Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta ran a 44.69 anchor leg and South Florida placed 3rd in the Championship of America 1,600-Meter Relay Saturday at the 128th Penn Relays at Franklin Field.
Moronta, in his first season at South Florida after three years at Mississippi State, had the fastest split of any runner in the race.
South Florida placed 3rd in 3:02.43, just behind Texas A&M [3:01.52] and Arizona State [3:02.02]. Tre’Sean Bouie, Shevioe Reid and Devontie Archer ran the first three legs for the Bulls of Tampa. Bouie is a Philly native who went to high school at Neumann Goretti.
The time is No. 2 in school history, behind a 3:02.16 the Bulls ran with the same lineup in Gainesville last month. That 3:02.16 is No. 11 in the world this year. It’s not eligible for the U.S. list because Reid and Archer are Jamaican.
South Florida had run 3:05.32 in Friday’s heats with a slightly different lineup that didn’t include Moronta.
Moronta has run 46.55 for 400 meters this spring, No. 7 in school history. He has PRs of 46.24, 1:49.33 and 51.38 for the intermediates, all from his stay at Mississippi State.
Freshman Premier Wynn of Pennsauken also raced in the Championship of America 4-by-4, running the second leg for Norfolk State, who placed 5th in 3:06.99.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 