Harper Men Recognized for Fourth Straight National Title

At last week’s Harper College Fall Sports Banquet, the Harper College men’s cross country team was recognized for winning its fourth straight national championship. The Hawks had six runners place in the top 15 at nationals to earn All-American honors.

Juan Barajas (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Schaumburg) placed as Harper’s top runner at nationals, capturing the individual title. Brennan Albuck (/Hoffman Estates) finished runner-up to Barajas on the podium, and Zach Stella (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) took sixth place overall. John Majerus (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) and Emil Kozakiewicz (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) captured ninth and 10th place, respectively, and Adam Brauer (Palatine, lll./Palatine) nabbed the final All-American spot with a 15th place finish.

Will Troman (/Streamwood) also ran in the national meet, placing 20th overall. Harper head coach Jim Macnider also recognized other members of a very deep Hawks team: T.J. Paton (Fairfield, Calif./Hersey), Connor Williams (/Wauconda), Sebastian Ramirez (Lima, Peru/Palatine), Neil Hanna (Palatine, Ill./Fremd), Omar Alhayek (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) and Jordy Arriaga (Wheeling, Ill./Wheeling).

Majerus was voted Team MVP by his teammates. The sophomore excelled for Harper in just his second year of competitive running.