College cross country: Harper men run to fifth straight national title

Will Troman produced a third-place individual finish in the NJCAA Division III men's cross country national championship race Saturday, in the process helping Harper College win its fifth straight national championship in the sport under coach Jim Macnider.

Troman covered the 5-mile course in Westfield, Mass., in 27:15.1, one minute off the winning pace of Zakaria Djouma of Mohawk Community College.

In the team scoring, Harper was a decisive winner with 49 points, well ahead of Mohawk (73) and Howard Community College (92).

Adam Brauer finished eighth, TJ Paton was 10th, Eddie Lamas placed 12th and Kurtis Monahan finished 16th to complete the Hawks' scoring.

The Harper women's cross country team earned a runner-up team finish behind a runner-up individual effort from Ali Gutt (Schaumburg).

Gutt completed the 5K distance in 19:00.2 and was the top finisher among contestants in the team competition.

Meseret Hart of Northampton Community College was the overall winner in 18:43.3.

Suffolk Community College won the team competition with 56 points, just ahead of Harper (67) and Ocean County College (76).

Leslie Rosiles (11th) and Silvia Catalan (14th) followed Gutt for Harper, and Dianne Barajas (21st) and Katie Thevars (40th) also contributed scores for the Macnider-coached women's team.