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UTICA, N.Y. – The Harper College men’s track and field team finished runner-up at the 2015 NJCAA Division III Men’s Outdoor Championship hosted by Mohawk Valley Community College. The Hawks secured three national championships (100m, 200m, 5k) and had 20 athletes finish in the Top-8 in an event.
Harper scored 98 points in the three-day meet to take second place behind only SUNY-Delhi (217.5 points). Montgomery College placed third with 91 points.
Juan Barajas (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Schaumburg) won the men’s 5k in convincing fashion, completing the race in 16:11.26 to best nearest challenger Chuck Collins of Finger Lakes College by nearly 15 seconds (16:26.15). Barajas finished in second place in the 10k in a time 33:54.13. Fellow Harper distance runners Emil Kozakiewicz (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) (35:08.13) and Adam Brauer (Palatine, lll./Palatine) (35:35.69) took third and fourth place, respectively. Brauer also placed eighth in the 5k with a time of 16:47.96 and seventh in the 3000m steeplechase in 10:35.90.
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Jalen Griffin (/Larkin) won national titles the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. Griffin set a personal-best with a time of 10.95 seconds in the finals to edge SUNY Delhi’s Tyler O’Bryant (11.01 seconds). In the 200m, Griffin ran a personal record (PR) and school record 21.87 seconds in prelims and then won the finals in 21.92 seconds.
Griffin also teamed up with Lamont Griffin (/Palatine), Tyler Block (/Conant), and Eric Theis (/Palatine) in the 4x400m relay as the squad took sixth place in a finishing time of 3:29.63. Lamont Griffin (/Palatine) jumped his way to a sixth place finish in the high jump by clearing 1.88m (6’2”).
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In the throwing events, Laith Kanan (/Palatine) and Brad Walls (/Palatine) scored valuable points for the Hawks. Kanan finished as an All-American (second place) in the hammer throw with a PR toss of 46.30m (151’11”), and Walls was right behind him with a third place hurl of 45.81m (150’3”). The two athletes also performed well in the shot put, as Walls seized fourth place with a PR throw of 13.86m (45’5 ¼”). Kanan grabbed sixth place with a toss of 13.20m (43’3 ¼”). Walls also placed 10th in the javelin with a PR throw of 46.00m (150’).
Middle distance runners John Majerus (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) and Jordy Arriaga (Wheeling, Ill./Wheeling) earned points for the team in both the 1500m and 800m. At 1500 meters, Majerus placed fifth, crossing the finish line in 4:15.97 (PR). Arriaga was right behind his teammate with a sixth place finish in 4:16.10. At 800 meters, Arriaga completed the race in 2:05.68 for seventh place, and Majerus took eighth in 2:18.81.
Arriaga and Majerus teamed up with Junious Matlock (/Springfield) and Connor Williams (/Wauconda) for the 4x800m relay. The group its best time of the year, 8:09.38, and it was good enough for third place.
