Pleasantville’s Gabriel Moronta won the 400-meter dash Saturday at the American Conference Championships with a meet-record performance.
Moronta, a senior at South Florida, ran 45.55 at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center in Charlotte, breaking the record of 45.57 set in 2022 by Steven McElroy of Cincinnati.
Moronta ranks 16th in NCAA Division 1 with his PR of 45.31 from the Florida Relays in Gainesville last month.
He led all qualifiers in the trials in 45.68 before winning the final decisively, finishing three meters ahead of 2nd-place Michael Roth of USC, who ran a personal-best 45.89.
This is Moronta’s 2nd conference title. He won indoors in 46.24 in Birmingham, Ala.
Moronta was almost exclusively a half-miler and intermediate hurdler at Mississippi State, where he ran 1:49.33 and 51.38 and ran only one open 400 in two years. At South Florida, he’s run only one outdoor 800 and hasn’t run the intermediates.
South Florida won the team title 173 1/2-155 over Wichita State, the Bulls’ 4th straight conference championship.
Moronta is the 7th-fastest 400 runner New Jersey has produced and 3rd-fastest from South Jersey, behind Olympic gold medalists Lamont Smith and Dennis Mitchell.
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, Fla.
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.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 