PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - One day after the Norfolk State women qualified for the Penn Relays Championship of America 4x100 meter relay final, the men followed suit on Friday at Franklin Field.

The Spartan men placed second in their heat and fifth overall out of more than 70 teams entered in Friday's preliminaries. The team of Keith Nkrumah, Damian Smith, James Taylor and Kenneth Smith clocked a season-best time of 40.48 seconds, second only to LSU (39.68) in heat 3. By finishing in the top eight, NSU advances to Saturday's Championship of America 4x100 final.

The same quartet of runners also ran in the 4x400 heats Friday, placing 23rd out of 69 teams with a time of 3:13.16.

Also on Friday, Nkrumah placed 10th out of 25 runners in the men's 110 meter hurdles (14.20) and Jamarian Bates finished 14th in the college men's long jump (21 feet, 5.25 inches).