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LANDOVER, Md. – The Norfolk State men's track and field team extended its own record by winning its eighth straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Indoor Championship on Saturday, when the Spartans won five event titles to pull away from the field at the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex.

Juniors Nathnael Meseret and James Taylor each won a pair of individual races on Saturday to help the Spartans cruise to the win with 152.5 points, 67.5 ahead of runner-up Hampton. Taylor also helped the Spartans win the 4x400 meter relay to close the meet for the second consecutive year.

Meseret was named the MEAC Indoor Most Outstanding Men's Runner by capturing the mile and 3,000-meter races Saturday. He also placed second in the 5,000m on Thursday and ran the anchor leg on the victorious distance medley team on Friday, thus contributing 30.5 points to the team's total. Meseret's wining times on Saturday were 4 minutes, 19.21 seconds in the mile and 8:41.80 in the 3,000.

Taylor won a pair of individual gold medals on Saturday and still has not been beaten in any individual event this indoor season. He clocked a time of 6.75 seconds to defend his 2012 title in the 60 meters, then came back roughly half an hour later to post a time of 21.22 seconds to win the 200 meters. Taylor won the 60m in all four meets he competed in this indoor season, won the 200m both times he entered the event, and also won the 400 in his lone competition at that distance, as well. He did not run the 400m this weekend.

Taylor capped off his impressive day by anchoring the victorious 4x400 relay squad, which also included freshman Damian Smith, senior Keith Nkrumah and senior Kenneth Smith. Those four posted a winning time of 3:16.19.

"Our very young team came of age this weekend," said NSU head coach Kennth Giles, who was named MEAC Most Outstanding Men's Coach for the 26th time in his career. "But when you have 'Kobe' (Meseret) and 'LeBron' (Taylor), anything is possible. It was a total team effort, just a great job by our supporting cast and the best staff in the conference."

NSU also displayed its depth Saturday. The Spartans had three men score in the 200 meters, with Damian Smith backing up Taylor with a fourth-place finish in 21.89 seconds. Kenneth Smith was seventh in 22.32.

NSU also had five runners place in the top eight in the 3,000 meters. Aside from Meseret, Damtew Adnew placed third (8:51.99), Kipchirchir Kiptoo finished fourth (9:01.17), Sammy Kiptoo was fifth (9:01.87) and Amos Kipkosgei placed eighth (9:12.05) as NSU amassed 26 points in that event.

The Spartans earned two other top-five finishes on Saturday. Freshman Willard Ward tied for fourth in the pole vault with a personal-best clearance of 13 feet, 6.25 inches. And in a bit of an upset, Nkrumah, the top seed in the 60m hurdles, placed third in a time of 7.93 seconds.

All told, NSU won eight of the 17 events contested over the weekend, which included wins by Jamarian Bates in Thursday's long jump competition in addition to John James' high jump victory and the DMR win on Friday. The Spartans scored at least one point in 14 of 17 events.

This is the 26th conference title that the Spartans have won under Giles' tutelage (11 cross country, eight indoor track, seven outdoor track).

"It's a little sad to say, but the expectation in this program is, it's a failure if we don't win the championship because of the tradition we have established," Giles said. "But we met that expectation with a very young team, and I couldn't be prouder."