Harper track programs savor national titles

The Harper College men’s and women’s track programs made history last weekend at the NJCAA Division III track and field national championships.

The Hawks became the first program to win both the men’s and the women’s Division III championships for non-scholarship schools in the same year.

The Hawks had seven individual champions and also had the women’s 400-meter relay champion.

Harper’s Renee Zellner was named the men’s and women’s coach of the meet, and men’s coach of the year.

Both teams entered the meet ranked near the top of the NJCAA Division III rankings.

“It’s not what you’re ranked when you’re at nationals, it’s when you come home what you’re ranked,” Harper’s Garret Dorsey said.

After the first day of competition, the men trailed Kingsborough by 1 point. The women, meanwhile, were in third behind Mohawk Valley Community College and host Alfred State.

The disappointment of being down after the first day was not lost on sophomore De’Larissa Morris (Streamwood).

“We were expected to be up 40 points in the first day,” she said.

On Day 1, sophomore Anne Craigen (Conant) won her first national title with a hammer throw of 36.42 meters.

“I thought it went well,” Craigen said of her performances.

Sophomore Erica Ogunleye (Hoffman Estates) won the shot put and was second in the hammer throw.

“I was extremely happy with my shot put,” Ogunleye said.

The men’s team took the lead for good on Day 2 and finished the session leading by 18 points.

“We worked hard as a team,” said Dorsey, who won the 400 meters.

The Harper men have won four of the last five NJCAA Division III national championships.

“It was redemption from last year,” sophomore Xzavier Kimbrough said of falling short of the championship.

“We wanted to win it this year really badly,” said Harper’s Jarret Austin.

The final day was when the Harper men had their toughest test, as SUNY-Delhi cut the lead to 6 points at one point.

The Harper women finished with 132 points. Kingsborough Community Collge was second with 92.5 points, Mohawk Valley Community College was third with 90 points and meet host Alfred State was fourth with 83.5.

In the men’s meet, Harper scored 152 points. Last season’s champion, Delhi, scored 129 points for runner-up honors, Mohawk Valley Community College placed third with 74 and Alfred State was fourth at 61.

According to Kimbrough, a lot of the meet’s top-seeded competitors had difficulties.

“It wasn’t about being the best — it was about who can last the longest,” he said.