Boys' 400 Meters Preview
A major matchup is brewing in the 400 meters for Sunday between the top two seeds, Salim Epps of Saint Joseph's Prep and Donovan Sanders of Girard College. The two have been consistently 1-2 in the two-lapper all season long, but have yet to go head-to-head this winter. That will change Sunday.
Epps comes in with a PA No. 1 best of 48.35 from the Bullis Invite, while Sanders went 48.74 at Eastern States. Sanders was third at states last year, while Epps was sixth. But outdoors, Epps crushed it at the outdoor state meet, running 47.48 to win the AAA state title. Sanders was a close second in AA. The indoor 400 meters is always a battle and all about positioning. How these two navigate the opening lap will go a long way towards determining how this race will play out.
There are plenty of others after the top two that certainly cannot be counted out. Bensalem's Javier Williams turned plenty of heads with his major PR of 48.94 to win at the Philly Public League Invite. He will look to carry that momentum into the fast section of the 400 on Sunday where he should be in the mix.
Kai Cummings of Germantown Friends is another one to watch. He went 49.23 at the Armory a few weeks ago an he should mix it up with the leaders. After taking fourth as a sophomore and fifth as a junior, Cummings will look to add another strong states performance to his resume and he's got some good potential to move up in this field. Hatboro-Horsham's Caleb Ryu is another one to watch. He was third at outdoor states last year and is having a strong season that included a second place finish to Williams at the Philly Public League Invite (49.36).
Penn Wood's James Nmah also went 49.36 at the Philly Public League Invite. He'll enjoy a nice lane draw from the third of four heats, which is where last year's indoor state champion -- Julian Klenner -- came from.
Cumberland Valley's James Jaisingh, Gettysburg's Noah Sanders, Roman Catholic's Tyler Boone, Bonner/Prendie's Enoobong Eka, and Bishop McDevitt's Kendall White are the others in this field with sub-50 times or sub-50 converstions.
The indoor 400 meters gets interesting, like we saw last season. Getting on the medal stand comes down to race strategy and execution.
Event 10 Boys 400 Meter Dash ============================================================ =================== Meet Record: 47.65 3/1/2003 Drew Eckman, Oxford 51.33 SGQ State Guideline Name Year School ============================== ============================== =================== 1 Boone, Tyler 11 Roman Catholic 2 Cooper, Bryce 10 Episcopal Acad 3 Corinaldi, RaAr 12 Hill-Freedman 4 Cummings, Kai 12 Germantown Frien 5 Eka, Enoobong 11 Bonner/Prendie 6 Epps, Salim 12 St Joseph Prep 7 Ford, Eric 12 LaSalle College 8 Jaisingh, James 11 Cumberland Valle 9 Kromah, Lucky 12 Overbrook 10 McDonough, Tom 12 North Hills 11 Nmah, James 12 Penn Wood 12 Ryu, Caleb 11 Hatboro Horsham 13 Salau, Mustapha 11 Parkland 14 Sanders, Donovan 12 Girard Colle 15 Sanders, Noah 11 Gettysburg A 16 Siaton, Alexander 12 Great Valley 17 Turner, Jason 12 Pennsbury 18 White, Kendall 11 Bish McDevitt 19 Williams, David 11 Cumberland Valle 20 Williams, Javier 12 Bensalem