San Diego Mesa's Jeremiah Havens captures SoCal Decathlon Championship at Saddleback College
MISSION VIEJO - The California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) Southern California Regional Finals of the decathlon came down to the final event where San Diego Mesa College’s Jeremiah Havens edged Santa Barbara City College’s Ryan Gregory on Wednesday at Saddleback College. Havens held on for a 41-point win to capture the Southern California regional title.
Havens had his best performance of the season when he totaled 6,618 points over the two days. It was 538 points higher than his previous best recorded at the Ron Kamaka combined event on February 23. Havens won four events for the week, winning in both the 100 meters (11.01) and 400 meters (50.99) on Tuesday and the discus throw (39.59m) and javelin throw (50.87m) on Wednesday. Havens held a 112-point lead heading into the final event of the competition, and finished in fifth place to narrowly edge Gregory.
Gregory had an outstanding meet as well. He finished with 6,577 points, which was 449 points better than his previous best at the Moorpark College Opener on February 3. Gregory had wins in the 110-hurdles (15.73) and pole vault (4.35m) while finishing second in both the 100 meters (11.09) and high jump (1.86m).
Rounding out the top five at the Southern California Regional Finals were Orange Coast College’s Cayden Loth (6,083), Riverside City College’s Reno Vasquez (5,950) and Bakersfield College’s Tucker Monaco (5,920).
The 3C2A State Championships are scheduled to take place at Modesto Junior College on May 19-20.
(Brad Hoiseth, Saddleback College Athletics)