NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State University cross country teams will compete at the 2021 MEAC Championships this Friday in Cary, N.C. at WakeMed Soccer Park.

The championships will begin with the women's 5K race at 11 a.m., with the men's 8K race following at 11:45. The top 15 runners from each race will be named All-MEAC.

The Spartans are defending MEAC champion for both the men and the women, having swept the titles back in 2019 – the last year the MEAC Cross Country Championships were held due to COVID-19.

The Spartan men have won a conference-record 13 cross country titles and will be searching for their third in the last five years this week. Norfolk State also boasts the two best 8K times for the men so far this season. Junior Meshack Kipchirchir, the 2019 conference individual champion, clocked a time of 25:28.9 and Evans Cheruiyot, also a junior, clocked at 25:30.1 at the Virginia X23 Invitational.

The next Spartan in the rankings is senior Lelei Too in seventh with his time at 26:37.9. Immediately behind him is sophomore Isa Suleiman, who has posted a top time of 26:44.8. Senior Kamil Jihad is in 11th with 27:01.0 time.

Kipchirchir, Cheruiyot and Too all earned All-MEAC honors in 2019.

The Spartans hold two out of three top spots in the women's 5K this season. Near the top of the women's cross country leaderboard is junior Fridah Koech in second with an 18:27.0, and her teammate, junior Kara Grant is third with a time of 19:21.5. Both times came at the Virginia X23 Invitational. Redshirt senior Martha Bissah is also making her season debut in hopes of winning her record fourth individual title in a row.

In the last championship Bissah finished first in the race at 17:44.38. Koech picked up her second straight All-MEAC honor by finishing fourth. Grant also earned All-MEAC honors, crossing the line 13th.

On Wednesday, the MEAC announced its 2021 Cross Country All-Academic Team. The Spartans had 10 athletes who have the requisite 3.0 cumulative GPA to earn recognition. They are:

Evans Cheruiyot
Kara Grant
Faith Jemutai
Kamil Jihad
Meshack Kipchirchir
Ashah Koech
Fridah Koech
Isa Suleiman
Lelei Too
Tynniesia Wilson