SOU Recruits 16 for Cross Country/Track & Field Programs
ASHLAND – Sixteen student-athletes have signed on to join the Southern Oregon cross country and track and field programs during the 2012-13 seasons, SOU head coach Grier Gatlin announced.
Twelve male and four female recruits comprise the 2012 class, including several athletes with state championship and national championship appearances in their backgrounds.
The cross country newcomers will join a program that has won four consecutive men’s conference championships and enters the 2012 season ranked first in the NAIA preseason poll. The Southern Oregon women rank 13th in the preseason poll. On the track and field side, the Raider men tied a program-best finish when they placed sixth at the 2012 NAIA Outdoor National Championships
“We’re very excited overall with our recruiting class,” Gatlin said. “We’re looking forward to getting better this year at both the conference and national levels.”
The four women’s recruits are Jordan Luker, Courtney Tripp, Stephanie Ramirez and Anissa Limesand. Luker is a native of Grants Pass and won the 6A District I championship in the 100 and was part of the District I 4x100 meter relay championship team at Grants Pass High School.
“She will greatly help us in the sprints and the relays, and we love to get local athletes into our program,” Gatlin said.
Tripp, a native of Sandy, Ore., won the 6A state championship in the discus in 2010 and will transfer from Northern Arizona. She returns to Southern Oregon where her father Sean participated in football and track in the 1980s.
“Courtney is going to be part of an expanding women’s throws program here and will help us immensely in that area,” Gatlin said.
Ramirez spent the past two seasons at Hartnell Community College after graduating from Salinas High School, while Limesand graduated from Liberty High School in Hillsboro. Both student-athletes will participate in cross country in 2012.
The men’s teams will see a total of 12 new recruits, including several who have competed for state and conference championships. Sam Hartinger comes in from San Pasqual High School in Escondido, Calif., as a jumper who has reached 6-7 in the high jump and 47-6 1-2 in the triple jump and will “make an immediate impact for us in the conference in those events,” Gatlin said.
Redding native Tyler Halverson comes to SOU from Foothills High School, where he ran the 100 meter in 11.19 seconds and posted a long jump distance of 22-1. Kevin Jorgensen transfers to SOU from Oregon Tech, where he was the runner-up in the 1500 meter run at the 2011 Cascade Conference championships and placed third in the 800, qualifying for the national meet in both events.
Lake Oswego’s Nathan Normo is a distance runner, and he and Jorgensen will both be part of the 2012 cross country team. Normo placed third in the 1500 at the 6A Oregon State Championships with a time of 3:56, and “has tremendous potential to contribute to our already strong distance programs,” Gatlin said.
A couple other recruits will participate in the fall cross country season. Reno native Rex Nowak joins the team in 2012, along with Matt Williams from La Crescenta, Calif. Six other men will join the team in the spring for the track and field season.
Devan Barkley is a freshman wide receiver for the SOU football team from Stockton, Calif., and he will compete in hurdles and sprints in the spring. Brennen Hewitt comes to SOU from Aloha, Ore., and he will be a distance runner, while Murrieta, Calif., native Brian Cape transfers from the University of South Dakota and will compete in sprints and hurdles. Anthony Smallen, a native of Joseph, Ore., will be a thrower for the Raiders, and Reno natives Cody and Cory Sharp will be sprinters at SOU.
The cross country team reported late last week and officially begins its season Sept. 8 at the Humboldt State Invite in Arcata, Calif.