2019-20 MEAC Weekly Indoor Track & Field Notes

Photo by Erin Mizelle



NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 30, 2020--The grind of the 2019-20 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) indoor track & field season continues this week with nine programs in action as the 2020 MEAC Indoor Championships creep ever closer.
 
On Friday, Maryland Eastern Shore will run in the UMES Combines and Multi Events and Norfolk State will be in the Penn State National Open.
 
The schedule will ramp up on Saturday, with South Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State participating in the South Carolina Invite and Delaware State going to the Villanova Invite. Morgan State and Howard will run in the Navy Invitational II and Coppin State participating in the BU Scarlet and White Invitational.
 
On Sunday, Florida A&M will participate in the Jaguar Invitational.
 
The North Carolina A&T State are ranked top-10 nationally after this past week, coming in at No. 9 in the weekly U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) rankings. The NCAT women are 30^th nationally in that poll.
 
The Aggies are also well-represented in the FloTrack poll, with the men in 10^th and the women’s tied for 17^th. The Coppin State men are ranked No. 21 in the nation by FloTrack.
 
North Carolina A&T State’s Randolph Ross continues to lead the nation in the men’s 400 meters with that blistering 45.85 he ran at the beginning of January. Ross was also part of the Aggies’ 4x400-meter relay squad that ran a national-best 3:06.06 this past weekend at Virginia Tech.
 
NCAT’s Jaylan Mitchell ran a 6.60 in the men’s 60 meters at the Hokie Invitational this past weekend, and he sits third in the nation in that event. He was named MEAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week for his efforts.
 
Coppin State’s Joseph Amoah turned in a 20.87 this past weekend in the men’s 200 meters and currently ranks eighth in the nation, and Bethune-Cookman’s Jordan Williams is 11^th in the men’s 400 meters with a time of 46.94.
 
This past week’s MEAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week, Bethune-Cookman’s JaQuaveon Beachem, shined in the triple jump at 15.63 meters this past weekend at the KMS Invitational – that mark is the best in the MEAC and 20^th-best in the nation.
 
On the women’s side, NCAT’s Cambrea Sturgis is second in the 60 meters with that 7.15 she ran earlier this month, while Norfolk State’s Kiara Grant is second in the nation at 200 meters (23.25) and sixth at 60 meters (7.22).
 
The Aggies’ Madeleine Akobundu, the MEAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Week, currently sits third in the nation in the women’s 60-meter hurdles after running an 8.08 this past weekend. Her teammate Paula Salmon is fourth nationally at 8.09.
 
Norfolk State’s Martha Bissah ranks fifth in 800 meters at 2:05.68.
 
Rachel Robertson of Florida A&M is second in the nation and among the nation’s best in the women’s high jump after clearing 1.70 meters this past weekend at the KMS Invitational and earning MEAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week honors.