ASHLAND – Southern Oregon University's top athletes, coaches and performances from the 2015-16 season were recognized Wednesday night at the fourth annual Raider Black & Red All-Sports Awards Banquet.
 
The winners, listed below, were voted on by SOU's coaches and members of the Black & Red Crew, which includes representatives from every team.

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARDS
Football
Winner: Julius Rucker
Position: Safety
Of Note: Rucker was the 13th defender in the history of SOU football to be voted an NAIA All-American, landing on the American Football Coaches Association's first team. The junior helped the Raiders back to the national championship game with a team-high 109 tackles (including 81 solo and four for losses), nine pass break-ups, one interception, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery for a touchdown return.
Finalist: Matt Retzlaff

Volleyball
Winner: Lauren McGowne
Position: Setter
Of Note: McGowne was the first Raider volleyball player since 2011 to make an NAIA All-American team with a third-team selection after SOU's 26-6 season and second straight appearance at the NAIA Championships. She finished second in the NAIA with 11.6 assists per set, guiding the team to an attacking average of .257 – its highest since 1998.
Finalist: Emma Gasman

Men's Cross Country
Winner: Ray Schireman
Of Note: In his sophomore season, Schireman won the Cascade Conference individual title by running Corban University's 8,000-meter course in 25:27.7 – nine seconds faster than runner-up Max Hampton of College of Idaho. His performance keyed the Raiders' eighth consecutive team title after a 12th-place finish in 2014.
Finalist: Jared Hixon

Women's Cross Country
Winner: Jessa Perkinson
Of Note: Perkinson was seventh place at the Cascade Conference Championships before becoming an All-American for the first time with a 13th-place finish at the NAIA Championships – the best for a Raider in the last decade. She led the Raiders to 14th place in the team standings after they entered the race with a No. 21 ranking.
Finalist: Rebecca Lupescu
 
Men's Soccer
Winner: Brendan Allen
Position: Forward
Of Note: Allen was one of many freshmen whose precociousness allowed the Raiders to overachieve with a record of 10-8 in their inaugural season. He was second team All-Cascade Conference, leading SOU with eighth goals and two assists and tying for the conference lead with four game-winning goals in circuit action.
Finalists: Ahmon Afenegus, Diego Buenrostro

Women's Soccer
Winner: Presley Lambert
Position: Midfielder/Forward
Of Note: Lambert posted four goals and one assist during her junior season, including late game-winners in pivotal consecutive roads wins at Corban and Northwest Christian that sparked a 7-2 run and got the Raiders back in the playoffs for the sixth straight season. She was a first-team All-CCC selection after receiving honorable mention after her sophomore season.
Finalist: Allyson Ward

Men's Basketball
Winner: Joel Spear
Position: Point Guard
Of Note: Spear's emergence as one of the premier players in the Cascade Conference helped the Raiders back to the national tournament for the third time in four years. He wasn't even a preseason All-CCC pick but became the fourth NAIA All-American (second team) in program history by posting averages of 13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.5 steals. He and fellow senior Jordan West went out with 97 career wins, the most ever in team history.
Finalists: Ben DeSaulnier, Jordan West

Women's Basketball
Winner: Ashley Claussen
Position: Point Guard
Of Note: Claussen was the Cascade Conference player of the year and a first-team NAIA All-American after a dominant season in which she posted a career-high clip of 17.8 points – she scored 20-plus points 16 times – and set an SOU single-season record for 3-point makes with 100. No Raider had landed on the NAIA's first team since Nada Janackovic in 1999. The Raiders finished the season with a record of 33-2 that included CCC regular-season and tournament titles and their first appearance in the NAIA title game.
Finalist: Carly Meister
 
Men's Wrestling
Winner: Ryan McWatters
Weight: 184
Of Note: McWatters went 29-6 in 2015-16 and 50-16 in his two-year career at SOU. His season ended in the NAIA's 184-pound championship match as he was the fifth runner-up in that weight class in team history. He won an NAIA West Region title, and in dual matches went 10-0 with nine bonus-point victories.
Finalist: Tyler Cowger

Women's Wrestling
Winner: Kal Holliday
Weight: 130
Of Note: Holliday and Madelynn McIlwain made SOU history by becoming its first All-Americans at the Women's College Wrestling Association Championships. Holliday took sixth place at 130 pounds, winning three consolation matches after she took a loss in the third championship round. Her finish helped the Raiders to 11th place in the WCWA team standings in the program's first season.
Finalist: Madelynn McIlwain

Men's Track & Field
Winner: Jared Hixon
Events: Distance
Of Note: Hixon capped his five-year career with a string of postseason victories – first winning the 1,500 meters and the 5K at the Cascade Conference Championships for men's runner-of-the-meet honors, then winning the 1,500 at the NAIA Outdoor Championships to become the 13th men's outdoor championship in team history. Later, he was named the CCC Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year and the CCC Men's Athlete of the Year for all sports.
Finalist: Dylan Alexander

Women's Track & Field
Winner: Jessa Perkinson
Events: Distance
Of Note: Perkinson's 10,000-meter NAIA title was SOU's first ever in a women's distance race. She was also third place in the 5K, making her 16 points at the national meet the most ever for an individual Raider and putting SOU at 20th in the team standings all by herself. In a span of two months, the sophomore broke SOU records in the 1,500 (4:33.42), the 5K (17:11.27) and the 10K (36:10.83). She was also an All-American with SOU's fifth-place distance medley relay team at the NAIA Indoor Championships, where she ran the mile portion of the race.
Finalist: Aspen Abbott

Softball
Winner: Sydney White
Position: Pitcher
Of Note: White's breakout senior season ended with a record of 15-10 in the circle and an earned-run average of 2.45 that was 1.88 in Cascade Conference play. She notched 114 strikeouts in 168 1/3 innings pitched and allowed two earned runs or less in 18 of 24 starts, including a string of 12 straight starts that brought SOU back to NAIA postseason play for the first time in 10 years.
Finalists: Kelsey Randall, Kayleen Smith

GAME OF THE YEAR
Winner: SOU became the first team to knock out the top seed of the NAIA Football Championship Series in back-to-back seasons with a 30-27 road upset of Morningside (Iowa) on Dec. 5, 2015. The lead changed hands seven times, but Tanner Trosin's 5-yard touchdown rush that capped a 92-yard drive with 1:15 remaining proved to be the decisive score, and AJ Cooper's block of a 41-yard field-goal attempt as time expired sealed the win.
Finalists: SOU Men's Track & Field wins its third Cascade Conference title in four years with a second-day comeback; SOU Men's Basketball overcomes an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat Warner Pacific, 92-90, in CCC action.

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Winner: Jessa Perkinson wins the 10K and placed third in the 5K at the NAIA Championships.
Finalists: Tanner Trosin throws for 391 yards and rushes for two touchdowns at Morningside; Jared Hixon takes runner-of-the-meet honors at the CCC Championships with wins in the 1,500 and the 5K.

CHAMPION OF CHARACTER AWARD
Male Winner: Colin Davis, football
Finalists: Jared Hixon, Justin Martin

Female Winner: Emma Gasman
Finalists: Carly Meister, Sydney White

ATHLETIC TRAINING PERSEVERANCE AWARD
Male Winner: Isiah Carter
Female Winner: Victoria Mackey

SPORTS INFORMATION LEGACY AWARD
Single-Season Winner: Jessa Perkinson
Career Winner: Ashley Claussen
 
COACH OF THE YEAR
Winner: Alex Carlson
Finalists: Craig Howard, Jessica Pistole

RAIDER CUP TEAM OF THE YEAR
Winner: SOU Women's Basketball
Finalists: Men's Track & Field, Football

ALUMNI AWARD
Male Winner: Jared Hixon
Finalists: Jeremy Scottow, Jordan West

Female Winner: Jessie Rozario
Finalists: Ashley Claussen, Tyana Andrews