Josh Mance entered his freshman season at the University of Southern California with some pretty lofty credentials. Mance won the California state 400 meter title while at Don Lugo High in Chino, Calif. and capped off his prep career last summer with a gold medal in the 4×400 meter relay at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada. But this prior recruits like Bryshon Nellum, Joey Hughes, and Reggie Wyatt, excellence in the 400 meters at SC under head coach Ron Allice is an expectation.

So far in 2011, Mance has lived up to the standards of Trojan quarter-miling. He took down teammate Hughes, the 2010 NCAA 400 meter bronze medalist, earlier this season with a personal best time of 45.86 seconds.

At this weekend’s Texas Relays, Mance ran two tremendous 400 meter efforts. First in the sprint medley relay on Friday night, the freshman moved the Trojans from fifth place to hand off the baton right with the leaders heading into the final leg. Mance ran an even more impressive second leg on the 4×400 the next day, making a savvy move on the inside to pass a Mississippi State competitor and running past Texas A&M All-American Tabarie Henry to give USC the lead.

The weekend’s performances have to place Mance among the upper-echelon of quarter-milers in the collegiate ranks. His quick improvement in his first year at USC may foreshadow greater things to come from on the national and international arenas.

Check out Mance's second leg starting around 1:20 into the video



Check out more from Kevin Liao at Spiked Up, Pysched Up (http://spikeduppsychedup.com/).