Results | Final Decathlon Standings | Final Heptathlon Standings | Championship Central | FloTrack

GREENSBORO, N.C., May 3, 2019—Friday’s action in the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Irwin Belk Track set the stage for what should be an exciting final day, with the Bethune-Cookman men and Florida A&M women leading the way.
 
Bethune-Cookman leads the men’s standings after two days with 91 points, while two-time defending champion North Carolina A&T State is second with 67 points. Norfolk State (64.5), Morgan State (22.5) and North Carolina Central (17) round out the top five.
 
Defending champion Florida A&M leads the women’s standings with 120.5 points, behind the strength of stellar efforts in the field events – throwing events, specifically – and distance races. Bethune-Cookman is second with 75 points, followed by North Carolina A&T State (51.5), Norfolk State (18) and North Carolina Central (10.5) to round out the top five.
 
Friday, despite not being known as championship day, still saw plenty of standout performances.
 
Trevor Stewart of North Carolina A&T State turned in the nation’s best time in the preliminaries of the 400 meters, pacing the field with a MEAC-record 44.40 and leading by more than a second.
 
The women’s 400-meter preliminaries saw the Aggies’ Tori Ray pace the field with a 52.89.
 
In the men’s 100-meter preliminaries, Rodney Rowe of North Carolina A&T State and Joseph Amoah of Coppin State, two of the nation’s best, posted times of 10.08 and 10.09, respectively. Rowe and Amoah advanced to Saturday’s final with the seventh- and eighth-best times in the nation.
 
Demek Kemp of South Carolina State, who boasts the second-best time in the nation, qualified with a 10.34.
 
On the women’s side, Norfolk State’s Kiara Grant turned in a MEAC-record 11.07 to pace the preliminaries, turning in what is now the fourth-fastest time in the nation. North Carolina A&T State’s Kayla White, who is top-five nationally in both the 100 and the 200, ran an 11.16 to post the second-fastest time.
 
Her teammate Cambrea Sturgis ran an 11.19, ninth-fastest in the nation.
 
In the women’s 800 meters, Norfolk State’s Martha Bissah turned in the top preliminary time with a 2:04.82 – which would currently rank 17^th in the nation. The men’s preliminaries at that distance saw North Carolina A&T State’s Regan Kimtai pace the field with a 1:51.31.
 
Madeleine Akobundu of North Carolina A&T State ran a 12.87 in the preliminaries of the women’s 100-meter hurdles, the only runner to break the 13-second mark, with a time that would currently rank her tied for fourth in the nation.
 
The Aggies posted the three fastest preliminary times in that event; TeJyrica Robinson was second with a 13.23 and Paula Salmon ran a 13.51 for the third-fastest time.
 
In the men’s 110-meter hurdles, the Aggies’ Michael Dickson ran a 13.79 to post the fastest preliminary time, followed by a 13.94 from Coppin State’s Aaron Lewis. Dickson and Lewis were the only two runners to break the 14-second mark.
 
Quamecha Morrison followed Thursday’s MEAC title in the high jump with another gold medal on Friday – this one in the heptathlon, in which she racked up 4,610 points.
 
In fact, Bethune-Cookman swept both multi events, as Marc McCoy took the men’s decathlon with 5,526 points. His teammate Brent Heholt made it a 1-2 finish for the Wildcats in the decathlon, recording 5,283 points.
 
Taylor Gorum of Florida A&M also saw her second gold medal of the weekend on Friday, taking the women’s shot put with a distance of 14.78 meters (48 feet, 9.5 inches). Another Rattler won the women’s hammer throw, with Alelee Figueroa recording a distance of 50.42 meters (165 feet, five inches) to take gold.
 
Derrick Wheeler set a new conference record in the men’s hammer throw, tossing it 54.30 meters (178 feet, two inches) to take the gold medal. The Aggies were 1-2 in that event, as Kevin Fofanah was second at 50.45 meters (165 feet, six inches).
 
North Carolina A&T State’s Aaron Wilkerson tossed the shot put 16.60 meters (54 feet, 5.5 inches) to take the men’s event.
 
Akobundu gave the Aggies another title, winning the women’s long jump with a distance of 6.21 meters (20 feet, 4.5 inches). G’Jasmyne Butler then closed out the women’s portion of the day by winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:23.22.
 
Bobby Price of Norfolk State took gold in the men’s long jump on Friday, leaping 7.88 meters (25 feet, 10.25 inches).
 
Bethune-Cookman’s Carlin Berryhill wrapped up Friday’s slate by winning gold in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, running a 9:29.06 to edge Norfolk State’s Evans Cheruiyot – Thursday’s champion in the 10,000 meters – by 19 seconds.
 
Saturday’s action starts at 9 a.m. with the women’s pole vault. Running events start with the women’s 4x100-meter relay at 1 p.m. FloTrack will have live coverage on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.