STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Stony Brook sprinter Amanda Stead had been only a few strides from the finish line and an America East indoor championship in the 400 meters last weekend when her legs stopped cooperating.

"I went into the race with pretty high hopes," she recalled. "The whole season was leading into that moment. I think I'm going to win it. The start was great. The first split was my fastest ever. And then it just came to a point where my body just kind of stopped and I fell. I was literally five or so meters from the finish, which was really disappointing.

"I was really upset about it, obviously."

Stead, a junior from Miller Place, picked herself up with scrapes on both legs and a shoulder.

With finishing a requirement in order to be eligible for the rest of the day's events, Stead crossed the finish line last among the eight competitors — six seconds behind the seventh-place finisher, with a time of 1:04.05.

She then did not allow the setback to affect the rest of her meet.

Only an hour later, Stead had regained her composure and won the America East title in the 200 meters, besting her own school record with a time of 24.18 to edge Albany's Chidinma Matthew (24.27).

"The first 10 minutes after the 400, I obviously was really upset," Stead said. "But then I had to just think, 'I have to put that to the side.' It's championship season. You can't really be feeling sorry for yourself. Within the next 50 minutes or so I was like, 'I have to win this' — not only to redeem myself, but I wanted to show everybody I wasn't going to cower. I was really motivated to run the 200.

"It was going to be close between me and Chidinma from Albany. I had a chance to win. But I was extra-motivated. And I used that to get that extra push and get the title."

The conference title was the second of Stead's career. She had won the outdoor championship in the 400 as a sophomore last spring.

She also set the program indoor record in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:13.72 at the Terrier Classic earlier this winter, which qualified her for next weekend's ECAC Indoor Championships.

"This season was very good for me," Stead said.

As for her tumble in Boston at the America East Championship, Stead concluded: "You push yourself so much and your legs can only lift so much and I just fell. It wasn't like I was tripped or anything. It was one of those things."