UPDATE: The schedule has been altered due to Thursday's lightning storm. Find the new schedule HERE.

Complete Men's Schedule - Complete Women's Schedule
Complete Men's Entries - Complete Women's Entries
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*SOU-specific schedule below

GULF SHORES, Ala. – The Southern Oregon University men's track and field team has a chance this week to rid itself of the disappointment caused by a third-place finish at the Cascade Conference Championships, and three Raider women have a chance to solidify their legacies.

The 64^th annual NAIA Outdoor Championships run Thursday through Saturday, hosted for the second straight year by the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Sports Commission at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium. SOU will be represented by 16 athletes, just as it was in 2014.

Last year was an historic one for both Raider squads. Eric Avila (Chula Vista, Calif./Bonita Vista) won the 1,500-meter title, the first SOU men's title in a running event since 1978, and Stephanie Techler (Berlin, Germany)'s pole-vault championship was the first of any kind for the Raider women since 1995.

With six All-American efforts, the Raider men totaled 26 points for their second consecutive ninth-place finish. The program's best finish has been sixth – on three occasions, most recently in 2012 – and the Raiders are No. 4 in the latest USTFCCCA computer rankings.

SOU has won nine all-time individual men's titles and will be represented in seven separate disciplines in search of a tenth.

Three of the four Raider women who competed at last year's championships came home All-Americans, leading to 19 team points and a surprising 14^th-place finish. Amelia Maguin (Fernley, Nev./Fernley) is the leading candidate to win the program's seventh title, having been the runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles the last two seasons and toting the NAIA's top time this year. Fellow senior Jessie Rozario (Rocklin, Calif./Del Oro) and redshirt-junior Rebecca Lupescu (Portland, Ore./Westview) will both be making their third appearances.

Indiana Tech claimed the last two men's and women's team titles and is again ranked No. 1 on both sides.

MEN'S EVENTS (All times Pacific)
800 METERS
SOU entry: (3) Zach Boyd-Helm (West Linn, Ore./West Linn), 1:50.92
Trials: 12:20 p.m. Friday
Finals: 3 p.m. Saturday
Of note: Boyd-Helm ran the 1,500 at last year's championships but was the 800 runner-up at the 2013 championships and has notched a personal-best this season. He was sharp at the CCC Championships, placing second in the 800 to defending champ Hans Roelle of Eastern Oregon and second in the 1,500. Boyd-Helm ran the 1,200-meter portion of SOU's indoor distance-medley-relay teams that won the 2013 and '14 NAIA titles and placed second this year.

1,500 METERS
SOU entry: (4) Kevin Jorgensen (Yreka, Calif./Yreka), 3:48.46
Trials: 1:40 p.m. Thursday
Finals: 1:10 p.m. Saturday
Of note: Jorgensen missed All-American accolades by one spot at the 2013 meet, placing ninth in the 1,500. He broke through last year with a seventh-place finish in the 800 and will now make his return to the 1,500 with the fourth overall seed. He was fourth in a crowded field at the CCC Championships and, like Boyd-Helm, has been a three-time indoor All-American on the Raider DMR team as its 800 runner.

5,000 METERS
SOU entries: (3) Dylan Alexander (Encino, Calif./Birmingham), 14:17.19; (10) Max Runia (Central Point, Ore./Crater), 14:31.89; (12) Eric Ghelfi (Redding, Calif./Redding Adventist Academy), 14:33.29; (20) Ray Schireman (Medford, Ore./North Medford), 14:44.72
Trials: 5 p.m. Friday
Finals: 3:55 p.m. Saturday
Of note: Ghelfi became an All-American last year by placing eighth in the 10K, but Alexander, Runia and Schireman are all making their first appearances at the meet for SOU. Alexander won the CCC's 5K title (and was also third in the 1,500) by nipping EOU's Isaac Updike (No. 4 NAIA) with a big final kick and beating last year's NAIA runner-up, EOU's DJ Flores. The rest of the Raiders will try to bounce back from a disappointing showing at the CCC meet; despite having four of the top six seeds, their second finisher (Schireman) placed seventh.

MARATHON
SOU entry: (9) Dylan Paulk (Portland, Ore./Grant), 1:11.39 (half marathon)
Finals: 4 a.m. Saturday
Of note: Paulk earned the early wake-up call by qualifying with his half-marathon time on March 7 at the Bidwell Classic. This will mark his first race at the NAIA Championships. He had seventh-place showing in the 10K at the CCC Championships.

DISCUS
SOU entries: (3) Danny Parks (Eugene, Ore.), 54.48m; (4) Markus Sanders (Modesto, Calif./Carthage), 53.87m
Finals: 3 p.m. Friday
Of note: Parks, who became an All-American by placing fifth in 2013, redshirted last season and appears to be peaking at the right time. Seeded third, he earned an upset title at the CCC Championships with a throw of 179 feet 1 inch – beating his PR (and school record) by five inches and his best this season by over 12 feet. Sanders is directly behind him on the school-record and NAIA performance lists and will also attempt to repeat as an All-American after taking third in 2014.

HAMMER
SOU entries: (3) Markus Sanders (Modesto, Calif./Carthage), 58.90m; (16) Danny Parks (Eugene, Ore.), 52.07m
Finals: 11 a.m. Thursday
Of note: The No. 3 seed in the NAIA, Sanders blew out the CCC Championship field by over 20 feet with a throw of 192-4. That was just a shade off his PR, and a throw last year of 185-11 gave him seventh place at the NAIA Championships, making him the fifth Raider in history to earn All-American status in two events at the same meet. Parks was a 'B' standard qualifier with a season-best throw of 170-10 at the CCC Championships.
 
4x800-METER RELAY
SOU entries: Zach Boyd-Helm (West Linn, Ore./West Linn), Gary Fanelli, Henry Hall (Corvallis, Ore./Corvallis), Kevin Jorgensen (Yreka, Calif./Yreka), Aidan Paulk (Portland, Ore./Grant), Matt Williams (La Crescenta, Calif./La Crescenta)
Trials: 4:15 p.m. Thursday
Finals: 3:50 p.m. Friday
Of note: SOU entered two nearly-identical teams at the Raider Open on April 18, and one of them became an automatic qualifier with a time of 7:43.75. That mark makes the Raiders the No. 13 overall seed.

WOMEN'S EVENTS (All times Pacific)
1,500 METERS
SOU entry: (11) Jessie Rozario (Rocklin, Calif./Del Oro), 4:36.50
Trials: 1:20 p.m. Thursday
Finals: 1 p.m. Saturday
Of note: Rozario this year became the top 1,500 runner in SOU history and had a strong showing at the CCC Championships with a runner-up finish in a field of five NAIA qualifiers. She ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase in her previous appearances at the NAIA Championships (2012 and '13), placing 14^th on both occasions.

10,000 METERS
SOU entry: (14) Rebecca Lupescu (Portland, Ore./Westview), 37:14.74
Finals: 5:50 p.m. Thursday
Of note: Lupescu is making her third championship appearance, having placed 12^th in the 5K at the 2013 meet and entering but not finishing the 10K last season. She ran only the 5K at the CCC Championships and took eighth place. Her 10K time this season is a PR.

100-METER HURDLES
SOU entry: (17) Amelia Maguin (Fernley, Nev./Fernley), 14.46
Trials: 11:30 a.m. Friday
Finals: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Of note: Maguin – the CCC Championships Women's Track Athlete of the Meet after winning the 100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles and 400, placing second in the 400 and helping the 4x400 relay team to second place – is entered in the 100 hurdles at the NAIA meet for the first time in her career. She is separated from the field's top eight seeds by less than two-tenths of a second.

400-METER HURDLES
SOU entry: (1) Amelia Maguin (Fernley, Nev./Fernley), 59.07
Trials: 2 p.m. Thursday
Finals: 2:10 p.m. Saturday
Of note: As has been thoroughly documented, Maguin was the NAIA runner-up in the 400 hurdles the last two years to Indiana Tech's Zalika Dixon, who ran out of eligibility after defeating Maguin last year 58.49 to 59.19. Maguin broke her own school record again this season, and her closest competition on the NAIA list this season – St. Ambrose's Molly Jo Smith – is a full second behind. Maguin's winning time at the CCC Championships was 1:00.02. The SOU women have only claimed an NAIA title in one running event – the marathon, which Theresa Walton won in 1994.
 
SOU QUICK SCHEDULE (All times Pacific)
THURSDAY
11 a.m. – Hammer finals (M)
1:20 p.m. – 1500m trials (W)
1:40 p.m. – 1500m trials (M)
2 p.m. – 400m Hurdles trials (W)
4:15 p.m. – 4x800m trials (M)
5:50 p.m. – 10K finals (W)
FRIDAY
4 a.m. – Marathon finals (M)
11:30 a.m. – 100m Hurdles trials (W)
12:20 p.m. – 800m trials (M)
3 p.m. – Discus finals (M)
3:50 p.m. – 4x800m finals (M)
5 p.m. – 5K trials (M)
SATURDAY
1 p.m. – 1500m finals (W)
1:10 p.m. – 1500m finals (M)
1:30 p.m. – 100m Hurdles finals (W)
2:10 p.m. – 400m Hurdles finals (W)
3 p.m. – 800m finals (M)
3:55 p.m. – 5K finals (M)