XC NJCAA National Championship Team 2023

Melanie Kehr

Men's Cross Country 11/15/2023 12:00:00 PM John Majerus

XC Sweeps NJCAA National Championship!

Huntsville, AL: The Harper Hawks cross country teams both left John Hunt Park with National Championship trophies. This is the men's first title since 2018, after they rattled off eight in a row. For the women, this makes two in a row for their fifth total, and sets them up to three-peat for the second time with their first coming from 2016-2018.

The weather and course were perfect for racing and led to numerous season and personal bests for both teams. The Hawks had six All-Americans in total, with Lilly Alberts winning the individual championship for the women.

Women
The women's team scored 54 points to narrowly win over Jefferson College's 71. This season wasn't nearly as close as the 52-53-55 2022 outcome, but needed great performances from the scoring five nonetheless. They were led by sophomores Lilly Alberts and Kaili Decker.

Alberts won her sixth race of the season in a field of 98 runners. She set her season best, and personal best 5k, running 18:15.8. This is also a Harper Cross Country 5k record for the women. She beat the next best runner by 49.8s. If Alberts was in the DII race, she would have finished 3rd overall, and if she was in the DI race she would have finished 10th. Her time was the 12th best time out of 557 runners. She was also named the USTFCCCA Collegiate National Athlete of the Year and USTFCCCA Central Region Athlete of the Year.

Decker finished 8th overall which was good for Second Team All-American. She ran a personal best time of 20:19.3. She steadily improved her 5k time over the year and ran her best race of the season when it mattered most.

While the next three runners for the Hawks were not All-Americans, they were crucial to the team winning as Jefferson College had three All-Americans themselves.

Kasey Ledinsky finished 15th overall running a personal best time of 21:37.0. This was her first season of cross country in her career and she showed a lot of strength and resilience throughout the season. Claudia Wojciechowski finished 23rd with Brianna Ruiz right behind her in 24th. They ran 21:47.8 and 21:51.8 with Ruiz setting a season best time.

The Hawks had two more runners race with Isabella Wojciechowski and Araxi Boghossian finishing back to back at 44th and 45th. They ran 23:44.2 and 23:49.8 with Boghossian running her best time as a Hawk in two seasons.

The Wojciechowski sisters both showed a lot of potential for freshmen and along with Ledinsky who showed the same, will give the Hawks a strong core next season to try to win three in a row.

Men
The men's team scored 53 points to beat out Region IV contender DuPage with 97 points. Out of their nine championships, this is the fifth best point total.

The team had four All-Americans and was led by Albert Szewczyk, who earned First Team All-American with a 4th place finish. He ran a personal best time of 26:29.7 which puts him 7th on Harper's top 8k times list. Owen Whelan and Marcos Jaimes both also ran personal bests and made Second Team All-American. They ran 27:02.2 and 27:14.5 and finished 7th and 10th. Jose Morales ran a personal best as well finishing in 14th to earn Honorable Mention All-American with a time of 27:31.7.

Eric Martinez finished the scoring with a 19th place finish and personal best time of 27:55.7. Jason Schmidt and Konrad Jakubowski finished 26th and 44th. Schmidt ran 28:31.1 and Jakubowski ran 29:44.8.

Matt Trybus and Harry Carr were on the trip as alternates and played a crucial role in encouraging their teammates, helping with equipment as well as camp setup and breakdown, and comic relief. If both were in the race and ran season bests, they would have finished in the top 40. It really goes to show how deep this team was this season.

The Hawks will have Whelan, Morales, Schmidt, Jakubowski, Carr, Carter Swearingen, Jose Guzman, and Edwin Amaro returning which should be a strong foundation for them to repeat.

Coach James Macnider was named the USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year and Central Region Coach of the Year for both men and women, earning four trophies in total. The program also awarded the Gary Moore Award for the Best Overall Cross Country Program. This is the fourth time the program has earned this award in Macnider's tenure. Coach John Majerus has now been apart of seven national championships since 2017 as the assistant, and Coach Dianne Barajas has now been a part of three.

Macnider attributed the season's success to the team's depth stating "The team's strong point was their depth. It was the key to our success."

Harper maintained their first place ranking from the first month to the championship. The Hawks will take a couple weeks to recover and then set their sights on the track and field season that's right around the corner.

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Players Mentioned

Owen Whelan: Freshman

Marcos Jaimes: Sophomore

Matt Trybus: Sophomore

Albert Szewczyk: Sophomore

Lilly Alberts: Sophomore

Kaili Decker: Sophomore

Brianna Ruiz: Sophomore

Araxi Boghossian: Sophomore

Claudia Wojciechowski: Freshman

Isabella Wojciechowski: Freshman

Eric Martinez: Freshman

Carter Swearingen: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Owen Whelan
: Freshman

Marcos Jaimes
: Sophomore

Matt Trybus
: Sophomore

Albert Szewczyk
: Sophomore

Lilly Alberts
: Sophomore

Kaili Decker
: Sophomore

Brianna Ruiz
: Sophomore

Araxi Boghossian
: Sophomore

Claudia Wojciechowski
: Freshman

Isabella Wojciechowski
: Freshman

Eric Martinez
: Freshman

Carter Swearingen
: Freshman