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Daily Herald Article
WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Harper College men's cross country team knows how to deliver in a championship setting. The Hawks placed five runners in the top 18 and claimed their fifth straight national title on Saturday at the 2015 NJCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championship on Saturday at Stanley Park.
Harper scored 49 points to outpace nearest challengers Mohawk Valley Community College (73 points) and Howard Community College (92 points). The Hawks' top five runners posted an average time of 28:15.14.
Fresh off an individual title at the NJCAA Region IV Men's Cross Country Championship a week prior, sophomore Will Troman (/Streamwood) followed up that performance with a third place finish in 27:15.7 on the 8K course.
Fellow sophomores Adam Brauer (Palatine, lll./Palatine) and T.J. Paton (Fairfield, Calif./Hersey) were not far behind, scoring important points for the team. Brauer was an All-American for a second straight year, this time placing ninth in 28:07.1. Paton also earned All-American status with an 11th place finish in 28:24.3.
Eddie Lamas (Schaumburg, Ill. /Schaumburg) placed 14th in 28:32.2 and earned All-American honors. Freshman Kurtis Monahan (Inverness, Ill. /Barrington), who improved steadily throughout the year, saved his best race for last. Monahan ran a 28:56.4, a PR by nearly 25 seconds, and placed 18th overall.
Travis Rauch (Schaumburg, Ill. /Schaumburg) and Omar Alhayek (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) both ran very strong races as well. Rauch completed the 8K race in 29:41.9, a PR by 40 seconds, and placed 31st. Alhayek crossed the finish line in 29:49.8 for 34th place overall.
"The philosophy that I have is to try and build through the race. I thought we did that to perfection, came on strong, and basically had seven guys that ran their best race of the year on the same day," said Harper head coach Jim Macnider. "We peaked at the right time."
