ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Harper College men’s track and field team began its outdoor season at the Augustana Invite on Saturday. Five athletes had national-qualifying efforts in their respective events, and numerous Harper athletes achieved personal-bests in a variety of events.
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As a team, the Hawks scored 17 points and finished in 13th place in a meet that featured several four-year schools.
Jalen Griffin (/Larkin) took fourth place in the 100-meter dash with a national-qualifying (NQ) time of 11.34 seconds. Jordy Arriaga (Wheeling, Ill./Wheeling) ran his best time in the 800m (2:00.63) to qualify for the national meet. Zach Stella (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) punched his ticket to nationals in the 1500m with a sixth place finish in 4:10:47.
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The 4x100m squad of Ricardo Ruano (/Palatine), Nick Dorsen (/Palatine), Griffin, and Tyler Block (/Conant) earned a place in the national meet with a time of 44.90 seconds. Brad Walls (/Palatine)‘ effort in the hammer throw (40.72m) was a personal-best as well as a NQ. Walls also made it to the finals in the shot put and had a toss of 12.49m. He also set a PR in the javelin with a heave of 39.67m.
In the 100m, Robert Trotter (/Bartlett) (12.31 seconds) and Joseph Mergyery (12.61 seconds) set PR’s. John Majerus (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) (4:24.24), Adam Brauer (Palatine, lll./Palatine) (4:37:42) and Neil Hanna (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) (4:58.12) each ran their best times in the 1500-meter run. In the 5000-meter run, Juan Barajas (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Schaumburg) (15:31.94, seventh place), Emil Kozakiewicz (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) (16:02.01) and Sebastian Ramirez (Lima, Peru/Palatine) (17:36.05) also notched PR’s.
Ruano and Dorsen both set personal-bests in the 400-meter hurdles. Ruano crossed the finish line in 1:03.77, and Dorsen clocked a time of 1:05.15. Block made the finals in the triple jump, and his best jump was 12.19m.
Finally, Laith Kanan (/Palatine) (38.97m), Eric Theis (/Palatine) (37.95m), and Alex Brown (/Rolling Meadows) (30.37m) all set PR’s in the javelin.
Host Augustana College won the team title comfortably with 262 points, followed by second place Michigan Technological University with 191.5 points. Olivet Nazarene University finished third with 135 points, and Luther College took fourth with 95 points.
The Hawks return to action on Thursday, April 2 at the Wheaton Early Invite beginning at 2 PM.
