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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 Track & Field 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.
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").
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.
