Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta, a senior at South Florida, won the 400 at the American Conference Championships Saturday in a speedy 46.24.
Moronta led all qualifiers in Friday’s trials with a 46.91 at Birmingham CrossPlex in Alabama before running away from the field in the final.
Moronta just ran an indoor PR and school-record 46.04 earlier this month in a meet in Boston. That’s No. 22 in NCAA Division 1. His outdoor PR is a school-record 45.81 from last year’s American Conference meet in San Antonio.
Moronta also has PRs of 1:49.33 for 800 meters and 51.38 in the intermediates, both while he was competing for Mississippi State.
South Florida is the top seed in the 4-by-4 later Saturday with its school-record 3:07.59 in Boston earlier this month. Moronta is listed as the second leg.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 