The inductees are among the Raider sports program’s most decorated
The first group of individuals to enter the Southern Oregon University Sports Hall of Fame in four years, announced last week by the SOU Hall of Fame committee, will also be among its most decorated.
The class of 2023 includes the first Raider volleyball player ever selected to the NAIA All-America first team, Erin Lytle (1996-99); the first 125-pound wrestler in NAIA history to win three national championships, Mitchell Lofstedt (2008-13); the only NAIA Player of the Year in SOU men’s basketball history, Shea Washington (2003-06); and a staple of the Raider community and volunteer physician across four decades, Dr. Hal “Scooter” Townsend.
An induction ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 20 in SOU’s Rogue River Room, and the inductees will be recognized later that night at halftime of the Raider men’s basketball game against Bushnell. More information about the festivities will be available soon.
Twenty-four years after her departure, Lytle still holds SOU records for career assists (4,763), single-season assists (1,508) and assists in a single match (84). She averaged 12.2 per set as a senior setter, when, in addition to her All-America status, she became the Raiders’ first-ever Cascade Conference Player of the Year.
A two-time All-CCC selection, Lytle led the Raiders to the 1999 NAIA Northwest Regional Tournament. The team won 83 matches during her career under head coach Paul Elliott.
Lofstedt remains the winningest wrestler in SOU history with a career mark of 156-19, also topping the record books in win percentage (.891) and pins (86).
After placing second nationally as a freshman in 2009, he rattled off titles in 2010, ‘12 and ‘13 and was named the NAIA National Tournament’s outstanding wrestler as both a junior and a senior — going 76-3 with 53 wins by fall combined over those last two seasons.
He pushed the Raiders to four second-place team finishes under head coach Mike Ritchey and was twice voted the Ad Rutschman Small College Male Athlete of the Year at the Oregon Sports Awards. His final national tournament run lasted just 9 minutes, 11 seconds — the time it took him to pin all five of his opponents.
Washington is widely regarded as the greatest men’s basketball player in SOU history and is the only one to have made more than one All-America team — landing on the second team as a sophomore, the first team as a junior and taking Player of the Year honors as a senior. He broke the Raiders’ all-time records for points (1,920) and blocked shots (169) in just three seasons after transferring from Montana State, averaging 20.2 points on 58% shooting, 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for his career.
The Raiders qualified for consecutive national tournaments for the first time in team history in his final two seasons under coach Brian McDermott. He was the Cascade Conference MVP in both, and as a junior, after leading the Raiders to CCC regular-season and tournament titles, they advanced to the national quarterfinals for the first time.
Townsend joined Ashland Orthopaedic Associates in 1990 and he and his wife, Mary, immediately immersed themselves in the SOU community.
He served voluntarily as a team physician, providing consultations, treatments, surgical interventions and countless hours covering home athletic events. Along with stocking the training rooms with up-to-date equipment, Hal and Mary became annual donors to SOU’s student-athlete scholarship campaigns.
Townsend also regularly volunteered his services to local high schools
