O'Connor third in state decathlon

O'Connor, a freshman out of Serra, finished third with 6,658 points, more than 500 points better than his first ever decathlon effort a month ago, when he was third in the Northern California Championships.

Magzhi, a sophomore from Burlingame, was fourth with 6,295 points, also better than his 6,226 in taking second at the NorCal. With sophomore Jeremy Vukasinovic (Terra Nova) taking sixth place (5,928), San Mateo outscored every other team in the all-around competition, tallying 14 points.

In the women's heptathlon, Samantha Belvini scored 4,031 points to finish sixth and score three points in the team standings for CSM. Belvini, a sophomore from Notre Dame-Belmont, broke the 4,000-point mark for the first time, improving upon her previous best of 3,944 at the NorCal Championships. She was also ninth in the individual long jump at 16-7 1/2. Last year Belvini placed ninth in the state heptathlon with 3,564 points.

O'Connor had led the decathlon after the first day, with 3,800 points, and continued to pace the field after the sixth event, the 110 meter high hurdles, which he ran in 15.86. But defending state champion Christopher Richardson of Cerritos piled up points in the long throws to take command and win the title again, with 6,980 points, 348 more than last year's total. O'Connor's total, in fact, would have won the 2004 crown.

"I had personal bests in nine of 10 events," O'Connor said. "Everything but the long jump. I couldn't hit the board." He actually competed in the long jump twice on Friday, finishing ninth in the individual state event at 22-0 after jumping 22-8 1/2 earlier in the decathlon event.

O'Connor is the Coast Conference champion in the high jump and long jump.

"I like the 1,500 because I beat people," Magzhi said of his convincing victory in the final race, which most decathletes abhor. Magzhi ran 4:24.24 to tally 783 points and O'Connor ran 4:42.60 for second place and 664 points.

"I was trying to pull him along," said Magzhi of his efforts to pace O'Connor early in the race.

Magzhi had personal bests in the pole vault (14-6 3/4), shot put (33-11 1/2), and 400 meters (51.27).

Other CSM athletes who performed well included freshman Ray Hisatake out of Westmoor who placed sixth in the men's discus throw (149-1) and Brian Wilhelm, who was 12th (127-1). Wilhelm, a freshman out of St. Ignatius, was seventh in the shot put (49-11). Women's thrower Kelly Schumacher, a freshman from Terra Nova, placed eighth in the hammer (139-4), equaling her best mark set a week earlier in the NorCal championship.