A group of 10 Southern Oregon track and field athletes will take part in the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships this weekend at Edwardsville, Ill.
Alex Waroff (decathlon),
Cameron Kreuz (1,500),
Antwun Baker (100),
David Laney (10,000),
Ryan Ghelfi (10,000),
Joe Rath (10,000),
Ryan Sorenson (10,000),
Chris Paterson (3,000 steeplechase),
Stephanie Miller (javelin) and
Jamie Wells (pole vault) will all be aiming for National Championships and All-American honors.
Thursday will be the big day for the Raiders, as nine of the 10 Raiders will be in action.
The day will feature finals in the men’s 10,000, women’s javelin and women’s pole vault.
With Laney, Ghelfi, Rath and Sorenson all competing in the 10,000, SOU has four chances to score plenty of team points. Rath enters the race ranked sixth with a time of 31:15.39 and Laney is seventh at 31:18.95. Ghelfi is ranked 10th (31:27.73) and Sorenson is ranked 19th (31:54.50).
Miller ranks sixth in the javelin with a throw of 44.98 meters (147-07). Wells ranks 19th in the pole vault with a vault of 3.48 meters (11-05).
Thursday will also feature the first day of the decathlon, men’s 1,500 and men’s 100.
Waroff made the decathlon field ranked 15 out of 16 with 6,130 points. The decathlon will finish on Friday.
Kreuz will look to end his storied SOU career in fine fashion when he competes in the 1,500. Kreuz ranks sixth in the event with a time of a school-record time of 3:48.50. After Thursday’s semifinals, the finals will take place Saturday afternoon.
Baker ranks 20th in the 100 with a time of 10.75 and will be aiming to make Friday’s finals.
Paterson will have to wait until Saturday to perform in the 3,000 Steeplechase. Paterson ranks 24th with a time of 9:35.08.