One of the top student-athletes at Rutgers University-Camden, Drew Harper is a record-setting thrower on the indoor and outdoor track teams who has earned numerous academic honors in the classroom.
Harper holds Rutgers-Camden program records during indoor season in the weight throw (15.09 meters) and outdoor season in the hammer (43.76 meters). He earned Most Dedicated Athlete honors as a freshman with the indoor track program and was named the Most Valuable Field Athlete with the indoor/outdoor programs during both his sophomore and junior seasons. A track team captain, he earned weekly honors from both the New Jersey Athletic Conference and the ECAC during his junior year, while adding three awards as Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week.
A standout student as well, Harper is a six-time member of the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, a two-time New Jersey Athletic Conference Academic Honorable Mention student, captured a berth on the ECAC Spring 2018 Academic Honor Roll and has been a three-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), serving as the Co-Vice Chair during the 2017-18 scholastic year. He is serving as the SAAC Co-Chair this year.
Program records (through 2017-18): Indoor Track – Weight Throw (15.09 M) at the Fast Times Before Finals meet (Dec. 9, 2017); Outdoor Track – Hammer (43.76 M) at the Osprey Open (April 13, 2018).
Academics: New Jersey Athletic Conference Academic Honorable Mention during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 scholastic years…Member of the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director’s Honor Roll all six semesters of his collegiate career (Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017 and Spring 2018). During the 2016 Fall semester he was one of only 10 athletes on the 137-member team to achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA…Earned ECAC Academic Honor Roll status during the 2018 Spring semester.
Outdoor Track 2018: Named Rutgers-Camden’s Indoor/Outdoor Field MVP for the second straight year…NJAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week (March 26)…ECAC Div. III Men’s Field Athlete of the Week (March 28)…Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week on March 26 and April 16…Set the program record in the hammer in his first meet of the season at the Delaware Classic (March 24), finishing third of eight with a 40.05 throw, and raised his own standard two more times during the season…Finished with a program mark of 43.76 meters while placing fourth of 26 in the hammer at the Osprey Open (April 13)…Threw five ECAC qualifiers in the hammer and one apiece in the discus and shot put…Competed in all three of those events at the ECAC Div. III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, placing 12th of 19 in the hammer (41.59 M, May 16), 16th of 23 in the discus (35.16 meters, May 17) and 17th of 23 in the shot put (12.24 meters, May 17)…In addition to his short-lived hammer mark at the Delaware Classic, finished 11th of 15 in the discus (31.47 meters) and fourth of 13 in the shot put (12.63 meters) at that meet on March 24…At the Stockton Invitational (March 31) placed ninth of 22 in the hammer (37.15 meters), ninth of 26 in the discus (36.39 meters) and 17th of 26 in the shot put (11.49 meters)…Notched a trio of top-five finishes in his three events at the Oscar Moore Open (April 6), placing third of nine in the hammer (38.58 meters), fifth of 17 in the discus (with an ECAC qualifier and a PR of 38.31 meters) and fifth of 12 in the shot put (12.15 meters)…Raised his hammer mark for the second time during the season with a throw of 40.69 meters at the Gwynedd-Mercy Mid-Week Twilight Invitational (April 11), finishing seventh of 17…Two days later, he broke that mark at the Osprey Open, posting the 43.76 record that currently stands…On the second day of the Osprey Open (April 14), finished 15th of 32 in the discus (35.19 meters) and eighth of 30 in the shot put (a PR and ECAC qualifier of 12.91 meters)…At the two-day Widener Invitational (April 20-21), placed 23rd of 28 in the discus (34.44 meters) and 22nd of 36 in the shot put (11.67 meters) on the first day and ninth of 26 in the hammer (43.23 meters) on the second day…At the Lions Invitational placed 12th of 23 in the hammer (38.78 meters) on April 27 and finished 16th of 37 in the discus (35.97) and 20th of 41 in the shot put (11.94 meters) on April 28…At the NJAC Championships, finished sixth of 21 in the hammer (42.75 meters) on May 5 and ninth of 26 in the shot put (12.72) on May 6…In his last meet before the ECAC Championships, placed 14th of 20 in the discus (35.99 meters) and 19th of 19 in the shot put (12.01 meters) at the Swarthmore Final Qualifier (May 14).
Indoor Track 2017-18: Competed in nine meets, with seven competitions apiece in the weight throw and the shot put…Set a PR in both events while consistently ranking among the top throwers at his meets…Named school’s Raptor of the Week on Dec. 11 after setting a program record with an ECAC qualifier of 15.09 meters in the weight throw (finishing fifth of 27) and notching his short-lived PR of 12.06 meters in the shot put (19th of 32) in the Fast Times Before Finals meet on Dec. 9…Later raised his PR in the shot put to 13.22 meters (finishing ninth of 23) and also placed fourth of 20 in the weight throw (14.16 meters) at the NJAC Indoor Championships (Feb. 19)…Opened the season placing second of eight in the weight throw (14.57 meters) and seventh of 15 in the shot put (11.35 meters) at the TCNJ Winter Invitational (Dec. 2)…Was seventh of 28 in the weight throw (14.78 M) and 21st of 33 in the shot put (11.63 M) at the Gotham Cup (Jan. 19) and finished 16th of 46 in the shot put (11.74 M) at the Collegeville Classic (Jan. 20)…Competed in the weight throw at the Widener Field Meet (Feb. 26), placing second of nine (14.58 M) and had a shot put of 12.79 meters at the Frank Colden Invitational on Feb. 3 to finish 11th of 50…At the Fastrack Last Chance Meet (Feb. 24), was second of four in the eight throw (14.07 M) and sixth of seven in the shot put (12.81 M)…Competed in the ECAC Div. III Indoor Track & Field Championships (March 3), finishing 10th of 11 in the weight throw (14.18 M).
Outdoor Track 2017: Competed at seven spring invitationals, throwing the hammer in all seven meets, while adding four competitions apiece in the shot put and discus…Broke his own hammer record three times, eventually hiking it to 39.86 meters when he finished 16th of 25 at the Widener Invitational (April 22)…Prior to that, he raised his hammer marks to 39.15 meters (third of six) at the Oscar Moore Open (April 8) and to 39.41 meters (fourth of 20) at the Gwynedd Mercy Mid-Week Twilight Invitational (April 12)…Also finished fifth of nine in the shot put (11.90 meters) and sixth of six in the discus (34.23 meters) at the Oscar Moore meet…Opened the year at the Golden Rams Invitational (March 25), finishing 10th of 25 in the shot put (11.94 meters), 16th of 25 in the discus (30.94 meters) and sixth of 14 in the hammer (38.31 meters)…Competed in all three of those events at the Stockton Invitational (April 1), placing sixth of 17 in the shot (11.76 meters), fifth of 13 in the discus (32.67 meters) and fifth of nine in the hammer (38.13 meters)…His hammer throw of 39.09 meters at the Lions Invitational (April 28) helped him finish 17th of 29…Placed ninth of 24 in the hammer (38.93 meters) at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships (May 6) before finishing 15th of 26 the next day in both the shot put (11.52 meters) and the discus (33.20 meters) at the NJAC meet.
Indoor Track 2016-17: Competed in the shot put at all six of the Scarlet Raptors’ meets, while participating in the weight throw in the last five meets…Opened the season with his indoor personal best of 11.85 meters in the shot put, finishing fourth of 21 at the Bow-Tie Classic (Dec. 3)…At the Wagner Seahawk Shootout (Dec. 9), finished 18th of 32 in the shot put (11.29 meters) and 12th of 19 in the weight throw (10.89 meters)…Finished 42nd of 41 in the shot (10.91 meters) and 26th of 39 in the weight throw (12.20 meters), breaking his own program mark in the weight throw…Broke his weight throw mark again at the Widener Field Meet (Jan. 27), finishing fourth of 11 (12.51 meters) in that event while also placing ninth of 18 in the shot put (11.53 meters)…Finished 22nd of 54 in the shot (11.34 meters) and 22nd of 34 in the weight throw (10.66 meters) at the St. Joseph’s College Indoor Invitational (Feb. 11)…Closed the indoor season at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships (Feb. 20), finishing 17th of 28 in the shot (11.08 meters) and 14th of 21 in the weight throw (11.75 meters).
Outdoor Track 2016: A multi-talented thrower, competed in five meets for the Scarlet Raptors, throwing the discus, hammer and shot put in all five…Set two of his three personal bests at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship (May 7-8), throwing the hammer 39.08 meters on the first day to finish 13th of 25, then adding a shot put of 11.99 meters the second day to place 14th of 26…His hammer throw set a program record, breaking the mark of 38.30 (125-8) set by Gerry Matyschsyk on May 5, 2001…Also finished 24th of 27 in the discus (27.98 meters) at the NJAC Championship (May 8)…Opened the season at the two-day Stockton Invitational (March 25-26), finishing 10th of 10 in the hammer (30.95 meters) on the first day and ninth of 22 in the shot put (11.91 meters) and 17th of 28 in the discus (29.85 meters) the second day…Won the six-man discus competition with a personal best of 35.00 meters at the Oscar Moore Open (April 1), while also finishing ninth of 18 in the shot put (11.97 meters and ninth of 14 in the hammer (33.02 meters)…Returned to Stockton University for the Osprey Open (April 8-9), finishing 17th of 24 in the hammer (31.80 meters) on the opening day and adding strong performances in the shot put (11.85 meters, sixth of 26) and discus (29.24 meters, 15th of 30) on the second day…Placed 24th of 26 in the discus (33.26 meters) on the first day of the Widener Invitational (April 22)…Completed his Widener Invitational competition on April 23 by placing 26th of 46 in the shot put (11.62 meters) and 20th of 27 in the hammer (37.13 meters).
Indoor Track 2015-16: Competed in the shot put at six indoor meets and also doubled in the weight throw at four of those meets…Set the Rutgers-Camden indoor track record in the weight throw with a toss of 38-2.75/11.65 meters at the Albright Invitational (Feb. 13), finishing 11th of 14…Honored as the Most Dedicated Player on the men’s indoor track team…Also had a shot put of 10.69 M/35-1.0 at that meet to place ninth of 14…Had his top shot put of 10.88 M/35-8.5 at the season-opening Bow-Tie Classic (Dec. 5), finishing 12th of 30…Placed 27th of 37 in the shot put (10.50 M/34-5.5) and 15th of 17 in the weight throw (10.89 M/35-8.75) at the Golden Bear Invitational (Jan. 15)…At the Ramapo College Indoor Select (Jan. 30), finished 22nd of 37 in the shot put (10.80 M/35-5.25) and 24th of 33 in the weight throw (10.48 M/34-4.75)…Had a shot put of 11.28 M/37-0.25 to finish 18th of 27 at the Frank Colden Invitational (Feb. 6)…Competed in his first New Jersey Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship (Feb. 22), placing 18th of 28 in the shot put (10.79 M/35-5.0) and 13th of 25 in the weight throw (10.92 M/35-10.0).
High School: Multi-sport letterman who graduated Collingswood High School in 2015…Captured 11 varsity letters overall, including four apiece in wrestling for Coach Dechlin Moody and four for outdoor track and field, under Coach Chip Witte…Also a three-year football letterman for Coach Jack McConnell…In track, earned All-Conference Liberty Division Second Team in his senior year in the discus…National Honor Society…National Honor Society Chapter Treasurer.
Personal: Andrew “Drew” Harper…Born July 30, 1996…Hobbies and interests include watching football, lifting and hanging out with friends…Is a self-described “Star Wars and comic book nerd” …Dual Childhood Studies and History major at Rutgers-Camden…Minor in Psychology…SAAC committee…Plans to teach History on the high school level and track and field coach…Drew is the son of Daniel and Dianne Harper of Audubon.
