ASHLAND – The Cascade Conference's Mike Booth Award for the College Sports Communicators Staff of the Year went to the Southern Oregon University sports information department on Thursday, the CCC office announced.

Josh McDermott, SOU's assistant athletic director for sports information, and Isaac Fernandez, SOU's assistant sports information director, received the award for the second year in a row on a vote by their peers.

Together, they covered five top-seven national team finishes for the Raiders in 2025-26. They hosted CCC Championships in beach volleyball, soccer, women's wrestling and track and field multi-events, as well as an NAIA Softball Opening Round bracket.

McDermott became a four-time Booth Award recipient. Earlier this week, he received a national first-place award for event coverage in the College Sports Communicators Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest.

Fernandez, in his second year with the department, became the primary contact for SOU beach volleyball, cross country, and track and field in 2025-26. He continued to assist in all other sports.

Several others, some of them longtime volunteers, help the department function properly. They include photographers Al Case and Bob Palermini; SOU football digital media coordinator Henry Armony; basketball/football public-address announcer Rich Rosenthal; play-by-play announcer Kyle Clements; student broadcast director Codi Kirksey; camera operators Scott Hunter and Ari Moon; and scorer's table regulars Roger Boyce, Bill Miller, Vonn Fenn, Winston Jones and Jose Stephen-Herman.

Fernandez is a former All-America runner for the Raiders. His performance in this spring's Raider Invitational 5K race underscored his fall from grace on the track, as he entered unattached and placed ninth out of 11 runners. He was lapped both before and after the photo below was taken, but recovered to document the Raider beach volleyball team's championship run a couple weeks later.