Harper men's track gears up

The road to a repeat NJCAA Division III men's national track and field title is nearing an end for Harper College.

And Harper coach Renee Zellner likes the direction her team is headed with the conclusion of the Region IV meet Saturday in conjunction with a meet at Loras College.

"Everything is going pretty good," said Zellner, who is looking to qualify just two more athletes for the national meet. "When you look at the progression of improvement everybody is really on schedule.

"Where we're at right now is so good, to go better would be over the top."

One of the keys right now for Zellner is staying healthy with a few runners nursing some strains.

"We want to try and win it, but we're not (going to hurt anyone)," Zellner said of the Region IV meet against College of DuPage.

Defending national high jump champion Nick Herron (Fremd) equaled his personal best of 6-foot-7 last week and has been jumping with more consistency.

Roosevelt Dardon continues to look good in the triple and long jumps.

"He's so much stronger," Zellner said.

And Zellner is looking for 1-2-3 finishes in the throws as freshman Ryan Asta (Barrington) has surpassed 160 feet in the discus and hit 159-11 in the hammer. Matt Royer is also looked good in the hammer.

The 400 relay of Billy Buehring (Schaumburg), Jamal Roper (Hoffman Estates), Ray Richardson and Calvin Gant set a school record last week with a 42.24. The old record was set at the NJCAA meet four years ago.

Sophomore Steve Damhauser has been battling a back injury that has kept him from the decathlon. But he continued his rehabilitation and qualified for nationals last week in the pole vault by clearing 14 feet.

"That was really huge," Zellner said of Damhauser, who may also try to do the javelin at nationals.

Zellner is also happy with the progress of the women's team even though it only has five competitors. One of the leaders has been thrower Vanessa Mensie (Fremd).

On the ball: The Harper baseball team broke a 6-game losing streak as it beat Blackhawk 5-1 in the second game of a double-header Sunday … The Harper softball team was still looking for its first win after an 0-12 start.