Final Results
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Six event victories Saturday propelled the Spartan women's track & field team to its first MEAC outdoor championship since 2001 at the Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
The Spartan women edged Hampton by one point, giving NSU a sweep of the men's and women's outdoor titles – the first time since 2001 a MEAC team has accomplished the feat. That year, it was also the Spartans who achieved that accomplishment.
Coach Ronda Berard was named the MEAC Outdoor Most Outstanding Coach for leading the Spartans to victory.
The NSU women were particularly strong in the sprints Saturday, thanks largely to the efforts of MEAC Women's Most Outstanding Track Athlete Shanneka Claiborne. She won both the 100 and 200 meters in addition to helping anchor the 4x100 relay team to victory. Claiborne followed up her PR of 11.43 in Friday's 100m semis with an 11.50 to take first in Saturday's final. She also set a PR in the 200, winning the event in 23.78 seconds.
First-year sophomore Champagne Bell, meanwhile, set a PR in the 400 and placed second with a personal-best time of 53.86 seconds. That tops her previous best time by nearly two seconds. Bell and Claiborne also teamed with Dania Sanford and Wanetta Kirby to post a season-best time of 45.41 seconds to help the Spartans win the 4x100 meter relay.
The Spartan women also continued their recent mastery of the women's pole vault, as junior Katie Wright cleared a height of 10 feet, 8 inches in winning the gold medal. Wright has now won five of the six possible pole vault titles in her career, capturing all three indoor MEAC titles and two of the three outdoor titles. Teammates Ashleigh Joseph and Andrea Saunders were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Two sophomores also came up big Saturday for the Spartans by winning their first-ever MEAC gold medals. In the discus, Kaleena Gray took first with a best effort of 140 feet, 1 inch.
Kellen Rutto won the next-to-last event of the afternoon, the 3,000 meter steeplechase, but it didn't come without drama. Initially, Rutto was credited with a second-place finish. But after meet officials conferred, it was determined that all the participants had run one additional lap. After reviewing lap cards, which showed Rutto ahead after 3,000 meters, she was declared the winner in a key reversal that helped the Spartans top Hampton by one point.
The Spartans capped their afternoon by winning their heat and placing fourth overall in the 4x400 meter relay (3:45.02).
In other events Saturday, Kirby placed third in the 100 meter hurdles in a season-best time of 13.84 seconds, and Alaina Hite was fifth in the triple jump with a season-best jump of 39 feet, 1.25 inches.
NSU will have multiple athletes as well as at least one relay team competing later this month at the NCAA East Region meet hosted by the University of Indiana.
