The North Carolina A&T track and field team placed first in three events Saturday afternoon at the MEAC Championships completing historic careers for seniors Alexandria Spruiel and Loreal Smith.Smith won her fourth overall track and field MEAC title in the 100 meter hurdles, while Calesio Newman defended his title as the fastest man in the MEAC, winning his second consecutive 100 meter title.The other first place finish included junior discuss thrower Jerrine Foster’s first Outdoor title.Despite Spruiel’s (51.95) second place finishes in the 400 meter and 4×400 relay team, her events created the most drama.In 400 meter race against Hampton national champion Francena McCorory, she lost after maintaining the lead through 200 meters.After she gave up the lead, she made a final surge just before the finish line that was not enough to surpass the national champion’s time of (51.75).”That was the closest I’ve ever come to beating her,” said Spruiel. “I wanted to get out to an early lead because I knew she had a fast kick at the end. I knew she was going to catch me. The key was to make her work hard to catch me. I wanted to take enough out of her to beat her in the end. It almost worked out that way but she held on.”Smith, who also gained the 60 meter hurdle indoor title, ran her 100 meter hurdles in (13.30).She also placed second place in the 400 meter hurdles, finishing in (58.70), and helped the 4×100 and 4×200 team in their third and second place rankings respectively.”It was exciting to go out the way I did in my final conference meet,” said Smith, who had her conference championship meet cut short last year because of an injury. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. I wasn’t going to allow anyone to come into my house and whoop me.”Unlike Smith in her final conference meeting, Newman will have a chance to defend his 100 meter crown next year as a senior.His 10.30 time gave him a tenth of a second advantage over Hampton’s Reggie Dixon. He also placed fourth in the 200 meters, finishing in 21 seconds.Foster’s first MEAC title came a week after she broke the school record in the discuss throw in the Penn Relays.  She had her best throw in 155-feet, 4-inches, which was ten feet farther than the second place finish.Other notable finishes for the Aggies also included the Men’s second place finish in the 4×400 relay.The men’s foursome ran a 3:08.21 to finish second behind Maryland-Eastern Shore’s 3:07.83.The Aggie track and field team will host the Division I track and field East Regionals on May 29-30.

• Daniel Henderson