Mt. SAC Relays Men — A Stunning Norman 400

Nobody has ever run as fast as Michael Norman’s 43.45 before the middle of June before. (BILL LEUNG)

TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, April 18-20—Coming into the Mt. SAC Relays, Michael Norman had been relatively quiet, having not competed indoors. Having had a 43.7 relay split in a low-key meet 5 weeks prior, the indoor WR holder was, as he told T&FN a couple of days earlier, ready to debut with a fast, but solid, opener. To the delight of the crowd at El Camino College’s Murdock Stadium, the 21-year-old achieved something no one else had done this early in the season.

Mild temperatures and cool breezes greeted the athletes, many of whom were trying to achieve NCAA/USATF/WC qualifying standards. With the Drake and Penn Relays taking place next weekend, Mt. SAC provided a great tune-up for those wishing to achieve those marks, in addition to wanting to shake off the rust from what was for many a dormant indoor season in anticipation for the late-year World Championships in Doha.

The showcase event of the day was the much anticipated 400m. Not that anyone expected a loss by Norman to training-mate Rai Benjamin, but the wonder was just how quick Norman’s outdoor opener might be. The favorite lined up in lane 5 with Benjamin inside of him in 4 and Houston’s Obi Igbokwe in 3 and Iowa’s Mar’yea Harris in 6. At the gun there was no question that it was going to be a fast one and at least one watch said Norman went through the first 100 in 10.8. His speed took him and Benjamin through a very fast 200 (21.1), and as they approached 300m (Norman 32.0) the long-striding Benjamin was just a meter behind coming off the curve. But that’s when Norman turned on the jets and began to extend his lead. Down the homestraight that 1-meter advantage stretched to 5.

As he eased across the finish, Norman recorded a PR 43.45, making him the =No. 4 performer with the =No. 6 performance of all time. Nobody had previously run that fast before the middle of June. Benjamin finished in a PR 44.31, second only to Angelo Taylor’s 44.05 from ’07 by someone whose specialty is the 400 hurdles.

Said Norman, “Opening up with a PR is a huge shock to me. Training has been going pretty well these past 2 weeks and I was just real excited to be out here and have these results to finally see how fast the clock was. It was a good day.” (continues)



Benjamin, talking about their training regimen, added “Coach Caryl [Smith Gilbert] and coach [Quincy] Watts are very disciplined and structured. We had a training session recently where they told us toward the end of our workout to run a 200 in 21.3. We ran 21.5 and thought we were done for the day. Then we saw coach Watts walking toward us and he said, ‘Do it again’ and there was no argument.”

The result was no surprise to Watts. The ‘92 Olympic 400 gold medalist said, “The times that they ran today, those aren’t those guy’s goals, so they have goals that are bigger than the times they ran today and we have a platform for that, so we are just going to stick to our platform and stay humble. We’re gonna execute and we’re gonna work hard every day and we’re not going into a track meet trying to run fast.” (continues)



The afternoon had begun with a nice 110H victory by Florida State soph Trey Cunningham over Brazilian Gabriel Constantino, 13.47 PR–13.57. Next up was a 100 duel between American Ameer Webb and another Brazilian, rising star Paulo Andre Camilo, 21, who had matched his PR by running a 10.02 the night before at the Clay Invitational. Camilo battled pesky winds that plagued the sprints to win convincingly in 10.21 into a –1.6 breeze over Webb (10.325) and Houston’s Mario Burke (10.328), Oregon’s Cravon Gillespie (10.34) and ’18 NCAA champion Cameron Burrell (10.37). Camilo came back later that afternoon to take the 200 over Webb 20.30–20.64.


MT. SAC RELAYS MEN’S RESULTS

Torrance, California, April 18–20—

(4/18—10K, HT; 4/19—St, 5K, TJ)

100: I(1.5)–1. Kyree King (Nik) 10.33. III(-1.6)–1. Paulo Andre Camilo’ (Bra) 10.21; 2. Ameer Webb (Nik) 10.33; 3. Mario Burke’ (Hous) 10.33; 4. Cravon Gillespie (Or) 10.34; 5. Cameron Burrell (Nik) 10.37.

200: I(-2.1)–1. Burrell 21.20. III(0.5)–1. Camilo’ 20.30; 2. Webb 20.64; 3. Gillespie 20.77; 4. **Micaiah (Tx) 20.81. Open 200(0.7): 1. ***Elija Godwin (Ga) 20.90.

400: I–1. **Daniel Stokes (CerritosJC) 46.52; 2. ***Wayne Lawrence (Ia) 46.71. II–1. Michael Cherry (Nik) 45.36.

III–1. Michael Norman (Nik) 43.45 PR (WL, AL) (=4, =6 W; =3, =5 A) (fastest before before 19 June);

2. Rai Benjamin (Nik) 44.31 PR; 3. Obi Igbokwe (Hous) 45.91; 4. Mar’yea Harris (Ia) 45.92; 5. Marcus Chambers (Nik) 46.07; 6. Dontavius Wright (Altis) 46.12.

Open 400: VII–1. Godwin 46.40. VIII–1. **Zach Shinnick (USC) 46.38.

800: 1. *Isaiah Jewett (USC) 1:46.11 (out AL, AmCL);

2. Joseph White (Gtn) 1:46.31; 3. Jesus Lopez’ (Mex) 1:46.39; 4. Jorge Montez’ (Mex) 1:46.63; 5. *Michael Rhoads (AF) 1:47.10; 6. Harun Abda (OTC) 1:47.11; 7. Dejon Devroe (MsSt) 1:48.48.

1500: I–1. Uriel Marin’ (Mex) 3:49.56. II–1. Eric Sowinski (Nik) 3:49.69.

St: 1. John Gay’ (Can) 8:36.93; 2. *Nathan Mylenek (Ia) 8:38.53 PR; 3. Bailey Roth (Az) 8:38.68.

5000: 1. Suldan Hassan’ (Swe) 13:31.35 PR; 2. Federico Bruno’ (Arg) 13:31.42 PR; 3. Gerard Geraldo’ (Col) 13:33.38 PR; 4. Ivan Gonzalez’ (Col) 13:33.55 PR; 5. Kazuki Tamura’ (Jpn) 13:33.70 PR; 6. *Robert Brandt (UCLA) 13:36.18 PR; 7. Altobeli Da Silva’ (Bra) 13:36.85; 8. Benjamin de Haan’ (Neth) 13:38.32; 9. *Kieran Lumb’ (Can) 13:40.51 PR; 10. Jose Luis Rojas’ (Per) 13:42.40; 11. José Esparza’ (Mex) 13:43.50; 12. Craig Lautenslager’ (NZ) 13:44.53 PR; 13. Willy Canchanya’ (Mex) 13:47.65 PR; 14. Mario Pacay’ (Gua) 13:49.49; 15. Kevin Lewis (TMn) 13:50.34 PR; 16. *Euan Makepeace’ (Butler) 13:54.62 PR.

10,000: 1. Ederson Pereira’ (Bra) 28:32.69 PR; 2. Gerard Geraldo’ (Col) 28:33.53 PR; 3. Juan Pacheco’ (Mex) 28:34.47 PR; 4. *Clayson Shumway (BYU) 28:36.07 PR; 5. *Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse’ (Port) 28:37.56 PR; 6. Farah Abdulkarim’ (Can) 28:39.66 PR; 7. Willie Milam (RootsRP) 28:40.41 PR; 8. Paul Hogan (MaL) 28:49.55 PR; 9. Nicolas Herrera’ (Bra) 28:51.45 PR.

110H: I(-0.6)–1. ***Eric Edwards (Or) 13.70 PR; 2. Greggmar Swift’ (Bar) 13.71; 3. *Jaylan McConico (Ia) 13.88 PR. II(-0.9)–1. **Trey Cunningham (FlSt) 13.47 PR; 2. Gabriel Constantino’ (Bra) 13.57; 3. Michael Nicholls’ (Ga) 13.83; 4. Amere Lattin (Hous) 13.85.

400H: I–1. **Cameron Samuel (USC) 49.79 PR; 2. ***James Smith (Az) 50.50; 3. Chris Douglas (Ia) 51.00. II–1. Amere Lattin (Hous) 49.98; 2. Alison dos Santos’ (Bra) 50.06; 3. CJ Allen (unat) 50.12; 4. Jordin Andrade’ (CV) 50.34.

4 x 100: I–1. Brazil 38.76 (Nascimento, Mourao, Silva, Camilo); 2. Houston 39.17; 3. Oregon 39.32; 4. UCLA 39.85; 5. USC 39.88. II–1. Western Kentucky 39.96.

4 x 400: 1. USC 3:03.54 (Samuel, Allen, Jewett, Shinnick); 2. Houston 3:05.05; 3. Iowa 3:05.67; 4. Western Kentucky 3:08.23; 5. Odd Squad 3:08.68.

Field Events

HJ: 1. Django Lovett’ (Can) 7-6½ (2.30) =PR; 2. Michael Mason’ (Can) 7-4¼ (2.24);

3. Keenon Laine (Ga) 7-4¼ (=out AmCL); 4. **Earnie Sears (USC) 7-4¼ PR (=out AmCL);

5. *Darius Carbin (Ga) 7-2¼ (2.19); 6. *Justice Summerset (Az) 7-2¼.

PV: 1. Cole Walsh (RPerf) 18-½ (5.50).

LJ: 1. *Steffin McCarter (Tx) 25-10 (7.87) PR; 2. Will Williams (unat) 25-8¾ (7.84).

TJ: 1. *Tuomas Kaukolahti’ (Cal) 53-7¾ (16.35).

SP: 1. *Sanjae Lawrence’ (FlSt) 62-2¼ (18.95) PR.

HT: I–1. Marcel Lomnicky’ (Svk) 253-1 (77.15);

2. Denzel Comenentia’ (Ga) 252-0 (76.80) (CL) (10, x C); 3. Sean Donnelly (Iron) 251-7 (76.69) (AL);

4. Diego Del Real’ (Mex) 248-0 (75.59); 5. Conor McCullough (NYAC) 244-1 (74.41); 6. Rudy Winkler (NYAC) 243-6 (74.23); 7. Alan Wolski’ (Bra) 241-2 (73.51); 8. Colin Dunbar (Iron) 232-3 (70.78); 9. Brock Eager (WaSt) 231-8 (70.63); 10. Alexander Young (Vel) 223-1 (68.01).

II–1. Justin Stafford (UCLA) 222-3 (67.74).

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