ASHLAND – Southern Oregon University's Eric Avila (Chula Vista, Calif./Bonita Vista) and Laurence Calcagno (Canby, Ore./Canby) pulled in conference player of the week recognition Monday after putting together their strongest performances of the fall season in recent days.

Avila won his second straight race for the second-ranked SOU men's cross country team Friday at the Beaver Classic in Corvallis. His season-best time of 24 minutes, 15 seconds cleared the field by six seconds and made him the Cascade Conference men's runner of the week.

The junior from Chula Vista, Calif., also won the Lewis & Clark Invitational on Oct. 19 and was the NAIA runner of the week following his seventh-place finish at the Sept. 28 Stanford Invitational. He'll be the favorite heading into the Cascade Conference Championships on Nov. 9 in Caldwell, Idaho.

Calcagno, a senior from Canby, became the first Raider football player this season to be recognized as the Frontier Conference's defensive player of the week for making his mark all over the stat sheet in Saturday's 51-16 win over Montana Western.

The 22^nd-ranked Raiders (6-2 overall, 6-1 conference) got seven solo tackles, three assisted, two for a loss, an interception and a forced fumble out of Calcagno. The 5-foot-11, 210-pound linebacker also helped SOU hold UMW to 3.1 yards on the ground per carry, which was half of the Bulldogs' average when the teams met earlier this season.

SOU and Carroll College will break a first-place tie when they hook up Saturday in Helena, Mont.

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