May 9, 2004
Raider men claim conference track crown
KLAMATH FALLS — The Southern Oregon University men’s track and field team captured the school’s fourth Cascade Conference championship in five seasons, and Raider athletes won 18 of 40
events at the 10th-annual league meet Saturday.
Guided by coach-of-the-year Michael Jones, the Southern Oregon men racked up 180 team points to squeeze past Eastern Oregon (169) and meet host Oregon Tech (168) in the tightest title chase in history,
while the Raider women’s squad finished second behind OIT in the six-team field.
"It was a good day with great competitions," said Jones. "We gave it our best shot and took advantage of our opportunities. It’s nice to come home with a trophy, which is a lot
better than second."
Junior sprinter Tyler Nitzke, freshman thrower Travis Wheeler, junior jumper Nick Hanson and middle-distance runner Trevor Palmer turned in stellar multiple-event performances to lead the Raider
men.
As expected, Nitzke won the 200 (22.82) and 400 (49.02) meters and anchored SOU’s fifth consecutive conference 4x400 relay title (by a lopsided seven-second margin at 3:21.17).
Wheeler uncorked personal bests in winning the discus (145-3) and shot put (45-0). He also placed sixth in the hammer.
Hanson broke a 10-year-old conference-meet record by one-half inch with a 47-1 mark in the triple jump. He was third in the long jump and high jump.
Palmer became the school’s first men’s 800 league champion (1:56.43), placed second in the 1,500 and served as a link on the 4x400 relay.
Senior all-star Sean Peterson won the 1,500 for the second time in his career (4:01.75) and was sixth in a star-studded 5K field that featured six marks faster than the previous event record.
The Raider men’s 4x100 relay of Kento Kawamura, Kevin Savidge, Chris Hill and Bart Maney won the event for third time since 2000 (42.75).
The SOU women were paced by senior All-American sprinters and all-star heptathletes Andrea Eide and Megan Heuberger, who combined to account for 85 of the team’s 172 points.
Eide won the 200 with a career-best 22.70, took part on the school’s fourth straight 4x400 title team, placed second in the 100, heptathlon and on the 4x100 relay and recorded a third-place and
personal-best 17-4 long jump.
Heuberger ran on both relays, won the intermediate hurdles for the third consecutive year and placed third in the heptathlon.
Junior sprinter Rachel Hinze broke the John F. Moehl track record in winning the 400 (59.44), and sophomore All-American Brynn Cogdill was the runner-up in the 1,500 and turned in a season-best in a
fourth-place 800 (2:20).
Softball
SOU 8-4, WESTERN BAPTIST 0-2 — At Ashland, No. 23 Southern Oregon extended its winning streak to seven by sweeping Cascade Conference rival Western Baptist College.
The league champion Raiders (38-10, 20-5 Cascade) finished 14-2 at home this season and gained momentum for next week’s all-important NAIA Region I tournament, while the Warriors (20-25, 10-15
Cascade), a first-year intercollegiate program, finished the season on an eight-game slide.
In Game 1, SOU collected 14 hits and scored in all four innings against Warrior starter Rachel Hiatt (13-14). Raider junior outfielder Seanna Doyel paced the hit parade with a two-run triple in the
third and a two-run single in the fourth.
Meanwhile, SOU ace Miranda Gillaspie registered her second shutout in as many days and improved to 21-5 by holding Western Baptist to five hits while striking out six.
The momentum, however, swung the Warrior way for much of Game 2.
The Salem school jumped to a 2-0 first-inning lead against Raider sophomore hurler Amanda Cregan.
But the Raiders erupted in the sixth with four straight hits, and sophomore Leann Foster provided the go-ahead hit — a line-drive single up the middle that scored Haley Varley and Kara Ray. Foster
scored three batters later on a sacrifice fly by junior catcher Carla Lillis.
Cregan, who retired 15 consecutive Warriors after the shaky three-hit opening frame, improved to 12-5 after Gillaspie recorded her fourth save with a hitless seventh.
Doyel and Foster each registered four hits in the twin bill and accounted for nine Raider RBIs, while Varley and sophomore first baseman Amy Williams finished with three hits apiece.
Second-seeded SOU opens the two-day, four-team, double-elimination regional tournament Thursday at Delta Park in Portland against No. 3 draw Oregon Tech (33-21).
Top-seeded and defending NAIA champion Simon Fraser faces No. 4 Eastern Oregon in the other first-round contest. SOU must win the tournament in order to make nationals.
