New members to be inducted Nov. 1
The Southern Oregon University Sports Hall of Fame will admit six new members this fall, welcoming more of the top performers in school history.
The Class of 2025 comprises four-time national champion distance runner Eric Avila (2011-14); national champion wrestlers Brock Gutches (2011-15) and Matt McDowell (1990-94); four-time All-American track and field thrower Max Perry (2011-12); two-sport great Kelsey Randall (2014-18), a star softball and women’s soccer player; and the top scorer ever for the Raider men’s basketball team, Eric Thompson (2011-15).
The class was selected by the SOU Sports Hall of Fame Committee and will be officially inducted Nov. 1 at a ceremony in SOU’s Rogue River Room. Later that day, the inductees will be recognized at halftime of SOU’s 1 p.m. football game against Carroll (Montana).
Avila, who has gone on to enjoy a successful professional running career, won the NAIA’s 2013 individual cross country title – clearing the rest of the field by a full 19 seconds – and months later collected 1,500-meter gold at the 2014 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. He also anchored the Raiders’ distance medley relay championship squads at the 2013 and ’14 NAIA Indoor meets and left as a six-time overall All-American, adding second- and sixth-place efforts in his previous cracks at the 1,500. The five-time Cascade Conference champion received the 2013-14 CCC Men’s Athlete of the Year award and still holds SOU records in the 1,500 (3:42.18) by a margin of over five seconds and in the 5K (13:43.05) by a margin of nearly 32 seconds.
A punishing 174-pounder, Gutches remains one of just eight four-time national champions in NAIA men’s wrestling history. When he captured his fourth title in 2015, he became the first individual in 14 years to complete the feat. He finished 17-0 with 10 pins during his career in national tournament matches, earning NAIA Championships Most Outstanding Wrestler honors in both 2014 and ’15. Following a senior season in which he posted a 31-2 record with 22 wins by fall and tacked on a fourth West Region title, Gutches was named the 2015 NAIA Wrestler of the Year. In total, he went 103-9 with 52 pins at SOU and helped the Raiders to three second-place team finishes under head coach Mike Ritchey.
McDowell stands alongside Gutches as one of five Raider men’s wrestlers with multiple individual NAIA titles. Competing throughout his career at 150 pounds, he placed eighth in 1991 and fourth in ’92 before going out as a back-to-back champion. As a senior in 1994, he led the Raiders to a national team title as the team’s only individual champ in coach Bob Riehm’s final season. McDowell was also a three-time NAIA District 2 champion and a four-time finalist in the tournament. He served as captain and was named the team’s Most Inspirational Wrestler on three occasions.
Perry made the most of his two seasons at SOU, becoming the third Raider in men’s track and field history with multiple top-two efforts at the same national meet. He pulled it off as a senior as the 2012 NAIA Outdoor Championships, where he was the runner-up in both the hammer throw and the shot put. Prior to that performance, Perry placed fourth in the hammer at the 2011 NAIA Outdoor Championships and fifth in the shot put at the 2012 NAIA Indoor meet. On SOU’s all-time performance lists, he still holds the No. 1 spot in the hammer (194 feet 8 inches) and the No. 4 spot in the shot put (58-2 ½).
Randall’s arrival in Ashland marked a significant turning point for the SOU softball team, which she helped place on a powerhouse trajectory while starting at shortstop and batting leadoff for all 239 games in her career. Among all players in NAIA history she ranks first in triples (31), seventh in hits (336) and ninth in runs scored (235), and she remains the Cascade Conference record-holder for hits, triples and stolen bases (152). She was named to the NAIA All-America second team as a freshman, received honorable mention twice, made the All-CCC first team all four years, and was a two-time Academic All-America selection. The .403 lifetime hitter was even better with the glove, earning four CCC Gold Glove awards. After the Raiders averaged 19 wins in the four years prior to her arrival, they averaged 42 during her stay and made their first two NAIA World Series appearances. While acting as a catalyst for that turnaround, Randall was also a four-year starting midfielder/forward for the SOU women’s soccer team, which celebrated its first CCC title when she was a junior. She received All-CCC honorable mention that season and landed on the first team as a senior in 2017, wrapping her career with 14 goals and six assists.
With 2,465 points, Thompson scored 444 more than any other player in SOU men’s basketball history. The 6-foot-7 forward joined the Raiders following a four-year career as a pitcher in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system and went on to become the program’s first four-time All-CCC performer. He averaged 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game during his SOU career, also breaking the team record for 3-point makes (283) and taking the No. 3 spot on the all-time rebounds list (950). Thompson hit the NAIA All-America second team as a junior in 2013-14, was a three-time honorable-mention recipient, and in 2014-15 became SOU’s first-ever CCC Scholar Athlete of the Year and an Academic All-American. The Raiders won 90 games and qualified for two NAIA Tournaments during his stay. As a senior, he led them to a school-record 26 wins and their second national quarterfinal appearance.
This story first appeared on the Southern Oregon University Sports Information website, souraiders.com.
