Magill Outkicked in Final 100 Meters

The most-exciting race of the afternoon in the junior college track and field State championships Saturday at Cerritos College was the men’s 5,000 meters.

The race lasted 14 minutes 53.93 seconds, but all of the excitement was packed into the final half-minute as 31-year-old Bashir Hussain of Riverside outkicked 34-year-old Peter Magill of Glendale for the victory, after Magill had blown past Hussain with 100 meters to go.

Magill clocked 14:54.25. Jose Rangel of Rancho Santiago finished third in 15:02.17.

Early leader Eleazar Hernandez of Moorpark, who won the state 10,000 Friday night, kept Hussain and Magill in his sights after yielding to his elders with two laps remaining, but tired and finished fourth in 15:06.24.

Magill had defeated Hussain at the Southern California regional last week. Hussain finished second to Hernandez in the 10,000 and won the 3,000-meter steeplechase earlier in the afternoon.

“The only thing I could have done was to have waited [to kick] until the last 50 meters, but I never anticipated [Hussain] would have that much strength left after running two races,” Magill said.

Hernandez said he wasn’t even breathing hard at the finish, but admitted that his leg strength was nowhere to be found when Magill and Hussain took off in the final two laps.

But Hernandez’s kick wasn’t the only thing missing at the championships.

Antelope Valley’s George Daniels, who last year finished third in the state in the 400, missed the team bus.

Daniels also was scheduled to run in both relays. His absence was noticeable in the 400 relay, as the Marauders clocked 42.51 seconds to finish seventh. But Antelope Valley bounced back to finish fourth in the 1,600 in 3:13.49.

Kris McLucas of Ventura, the defending champion in the 400 hurdles, finished third in 52.58.

In the women’s competition, Dolores Tuimoloau of Ventura finished second in the shotput with a toss of 45 feet 9 3/4 inches. San Mateo’s Rebecca Morrison won with a put of 46-0.

Long Beach scored 119 points and won its second consecutive women’s title and Riverside scored 100 points to win the men’s title for the third time.