STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Mae Thompson broke her meet record as she defended her 800m title at the Northeast Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships and the Fairleigh Dickinson women's track and field team finished third with 87 points. 

"Our women stepped up today and demonstrated what it means to a Knight," said head coach Sharlene Milwood-Lee. They left everything they had on the track and the field. I am incredibly proud of them and their accomplishments over the past two days."

Sacred Heart won the team title with 126.66 points. LIU Brooklyn was second after totaling 109.5 points. 

The third-place finish is the best indoor finish since 1999 when the Knights won the team title. The women did finish third at last season's NEC Outdoor Championships. 

Thompson crossed the line in 2:11.60 to break the meet record that she set last season by six-tenths of a second. The junior's margin of victory was close to three seconds over Jacklyn Sullivan of Bryant. 

Sarakaye Freeman won the long jump on day one and finished in fourth (11.25m) in the triple jump on Saturday to score five more points for the Knights. In her exploits jumping -- collecting 15 points -- earned the sophomore Most Outstanding Performer in the jumps on the women's side. 

Joining Thompson in the 800m final was Atara Segree, who finished in fourth in a time of 2:14.91. The time is a new personal-best for Segree by over three seconds. 

Freeman led a trio of Knights that scored points in the triple jump for Fairleigh Dickinson. Freeman was fourth and followed by Anika Dwyer in fifth (11.04m) and Madeline Price in eighth (10.91m). The Knights grabbed ten team points from the trio. 

Decoda Simpson finished second and grabbed eight points for the Knights in the shot put. The junior threw for a distance of 13.78m. The mark is an ECAC qualifying mark for Simpson. It is the fifth time that Simpson has done that. 

On the track, the Knights captured five other podium finishes besides Thompson's win in the 800m. 

Ashley McGuire recorded two of those podiums. The junior finished second in the 400m (57.21) and third in the 20m (25.39). Both times are season-bests for McGuire and allowed her to collect 14 points for Fairleigh Dickinson. 

Mary Johnson got a third-place finish in the 60m dash after crossing the line in 7.72 seconds. Johnson was just two-thousandths of a second from second place and three-thousandths behind first. The senior also scored two points for Fairleigh Dickinson in the 200m with a seventh-place finish (33.05). 

The fourth and fifth podiums came via a pair of relays for the women. Fairleigh Dickinson finished second in the 4x400 relay with a team of Serwaa Syers, Segree, Thompson, and Price crossed the line in a time of 3:55.55. The time is the quickest turned in the Knights in the 4x400. In the DMR, Ariela Sutherland teamed up with Thompson, McGuire, and Segree to finish in third in a time of 12:20.78. That time is a season-best for Fairleigh Dickinson in the DMR. 

Fairleigh Dickinson returns to action next Saturday, February 25 for the Fastrack Last Chance, which will also be held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex like this weekend's NEC Championships.