Trabuco Hills' Oshier Wins State Title in 1,600

He went in the favorite and came out a state champion.    

Trabuco Hills senior Jantzen Oshier saved his best performance for Saturday afternoon in the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High in Clovis, where Oshier ran 1,600 meters in 4 minutes and 0.83 seconds, a personal record, the current state and national records, and only a half a second off of California's all-time mark.  

Oshier, who will be headed to the University of California in the fall, came into the race seeded first and, as he has done all season, proved to be untouchable by the rest of the field.  

The mark of nearly four minutes flat was the third time Oshier has broken the national record this season, first toppling the mark at the Arcadia Invitational with a 4:06.81, then breaking his own record a week later at the Orange County Championships with an all-time county-best performance of 4:04.24.  

But Oshier wasn't the only local athlete to walk away with state championship gold on Saturday, Newport Harbor's junior thrower Ethan Cochran also broke a personal best mark with a discus toss of 185 feet, 9 inches, good for first overall.  

While Cochran took first in the discus, El Toro's Jake Fraser finished fourth (172-0), and collected a silver medal for his efforts in the shot put, which produced a final mark of 61-3.5.  

"I felt good out there today," Fraser said by phone. "The rings were a little wet, but I felt good. I'm very happy [with a second-place finish in the shot put]."  

Fraser, who will continue his throwing career at Long Beach State, said his senior season at El Toro couldn't have gone any better. "I'm really happy with how the year went," he said. "I set a lot of personal records, and I ended my career at state in the finals. I'm just thankful for the chances I had to work with the coaches I had, and I'm thankful for my teammates."  

One of those teammates, Sullivan Parker, who has performed alongside Fraser at every meet this season, also finished his career at the final ring in Clovis. Parker finished sixth in California with a throw of 57-9.25.  

"Sully was happy," Fraser said. "He did a great job."  

The same could be said for Ryan Andrews, Cochran's teammate at Newport Harbor who finished off his career Saturday with a fourth-place finish in the shot put, turning in a toss of 58-5.50.  

Another fourth-place finisher on Saturday was JSerra senior Katherine Delaney, who ran a 4:47.20 in the girls 1,600-meter run after coming into Saturday's meet as one of the favorites in the race. After preliminaries on Friday, Delaney reported being a little sore on Saturday.  

"I was a little sore, and it wasn't one of my best races, but I'm so really happy with how the season went, and it's not over yet," Delaney said.

The future California Golden Bear is headed to New York next Saturday for the 2011 Samsung Diamond League Adidas Grand Prix (http://www.diamondleague-newyork.com/en/Home/) at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island, where she will run the mile alongside the best distance runners in America.  

El Toro's Adam Bragg was another favorite to walk away without gold on Saturday, but, like Delaney, Bragg wasn't hanging his head afterward. Finishing his brilliant jumping career with a final clearance of 15-03, good for third place overall, Bragg said the rainy conditions at Buchanan High on Saturday didn't play that big a role.  

"I came out expecting the weather to be what it was, so the big thing was just to get out there and get past it," Bragg said. "I'm a little dissapointed [with third place], but I'm happy with my season overall. I put myself in postition to win it; I just didn't capitalize."  

Bragg will continue his jumping career at Princeton, though he's still undecided as to what he'll be studying.  

Another El Toro Charger saw her career come to an end on Saturday as Hanna Edwards turned in a fifth-place showing in the girls 800-meter run (2:09.55). Edwards will head to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall.  

Sarah Paddon, a senior from St. Margaret's finished 10th overall in the girls 1,600 (4:53.05), while Luke Decker, a senior from JSerra, finished 12th in the boys 1,600 with a finish of 4:14.29.  

Connor Kaddatz, a senior from Dana Hills, finished sixth in the boys 1,600 with a time of 4:09.58, while teammate Alaina Alvarez finished 14th in the girls 3,200 with a finish of 10:36.16.

Kevin Durham, a junior from El Toro, finished 24th in the boys 3,200 with a time of 9:14.43. 

In the race for the boys team championship, El Toro finished tied for third with Serra of Gardena with 22 points behind champion Long Beach Poly (35) and runner-up Loyola (32). Newport Harbor finished 11th with 15 points and Trabuco Hills was tied for 15th with 10 points.