GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dahja Price earned the gold medal in the women's heptathlon Saturday as the Norfolk State women's track and field team finished second overall at the 2021 MEAC Outdoor Championships at North Carolina A&T.

The Spartans finished with 144 points. North Carolina A&T repeated as champion with 290.

Price scored 3,974 points in her first-ever collegiate heptathlon. She was aided by a first-place finish in the long jump portion of the event on Saturday.

The Spartans collected three silver medals on the track Saturday. The 4x100 relay team of Price, Indya Richards, Kiara Grant and Malika Pride kicked it off with a time of 45.48 seconds to score eight points for their team. Pride notched a runner-up finish in the 400, blazing a new PR of 52.89 seconds to put her in position to qualify for regionals.

"Malika really re-established herself as one of the most complete sprinters in the conference this weekend," NSU Director of Track & Field Kenneth Giles said.

The other runner-up finish came via senior Martha Bissah in the 1,500. She posted a time of 4:30.50. Kara Grant was sixth in the race, and the two also both scored in the 800 – Bissah taking fourth place and Grant seventh.

NSU also had two athletes scored in the 200 meters (Pride sixth in 24.32, Kiara Grant eighth in 25.84), the 100 hurdles (Taejah Robertson sixth in 14.32, Richards eighth in 14.47) and the 5,000 (Fridah Koeech third in 18:27.27, Faith Jemutai fourth in 18:43.74). Koech and Jemutai scored in all three distance events at the meet.

In other track events, Kiara Grant placed third in the 100 in 11.32 seconds. The 4x400 relay team of Bissah, Kara Grant, Armani Harris and anchored by Pride, finished the day with a 3:51.72 clocking for fourth place in the final event.

The Spartans had several strong performances from their throwers on Saturday. Daiysa Burrell capped her career with a third-place finish in the discus (125 feet, 1 inch). Arieana Parker was fifth (120-0) and Tiara Simms seventh (113-3) in the same event. Burrell scored in three throwing events at the meet.

Simms claimed fifth (40-9) and Parker seventh (40-6.25) in the shot put.

"This season has been like no other in my career," Giles said. "With our athletes coming out of quarantine and the lack of quality training because of the pandemic made it hard for us. But I am very pleased with their performance."

The Spartans now await word on how many athletes they will take to the NCAA East Preliminary Round. The meet is May 26-29 in Jacksonville, Florida.