Hawks pursue national repeat

The Harper College men's track and field program and coach Renee Zellner spent a long time chasing an NJCAA national title.

Now everyone in the NJCAA Division III ranks is chasing the Hawks as they go for their third straight national crown today through Saturday at Alfred State College in New York.

The Harper men will definitely try to throw their weight around behind the big three in throwing events. In the hammer, Matt Royer (183 feet, 4 inches), Ryan Asta (179-2) and Cornelius Watkins (159-5) are seeded 1-2-3.

In the discus, Asta (158-6) and Watkins (156-6) are seeded 2-3. In the shot put, Asta is seeded first (54-6), Watkins third (52-9) and Royer fifth (47-2).

Asta is seeded second in the javelin (182-3) with teammate Sargon Youssef fourth (165-8).

Harper also got the 2-3 seeds in the triple jump with Shareef Chandler-El (46-6) and Darius Voss (45-8) and the fourth seed in the high jump with Tyler Austin (6-3). Pole vaulter Carlos Carabajal (13-6) and long jumper Travis Pruitt (21-9) got sixth seeds.

Chris Hoffman will play a big role in the distance races as the fourth seed in the 10K (34:51.82) and sixth seed in the 5K (16:15). Also looking to add some big points in the 100 are fourth-seeded Michal Karwowski and No. 7 Chris Brown (10.94), fifth-seeded Fernando Castillo in the 400 (49.77) and sixth-seeded Blake Heyman in the 110 hurdles (16.25).

The women don't have the big numbers to chase a team crown but have individual title hopes with top-seeded Vanessa Mensie in the hammer (141-4) and discus (134-3). In the shot put, Betsy Bailey is seeded third (36-9) and Mensie fourth (36-6).

Irene Villadares (45:05) and Chelsie McPherson (45:32.23) are seeded 5-6 in the 10K. Victoria Mikszta is seeded second in the high jump (5-2).