GREENSBORO, N.C. – Evans Cheruiyot and Jaylen Banks capped their strong showings at the MEAC Outdoor Championships with gold medals in the 5,000 meters and 400-meter hurdles, respectively, on Saturday's final day of competition on the campus of North Carolina A&T.

The Spartans finished third in the team race with 135.5 points. North Carolina A&T won with 211 points and Bethune-Cookman was second with 178.

Cheruiyot won his second title of the meet Saturday to earn MEAC Co-Men's Most Outstanding Runner honors along with Bethune-Cookman's Carlin Berryhill. Cheruiyot, who won the 10,000 meters on Thursday and took second in the 3,000m steeplechase on Friday, led a 1-2-3 Spartan sweep of the medals with a time of 15:00.80 in the 5,000m. That represents a season-best for the freshman.

Cheruiyot is the first Spartan male to earn MEAC Outdoor Most Outstanding Runner honors since hurdler Keith Nkrumah in 2012.

Just like in the 10K Thursday, freshman Meshack Kipchirchir (15:02.14) took second and Anteneh Girma third (15:18.38) in the 5K. Lelei Too made it four Spartans in the top five with a fifth-place showing (15:50.82). Earlier in the day, Too placed third in the 1,500 (3:57.68).

After setting a PR of 51.08 seconds in Thursday's prelims, Banks was even better Saturday. He crossed the line in 50.43 seconds, establishing a new PR and running the second-fastest time in the NCAA East Region through Friday's results. The time also ranks 11th nationally. Banks also took a bronze medal with a PR of 14.03 seconds in the 110m hurdles.

Sophomore Trequan Barnes had NSU's top finish in the sprints, as he placed fourth in the 400 meters in a season-best time of 46.15 seconds. That also matches his PR and should cement his place at the NCAA East Preliminary Round. Barnes also teamed with Banks, Justin Pinder and Keith Brown for a fourth-place finish and season-best time in the 4x400 relay (3:13.24).

Junior Festus Bett scored the lone points for NSU in the field events on Saturday, using a personal-best throw of 170 feet, 5 inches to finish as the javelin runner-up.

Banks, Barnes, Brown (100m), Bobby Price (long jump) and Jacob Milton (high jump) are all in position to qualify for the NCAA East Preliminary Round when entries are announced in another week.