COMPLETE MEN'S RESULTS
COMPLETE WOMEN'S RESULTS

CALDWELL, Idaho – As it turns out, the Southern Oregon University men's cross country team still owns the Cascade Conference. A few of the women aren't far from the top, either.

The second-ranked Raider men put nine runners in the top 15, led by another runaway performance by Eric Avila (Chula Vista, Calif./Bonita Vista), and won the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank for the sixth straight season Saturday morning at Brothers Park. SOU accumulated 31 points, handily missing second-place Eastern Oregon's total of 54 with an average time that was 16 seconds better.

Two SOU women earned all-conference status with top-12 showings, helping the Raiders improve on their sixth-place finish of a year ago with a team standing of third behind second-ranked College of Idaho and No. 9 Northwest Christian. Alexandra Rudd (North Bend, Wash./Mount Si) was 10^th and Summer Cano (Hillsboro, Ore./Century) 12^th, and Rebecca Lupescu (Portland, Ore./Westview) will also likely be awarded an individual bid to the NAIA Championships for placing 15th.

SOU's Grier Gatlin was named the men's CCC Coach of the Year for the second straight season. 

"The guys ran smart and stayed back the first half of the race," SOU head coach Grier Gatlin said. "The second half, we were really aggressive and gradually moved up as a group."

The women, Gatlin said, "crept up over the second half of the race to finish very well. Third in our conference is really good."

Avila dominated his third straight race by completing the 8,000-meter course in 25 minutes, 32 seconds, losing runner-up Isaac Updike by more than 16 seconds. Concordia University's Eric Alldritt was the early pace-setter, holding the lead through the majority of the first two 2,000-meter loops, but ended up third in 25:50.

The rest of SOU's pack rushed in shorty after: Eric Ghelfi (Redding, Calif./Redding Adventist Academy) in fifth (25:57); Jared Hixon (Palmdale, Calif./Palmdale) in seventh (26:11); Hector Aleman (Seaside, Calif./) in eighth (26:13); Cary Dunagan (Reno, Nev./Reno) in 10^th (26:19); and Matt Battaglia (Salinas, Calif./Salinas) in 12^th (26:20) to pull in all-conference accolades. The next three spots were also occupied by Raiders – Tyler VanDyke (Eagle Point, Ore./Eagle Point), Trevor Lynn (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills) and Kevin Jorgensen (Yreka, Calif./Yreka).

Avila and Hixon were both repeats on the all-CCC team.

On the women's side, Rudd just missed an individual berth to nationals last season but locked it up Saturday by completing 5,000 meters in 19:11. Cano came in at 19:15 and Lupescu was 11 seconds behind her. Jessie Rozario (Rocklin, Calif./Del Oro) (19:59) and Aspen Abbott (Gardnerville, Nev./Douglas) (20:26) were next in for the Raiders at 21^st and 31^st, respectively.

College of Idaho had the top four finishers, led by Hillary Holt's first-place time of 17:52. Northwest Christian took the six-through-nine spots.

The NAIA Championships will be held in Lawrence, Kan., on Nov. 23. Last year, the SOU men were second at nationals and the one SOU women's representative, Anne Hagy (Medford, Ore./Phoenix ), was 94^th.

COMPLETE SOU RESULTS
MEN (8K)
1. Eric Avila (Chula Vista, Calif./Bonita Vista), 25:32
5. Eric Ghelfi (Redding, Calif./Redding Adventist Academy), 25:57
7. Jared Hixon (Palmdale, Calif./Palmdale), 26:11
8. Hector Aleman (Seaside, Calif./), 26:13
10. Cary Dunagan (Reno, Nev./Reno), 26:19
12. Matt Battaglia (Salinas, Calif./Salinas), 26:20
13. Tyler VanDyke (Eagle Point, Ore./Eagle Point), 26:23
14. Trevor Lynn (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills), 26:29
15. Kevin Jorgensen (Yreka, Calif./Yreka), 26:35
28. Zach Boyd-Helm (West Linn, Ore./West Linn), 27:04

Team Scores – Southern Oregon 31, Eastern Oregon 54, College of Idaho 90, Oregon Tech 101, Northwest Christian 132, Concordia 138, Corban 194, Northwest 231, Warner Pacific 286.

WOMEN (5K)
10. Alexandra Rudd (North Bend, Wash./Mount Si), 19:11
12. Summer Cano (Hillsboro, Ore./Century), 19:15
15. Rebecca Lupescu (Portland, Ore./Westview), 19:26
21. Jessie Rozario (Rocklin, Calif./Del Oro), 19:59
31. Aspen Abbott (Gardnerville, Nev./Douglas), 20:26
42. Luisa Westley (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo-Atherton), 21:02
43. Kattarina Korpela (Umatilla, Ore./Umatilla), 21:08

Team Scores – College of Idaho 19, Northwest Christian 48, Southern Oregon 89, Corban 123, Oregon Tech 154, Concordia 156, Northwest 169, Eastern Oregon 170, Warner Pacific 262.