FRESNO'S DAVIDSON & SANTA ROSA'S MANCINI WIN NORCAL HEP & DEC
Contact: Fred Baer 5CTCA Communications frdbaer@aol.com
Kasey Mancini of Santa Rosa JC had a strong second day performance to win the Northern California men's decathlon title with 6,127 points at Hartnell College in Salinas (April 12-13) and lead the region's qualifiers for next month's California Community College Athletic Association State Championships.
In the women's heptathlon, Moesha Davidson of Fresno City College used her comfortable first day margin to win with 4, 774 points over teammate Melody Harris (4,555). Davidson started the second day with a victory in the long jump (5.44 meters) before tapering off in the final two events, while Harris moved up from fourth after day one to finish in the silver medal position.
--The top six placers in both the decathlon and heptathlon are eligible for state championship berths, May 20-21, at San Diego Mesa College.
First day decathlon leader Davit Saghatelyn of Yuba College finished second with 5,912 points. He had held a slight 14-point lead after the first five events. But Mancini had the better performance in events six through nine to take a commanding lead. Saghatelyan won the concluding 1,500 meters in 4:36.10 to close the gap by 115 points and finish comfortably as the runner-up. Rounding out the state field are third place Adam Gockel of Santa Rosa (5,635), Daven Booker of Modesto JC (5,448), Nick Pallas of College of San Mateo (5,402), and Nathan Bishop of Hartnell (5,333).
The remaining Heptathlon top six included: 3. Julia Grimm, Santa Rosa, 4,495; 4. BreAnn Scally, Monterey Peninsula, 4,093; 5. Dhakiya Omawahleh, College of the Sequoias, 3,926; 6. Corian Aberouette, City College of San Francisco, 3,774.
Santa Rosa has taken the early lead in men's team scoring for the Northern California Championships with 16 points, followed by Yuba (8), Modesto (5), San Mateo (4), Hartnell (3), Siskiyous (2), and San Joaquin Delta (1).
In women's scoring Fresno has 18 points, followed by Santa Rosa (6), Monterey (5), Sequoias (4), CCSF (3), De Anza (2), and Delta (1).
NorCal finals in most individual events will be held at Chabot College in Hayward on Saturday, May 14.