With athletes from across the country turning their fun attention to outdoor track, recent history shows that times in the 400m start to get a whole lot faster come April.
This year has been a bit rough on some states, with many athletes not being able to compete as fast as they'd like due to weather, but we've still seen this trend of quick times in April continue.
2017 was a particularly fast year with talents like Norco's (CA) Shae Anderson, Miami Southridge's (FL) Symone Mason, and Westlake's (GA) Kennedy Simon all running sub-53 seconds. It was the first year three girls ran sub-53 in the month of April.
There are no girls sub-53 this April, but we have yet to see some of the big names from indoor even touch the track. Arria Minor is one of those big names who ran 52.74 during the indoor season.
This April we can expect to see the fast times continue as more athletes start running and others hit championship season.
Below is the number of girls who ran sub-53 seconds during the month of April for the last five years.
- 2018: 0 under 53 seconds, 6 under 54 seconds (current through 18 days)
- 2017: 3 under 53 seconds, 6 under 54 seconds
- 2016: 1 under 53 seconds, 11 under 54 seconds
- 2015: 0 under 53 seconds, 3 under 54 seconds
- 2014: 0 under 53 seconds, 3 under 54 seconds
- 2013: 0 under 53 seconds, 5 under 54 seconds