Star power gives Harper hope for national title run

Harper College cross country coach Dan Delahunt definitely sees his men's team in the top three this weekend in the NJCAA Division III national meet.

What about shooting for an even higher place Saturday at Suffolk County College in New York?

"If the stars are aligned right we could win," Delahunt said.

The Hawks do have some individual star power to make it possible in a meet where they will try to outdistance College of DuPage as they did two weeks ago in the Region IV meet.

Freshman Jesus Escareno (Rolling Meadows) and sophomore Tim Hoskinson (Hoffman Estates) finished 1-2 in the region meet.

Escareno has been accustomed to running near the front all season.

"Jesus was a real good high school runner but he was overshadowed a bit, because of the area, by a lot of big names," Delahunt said. "He's run great.

"Jesus and Tim will both be in the hunt to win … and I won't be surprised if they win."

The keys for the Hawks to win as a team will be Matt Damhauser (Hoffman), who was fourth in the region meet, and another solid effort from fourth and fifth runners Tony Russo and Nick Hill.

"Our 4-5 have to be better than DuPage's 4-5," Delahunt said. "It will be real interesting."

In the women's race, Delahunt said region champion Heather Cebulko and Tabitha Thomas "should be in the top five or six."

Getting bowl ready: This was a light week for Harper's football team since it has another week of preparation before playing Iowa Central on Sunday, Nov. 18, in the Graphic Edge Bowl at the University of Northern Iowa.

And Harper coach Dragan Teonic said his team was prepared physically and emotionally for last Saturday's 24-14 loss at Joliet for the Midwest Football Conference East Division title.

"Emotionally we were fine and we weren't intimidated," Teonic said. "We just made crucial mistakes.

"We didn't play a very good mental game. The kids played hard and were in position to win even as poorly as we played at times."

Teonic said freshman quarterback Garrett Barnas should be ready to go for the bowl game after injuring an ankle against Joliet.

Hawks bits: The NJCAA Division III national runner-up wrestling team gets rolling Saturday with a tournament at Wisconsin-Stevens Point … The men's basketball team is at Elgin for a doubleheader with the women that starts at 5 p.m. today. New men's coach Tony Amarino returns to his home of the last 16 years Tuesday when Harper visits Morton College.