Here are 400m PBs for our other top quarter-milers outside of the top 5 (Cedenio, Lendore, L. Gordon, Quow & Solomon) who all have sub-45 PB's set within last couple years:-
Zwede Hewitt 45.51 set in 2011
Carlyle Roudette 45.66 set in 2014
Jereem Richards 45.91 set in 2015
Ade Alleyne-Forte 46.13 set in 2013
Jehue Gordon 46.43 set in 2010
Jacob St Claire 46.73 set in 2015
Notice that Jehue Gordon 400m PB is still in the 46.xx band and that everyone else except St Clair currently have better 400m PBs than Jehue.
Also note that the Olympic standard is 45.40 and that Hewitt, Roudette and Richards are all nearer to the Olympic standard than Jehue so based upon that info alone I can't see Jehue being part of our 4x4 relay pool unless one of our top 6 quarter-milers ahead of him get injured in Rio and Jehue is brought in as a last minute replacement because he is already part of our Olympic team as a 400m Hurdler.
I don't think anyone should be included in our 4x4 relay pool this year unless they have made the Olympic standard of 45.40 during the 2016 season and also place in the top 6 at National Trials.
We now have a world class Men's 4x4 relay squad and need to keep to these high standards if we want to mine gold in the 4x4 final in Rio and beyond.
This will be the case especially if one, two or all of our top 3 quarter-milers also make it to the 400m Olympic Final as we would need to rest them in the 4x4 Heats depending on the Olympic events schedule and still be able to win our Olympic 4x4 Heat without the participation of one, two or all three of our top 3 quarter-milers.
For argument sake lets say Cedenio, Lendore, L. Gordon, Quow, Solomon & Carlyle Roudette are our top 6 at National Trials in June and all run the Olympic standard of 45.40 during the 2016 season and so get selected to our 4x4 relay pool to Rio and the top 3 at national Trials who get selected to run the individual 400m are Cedenio, Lendore, L. Gordon and they all make the 400m Final.
I would rest all three of our 400m finalists in the 4x4 Heats and would bring in Jehue Gordon and run this team:-
1st leg Quow, 2nd leg Solomon, 3rd leg Roudette and 4th leg Jehue Gordon;
In the 4x4 Final I would go with our A+ squad:-
1st leg Quow, 2nd leg L. Gordon, 3rd leg Lendore and 4th leg Cedenio;
Whoever runs the last leg should naturally be whoever wins the 400m Final at National Trials.
In addition that person will need to get their 400m PB down to near 44 flat this season to be able to match the likes of Merritt of the USA on the last leg of the 4x4 and so maintain any lead that we may have on the USA at the end of the 3rd leg.
With this in mind I am hoping that all three of our top quarter-milers who will represent us in Rio this year reduce their 400m PB and that at least one of them break the current national record of 44.21 set by Ian Morris back in 1992.
I would also suggest that the NAAA includes a motivational figure and coach like Ian Morris as one of our relay coaching staff this year if we are seriously about maximizing our chances of mining gold in the 4x4 in Rio.