Harper Men Place Second Among JC's at Illinois Intercollegiate

Juan Barajas ran another great race, placing 65th in a time of 26:37.7. (Jim Cummins)

Results

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The Harper men's cross country team placed 11^th out of 18 teams at the Illinois Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships, hosted by Olivet Nazarene University, on Friday. The Hawks finished second among junior colleges with 320 points, behind only tenth place Morton College (303 points).

Juan Barajas (/Schaumburg) once again led the Hawks, finishing in 65^th place in 26:37.7, improving upon his 26:45 time at Aurora. Nick Modlin (Wheeling, Ill./Wheeling) finished in 91^st place with a time of 27:19.1, and he was followed by Zach Stella (/Palatine), who took 93^rd place in 27:23.7.

Jhoan Lino (León, Guanajuato/Streamwood) came in as Harper's fourth runner, taking 115^th place in a time of 28:22.2. Vince Greco (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) rounded out the scoring as he placed 125^th with a time of 28:40.5.

"Juan ran really well for the second consecutive week," said head coach Jim Macnider. "I thought the men ran pretty well as a team. We just need to close the gap between our top 3 and our 4^th and 5^th runners. If we do that, we will be able to finish ahead of Morton."

Host Olivet Nazarene University captured the team title (52 points) as their top five runners placed in the top 14. Lewis University (79 points) and North Central College (80 points) rounded out the top three.

The Hawks do not race this upcoming weekend but will continue training in preparation for the College of DuPage Invite on Friday, Sept. 27.