The top-ranked Southern Oregon men secured the school's third straight Cascade Conference Cross Country Championship today in dominating fashion. 

The Raiders out-distanced Eastern Oregon 24-57 to claim the title. College of Idaho finished third at 58. 

The eighth-ranked Southern Oregon women continued their miracle season, finishing second in the race and finishing ahead of sixth-ranked College of Idaho. Concordia won the women's race with 44 points, while SOU was third at 52 and College of Idaho was third at 69. 

Southern Oregon won the team title without All-American David Laney leading the charge. 

Sophomore Zach Elliott led the charge for the Raiders, finishing second overall in a time of 25:33. Laney, the defending Cascade Conference Champion, finished third overall in 25:52, while battling a sickness. 

James Johnstone finished fourth overall at 26:06, followed by Ryan Sorenson (sixth, 26:17), Ryan Ghelfi (ninth, 26:19) and Dennis McCaffrey (11th, 26:21). All six finishers earned All-Conference honors. 

"The guys really battled today," SOU head coach Brent Ericksen said. "They were hurting. This is the toughest course we will see all year and running at 4,500 feet elevation makes it really difficult." 

The SOU women placed three on the All-Conference team. Anya Martinez finished seventh at 19:40, Kristen Juveland finished eighth at 19:42 and Summer Cano finished 10th in 19:52 to earn the conference honors. 

Laurie Stoutenburgh finished 13th in 19:54 and Seena Frantz finished 14th in 19:59. 

"The girls really came together well and again ran a really tough course," Ericksen said. "Finishing second should be enough to get us in the National Championships." 

The victory for the SOU men secured the automatic berth to the Nationals. 

By Bobby Heiken, Southern Oregon University