Norfolk State and Coppin State claim 2024 MEAC Championship
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Four individual champions were crowned on day one of the three-day Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Indoor Track & Field championships.
The day began with the men’s heptathlon events which will conclude on Monday.
The women’s 5,000-meter race kicked off next with Norfolk State claiming a one, two, three finish led by Mercyline Kimaiyo who finished the race in a time of 17:23.58 and was just 3.34 seconds away from tying the championship record.
Finishing second and third were teammates Yvone Sandui and Abigael Chebet with Howard’s Joslyn Crosby and Delaware State’s Ashley Lagat rounding out the top five.
The men’s 5,000-meter race followed with the Spartans taking first with Raphael Kitur narrowly edging out North Carolina Central’s Meshack Kuyo who claimed second. NSU’s Gidion Sigei and Victor Jumo finished third and fourth while Howard’s Wendesen King closed out the top five.
The preliminary races for the men’s and women’s 200m dash concluded with the top eight times advancing to Tuesday’s final. The fastest time for the women came from Kailai Collins of Howard finishing in 23.83 seconds. On the men’s side, Norfolk State’s Kai Cole, 2023 men’s 200m champion led the field with a time of 21.05 seconds.
Closing out day one was the women’s and men’s long jump events. Picking up the win in the women’s long jump was Indya Richards from Norfolk State with a season best mark of 5.93m. Claiming second place was Ija Mumford from Howard with a mark of 5.78m, while fellow Spartan Nyla Ward claimed third with a jump of 5.72m.
In the men’s long jump Coppin State’s Jeff Hammond claimed gold with a mark of 7.52m. Howard’s Kyle Fisher took silver jumping 7.36m while fellow Bison Sean Wray took home the bronze with a mark of 7.24m.
At the conclusion of the first day, Norfolk State sat atop the leaderboard on both sides with the men collecting 28 team points and the women tallying 40.
Day two of the action begins at 9 AM with the men’s heptathlon 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m race.
