Harper track teams seek national repeat
The NJCAA Division III national championship track and field meet begins Thursday with the Harper College men’s and women’s teams looking for quality placements.
The Hawks are coming off a 2011 season that saw the school take home both the men’s and the women’s national titles. They will try to repeat in the event that runs through Saturday at Alfred State College in Alfred, N.Y.
Going into last year’s meet, coach Renee Zellner believed one of weaknesses of the men’s team was the distance runners. That isn’t the case this time with all of the distance runners back as sophomores.
“The distance crew,” as Zellner often refers to them, is the strength of this year’s team. “The distance team is looking really strong.”
After a strong cross country season. Pablo Ramirez (Conant) is burning up the track.
“He has not stopped training,” Zellner said.
It has paid off for Ramirez, who garnered interest from several Divsion I schools and chose to sign a letter of intent with Eastern Illinois.
“We (Harper) were able to provide him a nice place to train,” Zellner said of his improvement that led to signing with a Division I school. “He really pushes himself to improve.”
Ramirez’s work ethic has rubbed off on some of his training partners.
“He has shown great leadership,” Zellner said. “The distance runners are going to put in a lot of mileage to score points.”
One of those runners who will be logging a lot of time on the track will be sophomore Ryan Wojdyla (Palatine).
Wojdyla will try to pull off what Zellner called a “horrendous triple” with the 10,000 meters, 5,000 meters and steeplechase. Zellner called the three races “a really tough combination for any distance runner.”
In the jumps and sprints, Zellner is looking for a trio of Issac Jean-Paul (Warren), Robert Douglas and Andre Barnes to score big points for the team. They all could walk away from this weekend with individual hardware.
Jean-Paul is the top-ranked high jumper and second-ranked long jumper.
“He is a really talented young man who just started jumping as a senior in high school,” Zellner said.
Douglas is the top ranked 110-meter hurdler. Zellner said Douglas “has great height and speed and is very athletic.”
Barnes is top-ranked in the 400 and fourth in the 200.
Just because the Hawks have a few athletes competing in multiple events does not mean the team lacks depth.
“I’m looking for everyone to score points,” Zellner said.
For the Harper men to win the championship, they will have to get past two very strong teams in SUNY-Delhi and Howard. The Hawks and SUNY-Delhi traditionally duke it out on the track.
This time the Broncos may have the upper hand as the throwing events traditionally have been a strong point for Harper and a weak spot for SUNY.
Howard and SUNY also have a lot of depth. However, Howard and Harper may be able to gain points on SUNY in the sprints.
Last year it was Harper with the advantage in the decathlon, but in 2012 that edge goes to SUNY.
Zellner thinks the Broncos possess the biggest threat to the Harper’s repeat hopes. She said parity is the best word to describe the top three teams in this year’s meet and that it may be decided in Saturday’s final event — the mile relay.
“You never know until you get there,” Zellner said. “It’s going to depend on how the points fall. It has to be a team effort.”
Ÿ The women’s team is not as strong as a year ago but that does not mean they will make it easy on the competition. Only seven Hawks qualified for nationals this year.
Despite the lack of depth Zellner called her women’s team “a very talented group.” The sprints and throws will be strengths.
“Hopefully they can bring home some medals; they worked hard for it,” Zellner said.
One thrower looking to keep her title is shot-putter Erica Ogunleye (Hoffman Estates). Brittany Walls (Palatine) will look to help her teammates in the throwing circle.
The sprinter to keep on eye on for Harper is Jazmin Calep, who qualified in the 100 and 200.