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--> --> May 14: Next up for Raiders - nationals By Rich Rosenthal For the Ashland Daily Tidings The regular season complete, only the 51st annual NAIA Track and Field Championships remains on the 2001-02 Southern Oregon University athletics calendar. Based on two-time All-American sprinter Tiwana Merritt and a veteran group of throwers, the three-time defending Cascade Conference champion Raiders have the potential to tally national team points to the extent not seen in over a decade. Twelve SOU athletes (and the women's 4x400 relay team) achieved automatic qualifying standards in 15 events. Entering the week, the group ranked in the NAIA top-10 based on season marks in 12 events. The thinclads depart for the national event in Olathe, Kan. May 21. Southern Oregon enters the national championship gathering with plenty of momentum due to a spate of strong performances at last weekend's regular season-ending meets. The women's 4x400 relay team of Kena Page, Andrea Eide, Megan Heuberger and Merritt went from provisional to automatic national qualifiers with a three-second improvement to 3:56.86 at the Last Chance Invitational in Klamath Falls on Thursday. Two days later at Hayward Field in Eugene, Merritt matched the 200-meter automatic qualifying mark with a second-place 25.30. Other Raider notables at the University of Oregon Twilight Invitational: · Sophomore Sean Peterson of Clackamas became the school's first automatic national qualifier in the 1,500 since 1992 with a 3:53.50, a clip four seconds better than his previous season best and a mark only 0.55 off Mickey Losinki's 10-year-old school record. · Senior Rachael Childers of Springfield obliterated her own school hammer record and jumped from provisional to automatic qualifying status with a 153-8. The effort exceeded her week-old record of 146-4. · Senior Richard Bailey of Yreka collected a pair of personal bests. He switched from a provisional to an automatic qualifier in the discus with a first-place heave of 162-3 (a seven-foot improvement) and went from 52-0 to 52-2 in the shot put, good for second-place. · Senior Justin Bennett collected his best hammer throw of the season, 165-10, while senior Nicole Robertson did the same in her specialty, the discus (147-11). Softball Notes The 2002 Southern Oregon University capped a memorable fastpitch softball season with a third-place performance at the NAIA Region I tournament in Portland last week. Only a 6-1 semifinal setback to 16th-ranked Oregon Tech prevented the Raiders from reaching the regional championship in just their second season of intercollegiate action. Southern Oregon, the No. 3 seed in the four-team fracas, upset the second-seeded Owls 4-0 in the opener thanks to a third-inning grand slam by all-star pitcher Brandi Brown, who limited the Cascade Conference champs to three hits. Less than an hour later, Brown and the rest of the Raiders took second-ranked and eventual tournament champion Simon Fraser to the brink before falling 1-0 in the semifinals. Brown yielded only four hits, but she was the victim of the hard-luck loss when the Clan scored the game's only run on a throwing error with two out in the bottom of the seventh. The contest turned out to be SFU's sternest challenge of the tournament, as the Clan dispatched Eastern Oregon 8-0 in the first round and routed OIT 12-0 in the finals. Southern Oregon capped the season with a 28-9 record, a drastic improvement over last year's 24-23 campaign, which was the school's first intercollegiate foray since 1983. The Raiders, who had only one senior on the roster (catcher Stacey Marshall), finished only a game behind the senior-laden Owls for the conference championship. Football Notes Southern Oregon University's first-ever spring football game is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday at Medford's Spiegelberg Stadium. The event will be a controlled scrimmage featuring 15 returning starters and 42 letterwinners from last year's 9-2 Raider team that advanced to the quarterfinals of the NAIA playoffs and finished with a program-best No. 5 national ranking. The family oriented afternoon will also feature Red, the Raider mascot and a postgame autograph session for kids. Tickets, available the day of the game at Spiegelberg Stadium ticket booth, cost $5 each. Admission is free for children accompanying a paying adult. Headlining the event are Southern Oregon's top returners: All-Americans Nick Daniken, a senior defensive back and kick returner from Central Point; Jeremy Chapman, a senior offensive lineman from Myrtle Point; and Dusty McGrorty, a junior running back from Warrenton who led the NAIA in scoring last season. Email your... 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