Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta shattered the University of South Florida indoor 400-meter dash record Saturday at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational at Boston University.
Moronta, a senior, won the race in 46.04 and broke the school record of 46.35 set by Nathan Metelus last February at the American Conference Championships in Birmingham, Ala.
Moronta’s previous indoor 400 PR was a 46.24 in February of 2023 at Clemson in his final meet for Mississippi State before transferring to South Florida. His outdoor PR is 45.81 at the American Conference Championships this past May in San Antonio.
In the same race, Rutgers sophomore Bryce Tucker from Pennsauken ran an indoor collegiate 400 PR of 47.53 in 6th place. That’s No. 7 on the all-time Rutgers indoor performance list. He ran 47.88 last January in a meet in Boston (on a different track). Tucker ran 3-100ths of a second faster as a Pennsauken senior, a 47.50 at the 2023 Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze. Deptford’s Lathan Brown, also a Rutgers sophomore, ran a indoor-outdoor lifetime-best 48.02 for 9th in the race. Tucker and Brown are both intermediate hurdles in the spring.
Moronta and Tucker also went head-to-head on the 1,600-meter relay. Both ran the second leg. Moronta split 45.88 and Tucker 47.45.
South Florida won in 3:07.59 and Rutgers was 2nd in 3:10.68. Brown ran leadoff for R.U. in 47.98.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 