeplechase – 4. Lauren Forster, 11:17.13
4x400m Relay – 2. SOU (Dumas, Mauk, Stevens, Ortiz), 3:59.24
High Jump – 2. Abi Stevens, 1.66m
Long Jump – 6. Abi Stevens, 5.46m; 10. Jenna Hodges, 5.16m; 12. Sienna Bauer, 5.10m
Triple Jump – 4. Sienna Bauer, 11.15m; 11. Cami Goodwin, 9.72m; 13. Jenna Hodges, NM
Pole Vault – 3. India Ortiz, 3.45m; 6. Gabi Hansen, 3.15m
Discus – 15. Andrea Osbon, 33.04m
Hammer – 20. Andrea Osbon, 36.36m
Javelin – 13. Malaika Quigley, 37.14m
Shot Put – 7. Andrea Osbon, 11.78m