Full Results
There were plenty of noteworthy performances for the Harper College men's track and field team on Friday and Saturday at the Benedictine Eagle Relays and Invitational, but the most impressive accomplishment came from thrower Laith Kanan (/Palatine). The sophomore emerged as the champion in the hammer throw.
Kanan's personal-best toss of 48.25m (158'4") placed him ahead of Benedictine's Joe DeMaegd (156'10") and Gerald Valenzuela (156'1"). Kanan was also very successful in other events, placing ninth in the discus with a national-qualifying toss of 38.70m (127'). He also PRed in the javelin with a heave of 38.46m (126'2").
Kanan's teammates also had strong showings in the throwing events. Nick Pavlovic and Brandon Soriano (Elk Grove Village, Ill. /Elk Grove) both qualified for nationals in the hammer. Pavlovic recorded a throw of 27.20m (89'3"), and Soriano recorded a toss of 25.42m (83'5"). Pavlovic also qualified for the national meet in the shot put with a throw of 12.26m (40'2 ¾"). Justin Tolentino (West Dundee, Ill./Dundee-Crown) set a PR in the men's javelin with a throw of 32.67m (107'2").
The Hawks also had several other athletes qualify for nationals or set PRs, and two relay teams set PRs as a unit:
-T.J. Paton (Fairfield, Calif./Hersey) qualified for nationals with a 2:04.42 in the 800m.
-Will Troman (/Streamwood) qualified for nationals in the 1500m in 4:16.85 while Eddie Lamas (Schaumburg, Ill. /Schaumburg) ran a PR time of 4:38.74.
-Adam Brauer (Palatine, lll./Palatine) met qualifying standards for nationals in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 10:34.02.
-Ricky Ruano (/Palatine) cleared 3.20m (10'6") in the pole vault, a personal-best and NQ effort.
-Tyler Block (/Conant) had the best jump of his college career in the long jump (6.45m, 21'2").
-The 4x100m relay team of Ricky Ruano (/Palatine), Nick Dorsen (Palatine, Ill. /Palatine), Tyler Block (/Conant) and Andre Russell McGraw ran their best relay of the year with a finishing time of 45.49 seconds.
-The 4x400m relay squad of Dorsen, Block, Kurtis Monahan (Inverness, Ill. /Barrington), and Paton completed the race in 3:35.66, a PR.
The Hawks scored 10 points in the meet and placed 17th out of 24 teams. Host Benedictine University scored 91 points and took top team honors. Second place Lewis University scored 76.5 points to edge third place St. Francis University, who scored 74 points.
The team will look to continue building toward the NJCAA Division III National Championship in less than three weeks as they compete at the Concordia University Cougar Invitational on Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23.
*PR=personal record
*NQ=national-qualifying
