Perkinson Named Oregon Sports Awards Small College Female Athlete of the Year
Beaverton, Ore.- Southern Oregon University's Jessa Perkinson has been named the 2018 Ad Rutschman College Female Athlete of the Year, announced tonight as part of the Oregon Sports Awards.
“I have to give all the glory to God,” she said in her acceptance speech. “This all started with a gift that he blessed me with and I’m so thankful to have coaches and friends and family who came alongside me to get the most out of that. It’s just been wonderful.”
Perkinson, a senior distance runner from Roseburg, Ore., finished her career a 14-time overall NAIA All-American, two-time national champion and six-time Cascade Conference champion. The Southern Oregon University star was the 2017 CCC Female Athlete of the Year. Last fall she won the CCC cross country title, was the runner-up at the NAIA Championships and was named the NAIA West Region XC Runner of the Year. During track season, she ran the NAIA’s fastest 5K since 2009 (16:13.79) and the fastest 10K since 2013 (34:35.33). She went on the win 1,500 and 5K titles at the CCC Championships, then placed second in the 5K and fourth in the 10K at the national meet. At the NAIA Indoor Championships, she added a third-place finish in the 3K.
In the women's category this year Cascade Conference athletes swept the three finalist positions with Eastern Oregon's Maya Ah You Dias, Northwest Christian's Bailey Dell, and Perkinson being selected.
Also a CoSIDA Academic All-American as a psychology major, Perkinson was named the CCC Women’s Athlete of the Year for all sports in 2016-17 – the Raiders’ first since 1999.
For more than 60 years, the Oregon Sports Awards have honored outstanding achievements by Oregon preps, collegians, amateurs, pros, teams and coaches. The Small College Athlete of the Year award, named after a former football and baseball coach at Linfield College, has been awarded every year since 2001. Finalists were nominated and selected through a statewide voting panel consisting of TV, radio and sports journalists, and respected sports professionals.