Harper men claim national crown

One title wasn't enough for the Harper College men's track and field team.

The Hawks repeated last year's NJCAA Division III championship feat Saturday in Delhi, N.Y. They had five individual national champions and scored 143 points to outdistance College of DuPage and Cobbleskill (N.Y.), which tied for second at 116.

Everything fell into place again for veteran coach Renee Zellner's team in the three-day meet. The Hawks' champions were Hoffman Estates' Jamal Roper in the 100 meters (10.83) and Steve Damhauser in the pole vault, Barrington's Ryan Asta in the discus, Fremd's Darius Voss in the triple jump and Matt Royer in the shot put.

Roper also took third in the 200 and Damhauser was eighth in the decathlon. Roper ran on the third-place 1,600 relay (3:26.64) with Pat Grempka, Calvin Gant and Anthony Simone and on the fifth-place 400 relay (43.67) with Billy Buehring, Gant and Ryan Massey.

Asta and Royer led an impressive performance by Harper's crew of throwers. Asta, Royer and Markus Papa finished 2-3-6 in the hammer.

Asta and Papa were 2-4 in the shot put and Trak Myers took third in the discus.

Defending high jump champion Nick Herron (Fremd) took fifth. Roosevelt Dardon was third in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump.

Nick Oates took third in the decathlon. Simone was fifth in the 400 hurdles and on the sixth-place 3,200 relay with Grempka, Tim Hoskinson and Tony Russo.

Russo was eighth in the 5K (16:32.9), Buehring was seventh in the 100 and Tyler Austin took seventh in the high jump.

The women's team also had some strong performances as Brianna Mueller was second in the 800 (2:27.24) and sixth in the 1,500 (5:15.29). Tabitha Thomas was third in the 10K (41:04.83) and sixth in the 3,000 steeplechase and 5K.

Claire Bitto took third in the hammer and discus and sixth in the shot put. Vanessa Mensie was fifth in the discus and seventh in the shot and Heather Cebulko finished seventh in the 1,500.

Girls basketball

Maine West senior Brittany Begrowicz, a two-time all-area selection, has decided to play basketball for St. Mary's University in Winona, Minn.

Despite undergoing knee surgery four months before her senior season, she averaged 14.3 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists while making it back for the Warriors' third game.

Begrowicz helped lead Maine West to three conference championships and three 20-win seasons in her four-year varsity career.

The three-time Central Suburban all-conference selection finished her career with 1,326 points and 628 rebounds in 126 games.