Harper looking for early success on the fields, courts
After the first two meets of the season, the Harper men's and women's cross country teams, ranked No. 7 and No. 6, respectively, in the NJCAA Division III rankings, are taking this weekend off before a trip to Illinois State next week.
The women's team finished third in last Saturday's Waubonsee Invitational. The team is being lead by sophomore Janet Franco (Schaumburg).
The men's team has been paced by Chris Hoffman (Hoffman Estates). Hoffman should be well rested after not running at Waubonsee because of a number of ailments. "I have a great group of guys" said Harper coach Paul Painter.
Fast start: The Harper College men's soccer team got off to a great start to the season with consecutive victories before a pair of losses evened their record.
"We were upset about the loss (3-0 Friday, against Prairie State). At halftime, we could kind of tell that it was going to be whoever scored first was going to win," Harper assistant coach Tom Wang said via of e-mail.
The Hawks had their toughest test to date on Wednesday, when they hosted rival College of DuPage, ranked No. 14 in the NJCAA. COD came away with a 7-0 win.
Setbacks: Harper's women's volleyball team finished 3-1 and took third place in the 15th Annual DuPage Classic.
But it wasn't all good news for the Hawks, as freshman Samantha Rosinski was unable to finish the first game after tweaking an ankle in the first set.
The Hawks (3-6, 0-3) embarked on their conference slate last week with a trip to Joliet. Later in the week the had traveled to the third-ranked squad in NJCAA Division III, Rock Valley. Both times, the Hawks lost in four sets.
The Hawks have lost their last five contests, including a nonconference to loss Saturday to Skyway member Oakton Community College.
"It is kind of up to the players to catch up to the speed of the college game," said Harper coach Bob Vilsoet.
On Tuesday, the Hawks lost to second-ranked team in NJCAA Division III, Madison Area Technical College, in straight sets. The Hawks play the Concordia JV on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, the Hawks travel to the College of Lake County Invite.
Time change: The start time for Harper's football game against the Wisconsin-Whitewater JV team has been changed. The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday but kickoff is now set for noon Sunday.