2020 Texas A&M Boys 400m Final Heat 3
Katy Cinco Ranch senior Telron Bradford and Laredo United junior D'Carlo Calderon had a couple of good races at the Texas A&M High School Indoor Classic, over the weekend.
Both runners survived the 28 heats of 400m prelims on Friday evening and secured a spot in the fast heat of the finals.
They both used 48 mid opening races to win their respective heats and they did it in similar fashion. Bradford qualified with a 48.49 jumped on his competition early with a 23.10 200m split. Calderon ran a 22.90 split to get in front of the competition and run 48.52.
That set up a final with the two coming in as the fastest qualifiers and the two didn't let Saturday's crowd down as they both improved on their preliminary times. Bradford came away with the win thanks to another aggressive first 200m and Calderon finished second.
Bradford, a senior will look to continue to have a strong season in the 400m. He qualified for last year's UIL 6A state meet after finishing second at the Region 3-6A meet. Opening up the season with his A&M finals time of 47.88 is a good sign as to what is to come this year.
Last season, he didn't run sub 48 until his district meet when he dropped his 47.24 PR. The state meet wasn't as successful as Bradford would have liked as he finished ninth with a 50.47, one of his slowest times of the year.
This year is already off to a good start and possibly a 2020 statement in what Bradford hopes will lead to a state championship.
For Calderon, this is exactly as good of a start he could have asked for. He had a very good 2019 season turning in PRs in several events. Last year, he ran 10.90, 21.99, 49.66, 37.83 (300H), and 54.31 (400H).
His UIL season ended in a sour way though. He ran his personal best at the Region 4-6A Meet, but he missed qualifying for state by .01 of a second. He was third in a race that saw the first place finisher win in 37.28, second in 37.82, barely in front of him in 38.83.