USATF Indoor Championships: Men's 400m preview

Feb 20, 2014 by Mitch Kastoff

There's a lot of "obscure" names in the field, but the familiar few should prevail.

The #1 seed and #2 man in the NCAA Pittsburgh Brycen Spratling is coming off a 45.57 win a the SPIRE NCAA D1 Indoor T&F Invitational from the weekend. He's also run 47.40 (at the Hokie Invitational) and 46.32 (at Penn State National) this season. Based on form and the rest of the field's seeds, we'll be surprised if he's not in the top two.

From there, it's a toss-up. No one else is seeded under 46-seconds and only one seed, Clayton Parros, is under 46.50 (he’s at 46.46).

With 12 guys seeded in the 46-second range, who will be the one to emerge for to take the second spot to Sopot?

He’s only run two open races this winter, but former George Mason star David Verberg is coming into form. Last spring, Verberg PR’d in the 400m in the semi-final of USAs, where he finished in 44.75. His fifth place finish in the final earned him a spot on Team USA’s 4x400m relay pool (and a gold medal).

This winter, he’s run 46.94 in Glasgow and 46.58 in Moscow.

Since we’re talking about Team USA 4x400m gold medalists, former Florida man Calvin Smith could be in the mix. He’s only run one open 400m this season, which was a 46.88 first place finish at the Birmingham Classic in Birmingham, AL. He picked up a relay gold two years ago at the World Championships in Istanbul.

Another guy who’s only run a single 400m race this winter is Manteo Mitchell. Also in Birmingham, AL, Mitchell took second in 46.78 at the Vulcan Invitational. His overall PR is 44.96 from the Olympic Trials while his indoor PR is 46.17, which is from the 2012 USA Championships in Albuquerque, NM.

Parros has twice been the world leader in the 400m (he’s now out of the top 20). Charles Clark, Quentin Iglehart-Summers, and Spratling’s teammate at Pittsburgh Micah Murray have the among top seeds as well. If the veterans don't come through, it's up for grabs.

Men 400m (courtesy to USATF)
Name	Affiliation	Mark	Status	Declaration
Brycen Spratling	Pittsburgh	45.57	qualified	declared
Clayton Parros		46.46	qualified	declared
Charles Clark		46.50	qualified	declared
Quentin Iglehart-Summers		46.52	qualified	declared
David Verburg		46.58	qualified	declared
Micah Murray	Pittsburgh	46.65	qualified	declared
Manteo Mitchell	Nike	46.78	qualified	declared
Michael Courtney		46.82	qualified	declared
Jordan Edwards	Academy of Art	46.82	qualified	declared
Armanti Hayes		46.85	qualified	declared
Calvin Smith	adidas	46.88	qualified	declared
Ricky Babineaux	Texas A&M	46.92	qualified	declared
Marcus Boyd		46.98	qualified	declared
Kyle Clemons		47.06	qualified	declared
Frankie Wright		47.07	qualified	declared
Ja-Vell Bullard		47.79	accepted	declared
Joe Hughes		47.85	accepted	declared
Justin Gaymon	New York Athletic Club (NYAC)	47.87	accepted	declared
Kind Butler III		48.08	accepted	declared
Jeremy Dodson	Boulder Track Club	48.17	accepted	declared
Randy Curry Jr		48.81	not qualified