MEN'S RESULTS - INDIVIDUAL
MEN'S RESULTS - TEAM
WOMEN'S RESULTS - INDIVIDUAL
WOMEN'S RESULTS - TEAM

*NOTE: Click the play button in the middle of the story image to see SOU highlights from the women's and men's races at Oak Knoll Golf Course.

ASHLAND, Ore. -- The top-ranked Southern Oregon men's cross country program began its NAIA title defense Saturday morning with a second place finish in the SOU Raider Invitational, with the women's program finishing third in the event held at Oak Knoll Golf Course.

On the men's side, the Raiders placed three runners among the top-eight to total 42 points and finish behind team champion Concordia (Ore.). A group of SOU runners competed in an unaffiliated group under the moniker "Raider XC," finishing third with a total of 65 points. Warner Pacific (123) finished fourth, with Corban fifth (146), Oregon Tech sixth (155) and Northwest Christian (164) seventh.

Ryan Sorenson (Sheridan, Wyo. /Sheridan) led the SOU team with a third-place individual finish (25:58.4), just under 23 seconds behind first-place finisher Matthew Clowes (25:35.8) of Concordia. Eric Ghelfi (Redding, Calif./Redding Adventist Academy) (26:31.2) finished seventh with Scott McIntyre (Redding, Calif./Ponderosa) (26:45.7) finishing eighth for the Raiders. Brett Hornig (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) (11th, 26:50) and Matt Battaglia (Salinas, Calif./Salinas) (13th, 26:58.5) rounded out the top five for SOU.

The women's team finished with 63 points, 36 behind team champion Northwest Christian and 17 behind second-place Concordia. The Beacons finished with three of the top four runners and five of the top 10 in the event, and Concordia's Gina Paletta won the individual title by more than 30 seconds with a time of 18:22.

Seena Frantz (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) was the top finisher for SOU (seventh, 19:33.5), with Alexandra Rudd (North Bend, Wash./Mount Si) (ninth, 19:42.4) and Rebecca Lupescu (Portland, Ore./Westview) (12th, 19:59.4) giving the Raiders three finishers in the top 12. Jessie Rozario (Rocklin, Calif./Del Oro) (16th, 20:21.6) and Micaela Bishop (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) (19th, 20:35.4) rounded out the top five for SOU. Frantz, a junior, is the only upperclassmen among that group, as both Rudd and Bishop are sophomores and Lupescu and Rozario are freshmen, giving Southern Oregon a young corps of top runners.

Southern Oregon returns to action in two weeks, when the Raiders travel to Salem, Ore., for the Charles Bowles Invitational on Oct. 1. The CCC will return to Oak Knoll Golf Course Nov. 5 for the conference championship meet.