USTFCCCA Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Last week, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its inaugural NJCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Regional Athletes and Coaches of the Year for the 2015. Winners of each region were selected based on a vote of NJCAA DIII coaches.
For Harper College women's track and field, freshman Leah Kloss (Grayslake, Ill. /Grayslake Central) was named both the Central Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year and Central Region Women's Field Athlete of the Year. Additionally, head coach Renee Zellner was named the Central Region Women's Coach of the Year. Finally, assistant coach Jim Macnider was named the Central Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year.
Coming into the national meet, Kloss was ranked No. 1 in the 100m (12.66 seconds) and held the No. 2 position in the 200m (25.71 seconds). In the field events, Kloss entered the national championship with the best hammer throw in the division and also qualified in long jump and javelin.
Kloss had an outstanding national meet this past weekend, winning three national championships in total. Kloss took the 100m and 200m titles and also was a part of a 4x100m relay team that took first place. She also placed fourth in the long jump, fifth in the javelin, and fifth in the hammer. Finally, Kloss ran a 57.24 second split in the 4x400m for the Hawks, helping the team take fourth in that event.
Zellner's women's squad came into the national meet ranked No. 5 in the USTFCCCA poll. At the national meet, Zellner guided her team to a third place finish. The Hawks captured national titles in five different events (100m, 200m, 4x100m, long jump, hammer throw), scored 109 points, and had 18 athletes finish in the Top-8 in an event.
Macnider, the distance coach for the Hawks, just finished his fifth season with the women's program. Coming into the national meet, the distance crew was ranked No. 1 in the region and No. 2 nationally and had five national entries in mid-distance and distance events. At nationals, those athletes scored key points for the Hawks as they edged Suffolk Community College for third place.
