Davis Defeats Solid 400-Meter Field

James Davis was eliminated in the first round of the men’s 400 meters in the USA Track & Field championships at Stanford three weeks ago, but he defeated a high-quality field in the Mid-Summer Games at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday night.

Davis, who is hoping to earn a spot on the United States’ 1,600-meter relay team that will compete in the Pan American Games on Aug. 6-10 at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, ran a season best of 45.33 seconds to turn back a field that included second-place Derrick Brew, third-place Mitch Potter and fourth-place Adam Steele.

Brew, Potter and Steele had finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the USATF championships, but Davis got off to a good start Saturday and maintained his form well in the final straightaway.

“I go into any race thinking I have a chance to win,” said Davis, who was ranked eighth in the U.S. last year. “All you can ask of yourself is to put yourself in a position to win and see what happens.”

Brew clocked 45.44, Potter 45.55 and Steele 45.79.

Steele and Potter had run 44.57 and 44.58 in finishing first and third for Minnesota in the NCAA championships at Cal State Sacramento on June 14, but have been training hard in recent weeks in preparation for the Pan Am Games.

While the 400 was the most talent-laden field on the first day of the two-day meet at Mt. SAC, there were some other notable performances.

Obadele Thompson of Barbados, the bronze medalist in the men’s 100 in the 2000 Olympics at Sydney, Australia, won the event in 10.08.

James Parker threw a career best of 247 feet 1 inch to win the men’s hammer, Angela Whyte, ran 12.84 to win the women’s 100 hurdles and Yuliana Perez bounded a wind-aided 46-0 3/4 to win the women’s triple jump.

-- John Ortega