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--> --> SOU tracksters take men's and women's titles LA GRANDE - The Southern Oregon University track and field team captured 18 of 40 individual event titles Saturday en route to the school's third consecutive Cascade Conference men's and women's championships at La Grande. Led by senior sprint star Tiwana Merritt, the Raider women outdistanced Oregon Tech 237-189 in a five-team chase, while senior thrower Richard Bailey propelled SOU past OIT 206-178 on the six-team men's side. First-year head coach Michael Jones, who engineered the school's 14th conference crown since 1955, garnered league Coach of the Year honors. Merritt became Southern Oregon's first back-to-back league track Athlete of the Year by winning or taking part in five individual championships for the second straight year. The two-time All-American broke her own school and conference 100-meter record by a hundredth of a second (12.41), repeated as the 400 champion (59.97) and finished as a four-time loop titlist in the 200 (25.82). The Valdez, Ala. product became the program's first 13-time conference or regional champion by anchoring the winning 4x100 and 4x400 relay squads. Bailey garnered men's Athlete of the Year kudos by easily capturing shot put (52-0 1/2) and discus (155-2) crowns and placing third in the hammer (134-4). Merritt and senior Nicole Robertson, who captured the discus with a 139-11 heave, became only the third and fourth athletes in league history to finish as four-time event champions. The SOU men's 4x400 relay team won loop gold for the third consecutive year, and sophomore Sean Peterson became SOU's first-ever Cascade Conference distance champion by winning the 1,500 in 4:02.13. Sophomore Nick Dunn (intermediate hurdles), Justin Bennett (hammer), Jeff Bentley (javelin) and Kena Page (long jump) were repeat champions, and Joe Sheire (high hurdles), Cailen McNair (Megan Heuberger (intermediate hurdles) and Robertson in the shot put were first-time winners. Ashland High's Titus Weston is tagged out on a failed suicide bunt in the third inning of Friday's doubleheader sweep by the Grizzlies over Klamath Union. AHS won 3-1 and 6-5 in the nightcap. Ashland Daily Tidings/AMY ALONZO Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing