Hawai'i's Clay places 2nd in U.S. decathlon
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i's Bryan Clay threatened, then fell back yesterday and finished second in the USA Decathlon Championship at Berkeley, Calif., despite his highest score ever.
Associated Press
Tom Pappas of Adidas won with 8,398 points to 8,230 for Clay, a 1998 Castle High graduate from Azusa Pacific University.
Hawai'i's Bryan Clay cleared the pole vault bar at 14 feet, 9 inches and finished second overall in the decathlon.
Clay exceeded his previous high score by 61 points and moved up from a third-place finish last year, when he also was the highest-finishing college athlete.
Clay had personal records in the first two events yesterday to close to 57 points behind Pappas. But Pappas pole vaulted 16 feet, 4 3/4 inches and took a 207-point lead as Clay was a foot under his best at 14-9.
Clay scored career-best marks of 13.96 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles and 164 feet, 7 inches in the discus. He threw the javelin 191-8 and ran the meet-ending 1,500 meters in 4:42:74.
Clay, recovering from knee surgery on April 8, hopes to be at full strength for the U.S-Germany meet on July 27-28.
Dan O'Brien, a 1996 Olympic gold medal winner, withdrew from the fifth event on Wednesday, but did not retire from the sport as reported yesterday.
