SOU Reveals 2026 Sports Hall of Fame Class

College Sports

Jul 7

Six former Raiders representing six programs will be inducted Sept. 26 in Ashland.

By: SOU Sports Information

ASHLAND - The Southern Oregon University Sports Hall of Fame will welcome six new members representing six different programs this fall, the committee announced on Thursday.

The Class of 2026 comprises Ashley Claussen (2012-16), an All-American for the team that made the deepest run in Raider women's basketball history; Harlee Donovan (2017-18), SOU's first NAIA Softball Player of the Year; David Laney (2007-11), who led the SOU cross country team to its first national title; Matt Retzlaff (2012-16), the most decorated receiver ever produced by the Raider football team; Mike Ritchey (1984-2020), a legendary coach and four-time All-American for the SOU men's wrestling team; and Mia Wortel (2005-08), who was a record-setting middle during a dominant period of Raider volleyball.

They'll be inducted on the morning of Sept. 26 in SOU's Rogue River Room and recognized again later that day at halftime of a football game against Dakota State. More information on the ceremony will be available soon.

Southern Oregon University announced its 2026 Sports Hall of Fame class, featuring Ashley Claussen, Harlee Donovan, David Laney, Matt Retzlaff, Mike Ritchey and Mia Wortel. Graphic courtesy of SOU Sports Information.

A four-year starting point guard for the women's basketball team out of Scotts Valley, Calif., Claussen still ranks second in assists (522) and 3-point makes (203), seventh in steals (232), and ninth in points (1,371) on SOU's all-time lists. After receiving All-America honorable mention as a junior, she exploded for one the best single seasons in team history as a senior with averages of 17.8 points, 3.8 assists and 2.8 steals - hitting those marks while playing under 24 minutes per game because the Raiders were defeating opponents by an average of 27.

Claussen was voted the Cascade Conference Player of the Year and selected to the All-America first team after leading SOU to a 33-2 record, along with CCC regular season and tournament championships. Claussen also produced one of the school's greatest what-ifs after the Raiders had to play without her due to injury in their only national championship game appearance.

Donovan's two years on the softball team coincided with SOU's first two NAIA World Series appearances, setting the stage for dynastic success. In 127 games as a catcher for the Raiders, the Half Moon Bay, Calif., native batted .405 with 23 home runs and 140 RBIs - breaking career records in each category at the time despite her abbreviated stint.

Donovan was a two-time All-CCC selection, a two-time CCC Gold Glove Award winner, and as a senior became the first of three Raiders who have been named NAIA Players of the Year under head coach Jessica Pistole. She batted .447 with 12 home runs, 31 total extra-base hits and 77 RBIs that season as the Raiders went 51-15 and came within one win of a spot in the national championship round. Since then, she has been an assistant on the coaching staff that guided the Raiders to their third and fourth titles.

Laney was part of the cross country team that was inducted to the Hall of Fame five years ago for winning both the men's and men's/women's combined NAIA championship in 2010. As a senior that fall, he turned in the team's top finish at the national race in 32 years by coming in fourth place to lead the title trek. It was his second consecutive All-America performance; with a seventh-place effort in 2009, he remains the men's program's only runner with multiple top-10 finishes at the NAIA Cross Country Championship.

Laney, who came to SOU from Portland's Central Catholic High, was also a four-time all-conference performer in cross, helping the Raiders celebrate three consecutive titles from 2008-10, and was named the 2009 CCC Runner of the Year after claiming the individual title. Earlier that year on the track, he won the CCC's 10,000-meter championship.

Retzlaff was at the center of the most lucrative era in Raider football history, and the South Medford product's numbers are still unmatched. On SOU's career lists, Retzlaff owns 634 more receiving yards (3,461), seven more receiving touchdowns (40), and 57 more total receptions (247) than anyone who has ever worn the uniform, and he also owns the SOU record for longest punt-return touchdown (91 yards). After redshirting as a freshman in 2012, he earned All-Frontier Conference recognition each of the next four seasons and made the All-America second team as a senior.

In his middle two campaigns, the Raiders improbably won the 2014 NAIA championship and returned to title game in 2015. He was stamped as a big-game performer during those runs, compiling 48 catches for 692 yards and six touchdowns in eight playoff outings. That reputation was enhanced by his frequent torchings of rival Eastern Oregon, against whom he totaled 52 catches for 756 yards and 14 TDs in his career.

Ritchey earned the induction in his first year of eligibility, just two months after being selected as part of the National Wrestling Coaches Association's NAIA Hall of Fame Class of 2026. He ended a 25-year run as SOU's head coach in 2020 with two NAIA Coach of the Year awards, nine Region Coach of the Year awards, 235 dual victories and a streak of 23 consecutive winning seasons under his belt. His crowning achievement came in 2001, when he led the Raiders to their fourth (and most recent) NAIA championship.

Ritchey went on to oversee an NWCA National Dual Meet Championship in 2009 and five separate second-place team finishes on the NAIA stage. In total, his tenure yielded 136 All-America performances and 22 individual national titles. Ritchey's career as an athlete was Hall-of-Fame worthy even without the coaching accolades: Competing for the Raiders from 1984-88, he wrestled at 126 pounds and became the program's first four-time All-American with a fourth-place, fifth-place and two sixth-place performances. He went on to assist coach Bob Riehm and was part of the staff when SOU celebrated the 1994 title in his final season.

From the time Wortel arrived in Ashland in 2005 until she departed four years later, the Raiders posted a staggering 68-8 record in CCC matches with two regular season championships, a CCC tournament championship and three NAIA Northwest Regional Tournament appearances. The 5-foot-11 Estacada product's consistency keyed that success, as she set a Raider attacking percentage record of .373 that still stands today and landed at No. 4 on the all-time kills list, where she currently holds the No. 6 spot with 1,156.

Wortel became the first Raider middle-blocker to make an All-America team following her junior season, receiving third-team honors, but was at her best as a senior in 2008 while ranking second in attack percentage (.439), third in blocks per set (1.03) and sixth in kills per set (3.26) in conference matches. That season, she was voted an All-CCC performer for the third year in a row.