Harper pins down wrestling success
Four weeks into the season, the Harper College wrestling team has already had plenty of success.
On Nov. 15 at the Dan Gable open hosted by Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Zachery McCullough and Kerin Ramirez took home the top prize in their weight classes. McCullough defeated Oshkosh's Micheal Bannach 7-0 to capture the title at 125.
At 141, both Harper's Ramirez and Mathew Conrad (Barrington) battled it out, with Ramirez winning by fall at 5:27. Sophmore Blake Tisza went 5-0 that weekend in a 17-man field at 157.
Two weekends ago, the Hawks traveled to Coe College (Iowa), where they were paced by 285-pounder Kameran Hardwick (third place) on the way to winning the team title.
Men's soccer honors: Four local products earned all-North Central Community College College Conference honors for Harper's men's soccer team. Alex Freeman (St. Viator) and defender Allan Santiaguillo (Buffalo Grove) both made the first team and also earned first team all-Region IV honors.
Freeman led the team in goals with 8 in 15 games. Four of his 8 goals came in regional play. Santiaguillo led a back four that only allowed 16 goals in 15 games.
Midfielder Juan Hernandez (Wheeling) was second on the team in goals with 5 and was the Hawks; third-leading assist man with 5. Both he and goalie Irvin Velazquez (Hersey) earned second-team all-N4C recognition. Velazquez (7-4-3) had a 0.92 goals against average in his 14 games, good for 14th amongst NJCAA Division III shot-stoppers this season.
On the road: The Harper women's basketball team slipped to 4-5 after dropping their two most recent road games, 58-43 at South Suburban and 62-38 at Elgin Community College.
Joslyn Nicholson's strong freshman campained continued against South Suburban. In 40 minutes, she collected 6 rebounds and 2 assists while scoring a game-high 31 points.
Next up for the Hawks is another road game, this one at 5:30 p.m. Friday against the Trinity Christian College JV in Palos Heights.
• The Harper men's team dropped to 3-6 suffered a 72-56 loss at Elgin Community College last week in the first of four consecutive road games. Admir Suljic led the Hawks with 18 points, and Robert Hudson (14) and Davion Benton (10) also got into double figures.
The Hawks next travel to meet the Olivet Nazarene junior varsity at 7 p.m. Thursday.