Harper crowned NCAA Champion
John Harper is the National Men’s Field Athlete of the Year following his dominance in the heptathlon throughout the 2021-22 season.
Harper recently was crowned the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Heptathlon Champion following a 5,751-point performance that marked the third best performance in DII track and field history. Along with being named the Male Athlete of the Year, Harper has integrated himself as the most decorated athlete in TAMUK track and field.
“I was surprised, there were several great athletes that were also nominated for this award,” said John Harper. “It’s been an honor to represent TAMUK on a higher platform and I’m blessed to receive this award.”
The Lorana, Texas, native came to Texas A&M Kingsville in 2016 and since then has earned six All-American awards, eight all-conference honors, three Lone Star Conference Championships, a regional athlete of the year award, and assisted the men’s outdoor track and field team to the 2018 NCAA title. Taking home this award makes him just the second Javelina in program history to ever receive the honor since Jeron Robinson in 2016.
This season, Harper started the year with a 5,451-point first place performance at the Boo Rogers Invitational in December and then a 5,282-point performance at the Washburn open in January.
Harper consistently finished first in the heptathlon throughout the whole season and put up impressive individual numbers as the specialist on the team.
To finish off the indoor season, the NCAA Division II saw Harper finishing first in the sixty-meter hurdles and the pole vault in the heptathlon.
Added to his array of skills, going into the final meet of the indoor season, he was included on the NCAA qualifying 4×400 meter relay team along with runners Sterling Riles, Michael Samihamba and Joseph Swierc. Harper has been a major contributor to the success of Javelina Track and Field and Head Coach Ryan Dall has had the pleasure of being his coach all these years.
Riles, being a younger competitor for TAMUK has run alongside Harper for the past year and has made use of the experience and leadership of the veteran champion, “John is a very inspiring person to be around he trains extremely hard and sets the tone for our track meet,” Riles said. “With him winning the heptathlon before we ran motivated the rest of us on the 4×4 to try and win our heat and possibly take the first-place trophy home.”
With this being his last year of eligibility for the Javelinas, this is without a doubt the last season of competition for the long productive college career of John Harper.
Although the engineer must prepare for his exit as one of the most individually successful Javelinas to walk this campus, it will not be without a proper send-off.
This year during the outdoor season, the LSC (Lone Star Conference) championships run through Kingsville in 2022 and winning the LSC title will be the first step for Harper and the Hogs to capture the second NCAA Division II title for Texas A&M University Kingsville in the past four years.
