By Melissa Ingabire
In the NCAA championship 400-meter final Friday evening at Hayward Field, USC sophomore sprinter Michael Norman broke the collegiate and facility and world records for the event with a winning time of 43.61, the fastest time in the world this year.
The previous NCAA meet record holder? Olympic gold medalist Quincy Watts, who ran 44.00 in 1992. The previous Hayward Field record holder? Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, who ran 43.74 in 1993.
An hour and 20 minutes later, Norman anchored USC’s winning 4×400 meter relay team that also set the collegiate, facility, meet and school record in 2:59:00.
Norman placed fourth last in year in the 400 and knew coming in it was going to be a challenge. Even with his record-setting performance, he still had company all the way to the end. He beat Auburn sophomore Akeem Bloomfield, who finished second in 43.94.
“Coming into the race the fields are so deep, I knew it was going to be hard,” he said. “But I think it’s them that elevate me to the next level. We really worked off each other.”
He brought that same energy into the 4×400 and elevated his teammates. With the win, USC collected its third collegiate record of the day and capped a fourth-place finish in the team race.
The California native posted on his Instagram account a photo of the 4×400 team and captioned it “One last ride with my brothers. #TheFinalChapter.”
When asked if this was him hinting at starting his professional career, he said, “Well, actually I meant the last time I run a 4×400. But hey — if the opportunity presents itself, I’ll see where it takes me.”
Norman is the latest in a string of strong USC 400-meter runners. The school has produced the likes of Allyson Felix, Watts and Don Quarrie.
Not to mention, he has running in his blood. His mother, Nobue Saito, at one time was the fastest middle school 100-meter runner, and his father, Michael, also ran the quarter mile at Los Angeles Valley College, where he met Saito.
Norman has overcome a lot to get to this point, battling shin splints, a sprained hamstring and an increased workload at USC during his freshman year. But he proved it was all a minor setback. With a personalized plan, he is back to healthy and he said moving forward his only plan is to keep it that way.
“Right now I’m taking it day by day but yeah — ultimately I want to go to the Olympics,” said Norman. A debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be extra special for the sprinter because he has yet to visit his mother’s birthplace of Japan.
