Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta dropped a massive 400 PR Saturday with the fastest time by a South Jersey quarter-miler in 29 years.
Moronta, now a senior at South Florida, ran 45.31 at the at the Florida Relays on the Percy Beard Track in Gainesville.
His previous PR was a 45.81 last May in the prelims of the American Conference Championships in San Antonio.
The only South Jersey high school graduates to run faster than Moronta are two Olympic gold medalists – Dennis Mitchell of Edgewood had a PR of 45.26, which he ran in 1986 in Tampa, and Willingboro’s Lamont Smith ran 44.30 at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta.
Moronta’s time is also 9th-fastest ever by a New Jersey runner and fastest since 2016, when Najee Glass of St. Peter’s Prep ran 44.79 in Eugene.
According to the World Athletics database, it’s No. 20 in the world this year and No. 7 among U.S. men. Depending on what happened at other meets this weekend, it’ll be somewhere close to No. 5 in NCAA Division 1 this year.
Moronta lowered his own school record from that 45.81 from last year. He’s also the South Florida indoor school record holder with his 46.04 from a meet this past February in Boston.
Here’s my best attempt at an al-time New Jersey sub-46 list!
44.28 … Andrew Valmon [Manchester Twp.], June 19, 1993, Eugene
44.30 … Lamont Smith [Willingboro], June 19, 1996, Atlanta
44.79 … Najee Glass [St. Peter’s Prep], April 24, 2015, Gainesville, Fla.
45.01 … Kevin Lyles [Franklin Twp.], April 7, 1995, Knoxville, Tenn.
45.25 … Clayton Parros [Seton Hall Prep], June 26, 2015, Eugene, Ore.
45.26 … Dennis Mitchell [Edgewood], April 12, 1986, Tampa, Fla.
45.30 … Willie McLaughlin [East Orange], June 18, 1983, Indianapolis
45.31 … Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville], April 5, 2025, Gainesville
45.40 … Erison Hurtault [Matawan], June 9, 2007, Sacramento, Calif.
45.49 … Darrell Bush [Woodbury], April 11, 2015, Tucson, Ariz.
45.55 … Taj Burgess [Carteret], May 26, 2021, Jacksonville, Fla.
45.62 … Charles Cox [Monmouth Reg.], May 28, 2010, Greensboro, N.C.
45.63 … Glenwood Jackson [East Orange], May 5, 1989, Houston
45.93 … Tyrone Ross [Metuchen], June 12, 2004, Colts Neck
45.93 … Joe Mendel [Wayne Hills], June 20, 2004, Cambridge, Mass.
45.93 … Clayton Gravesande [Franklin Twp.], May 12, 2012, Baton Rouge, La.
45.94 … Justin Gaymon [Phillipsburg], March 2, 2008, Fayetteville, Ark.
45.98 … Antonio Abney [Willingboro], May 29, 2010, Charlotte, N.C.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 