The Southern Oregon Raiders are the athletic teams that represent

Southern Oregon University Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...

, located in

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 cen ...

, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA), primarily competing in the

Cascade Collegiate Conference The Cascade Collegiate Conference (or Cascade Conference) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member schools are located in the Northwestern United States. The conferen ...

(CCC) for most of its sports since the 1993–94 academic year; while its football team competes in the

Frontier Conference The Frontier Conference is a List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference was founded in 1934. Member institut ...

, and its wrestling team competes as an Independent.

History

Southern Oregon University adopted the nickname "Red Raiders" for its sports teams in 1946. The name was in reference to the abundant Native American tribe, the

Modoc people The Modoc are a Native American people who originally lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. They are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma and are enrolled in either of two federally recogni ...

, that had existed in Southern Oregon. In 1980 "Red" was removed from the nickname. The

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...

was adopted in 1998 to appease campus groups calling for a mascot and still respecting the Native American culture. The athletics logo of Southern Oregon has been through 7 editions, the most recent coming in 2011.

Varsity teams

Southern Oregon competes in 20 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, cycling, football, golf, soccer, track & field and wrestling; women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cheerleading, cross country, cycling, dance, golf, soccer, softball, track & field, volleyball and wrestling. Club sports include baseball, crew, judo, lacrosse, rugby, skiing, men's soccer, swimming, men's tennis and ultimate frisbee.

Championships

National Championships

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

(NAIA) National Champions: 2014 * Cross Country National (Men's) Champions: 2010, 2016 *

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

National Champions: 1978, 1983, 1994, 2001 *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

National Champions: 2019, 2021

Conference Championships

* Men's

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

: 1998–99, 2004–05 * Women's Basketball: 1992–93, 1997–98, 1998–99. 2001–02, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2015–16 * Men's Cross Country: 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 *

: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1983, 1990, 2001, 2012 *

: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2016 * Men's

Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 * Women's Track & Field: 2000, 2001, 2002 *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

: 1991, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011

Facilities

Raider Stadium

Raider Stadium was built in 1983 and cost $1.55 million and is the home venue for Southern Oregon's

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

teams. The stadium seats 4,000 with a covered grandstand on the west side of the field and risers on the east side. The field at the stadium, named Fuller Field after John Fuller, has been the home field of the Raiders' football team since 1955. In 1999 the Meyer Fitness Center, which lies under the grandstand, was renovated to include a second floor, effectively doubling the floor space available for use.

McNeal Pavilion

Completed in 1957, McNeal Pavilion played host to both men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. The first of two changes to McNeal occurred in 1990 when the seating in the main arena was doubled to 1,400 during a complete building renovation. The second change happened during the 1998–99 season and involved resurfacing the gym floor and installing 550 new seat-backs for the seats on the east side of the gym. McNeal Pavilion also included a swimming pool, racquetball courts, a rock climbing gym, and training rooms. McNeal was torn down in 2016.

University Field

Behind the scoreboard at Raider Stadium lies University Field. Used from 2000 until 2014 for women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, the field used risers as its sole type of seating. Soccer has been played at Raider Stadium since 2014.

Softball Complex

Softball Complex, formerly a baseball field, is a collection of three regulation fields with 500 seats at the main field. The complex has been used solely for

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, as the University does not play

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, since the program was reinstated in 2000 after a 17-year hiatus.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.souraiders.com/