Castle High graduate turns in world best in decathlon
Advertiser Staff
Castle High graduate Bryan Clay won the Mt. SAC Relays Decathlon last night in Azusa, Calif., with the year's world best of 7,980 points.
Advertiser library photo • May 1998
The total was also a school record for Azusa Pacific University, where Clay is a junior. The former record holder was 1988-92 Olympian and four-time national champion Dave Johnson.
Castle High graduate Bryan Clay last night had personal decathlon bests in the 110-meter high hurdles and the 1,500-meter run.
"The Lord just blessed me, He's just been there for me the whole time and finally let me put one together," Clay said.
Clay, of Kane'ohe, beat his previous best score of 7,373 last year by 607 points and his previous best this season of 7,099 by 881 points.
He made two personal decathlon bests last night: 13.99 seconds for the 110-meter high hurdles and 4 minutes, 40.37 seconds for the 1,500. The latter beat his personal best by 7.19 seconds in the decathlon's final event.
The previous highest score this season was 7,804 by Stephen Harris of Tennessee on April 12.
Also at the Mt. SAC Relays, University of Hawai'i's Cheryl Smith set a school record and attained a provisional NCAA qualifying standard in the 10,000 meters yesterday.
Smith's time was 34:27, which placed her second overall among about 40 competitors.
Besides improving her personal best by 59 seconds, Smith attained an NCAA standard, which is 35:15. A provisional qualifying standard is good enough to be considered for a spot in the NCAA championships but does not guarantee it.
Smith also broke the school record of 35:10, set April 23, 1983 by Karen Curtis. The last time the Wahine had a track and field program was 16 years ago.
Earlier in the day, the rest of the team competed in the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.
Top performances at the Claremont, Calif., meet included a second-place finish in the 1,500 by Casey McGuire-Turcotte (4:34.62), and a third place in the triple jump by Nicole Kaffka (38-9).
