The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) will host the 2017 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Championships Thursday through Saturday, May 4-6, at the Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C.
Competition will begin on Thursday at 1 p.m. with the beginning of the men’s decathlon, and the women’s heptathlon will start at 1:15 p.m. The men’s discus will follow at 2:30 p.m., with the women’s high jump and discus kicking off at 4:30 p.m.
Semifinals of the women’s 400-meter hurdles will follow at 5:30 p.m., with the men’s 400-meter hurdles semifinals at 5:50 p.m. The men’s high jump will begin at 6 p.m., and semifinals of women’s and men’s 200-meter dash will begin at 6:10 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively.
The day will wrap up at 7 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. with the women’s and men’s 10,000-meter run.
Friday’s action will kick off at 9 a.m. with the continuation of the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon. Field events will start at 11:30 a.m. with the women’s long jump and shot put, and running events will kick off at 2:50 p.m. with the semifinals of the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
The day will wrap up at 6 p.m. with the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The competition wraps up on Saturday at 9 a.m. with the women’s pole vault, after which the finale for the men’s pole vault, men’s and women’s triple jump and men’s and women’s javelin will be held. Track events will start at 1 p.m. with the running of the women’s 4×100-meter relay.
The women’s 4x400m relay and men’s 4×400-meter relay, at 4:35 and 4:55 p.m., respectively, will wrap up the event. The awards ceremony will immediately follow the last event.
Bethune-Cookman is the back-to-back-to-back MEAC Track & Field Champions on the men’s side and is looking to extend its streak in 2017. While that’s an impressive feat, they still have a ways to go as Norfolk State won seven straight from 2006 to 2012 under head coach Kenneth Giles.
Florida A&M has won the past two MEAC Championships on the women’s side and a win in 2017 would mark the second time in six seasons that a team has accomplished a three-peat as Hampton won three straight from 2012-2014.
Only South Carolina State and Hampton have won five consecutive outdoor titles in MEAC history on the women’s side.
After winning both the men’s and women’s MEAC Championship on the indoor side this past winter, North Carolina A&T State sets out to capture its first men’s title since 1996 and first women’s title since 1995.
A complete schedule of events for the 2017 MEAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships is available at www.MEACSports.com