ANDERSON, S.C. – Elliot Dotson of the Anderson University men's track and field team will be racing in the USATF U20 National Championships on Sunday (July 7) in Eugene, Oregon.
Dotson, a freshman from Greenville, S.C., will be competing in the 5,000m. Elliot recently capped off a successful freshman season which concluded in reaching the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in the 5,000m. His time of 13:57.18 at the Virginia Challenge qualified him for nationals and set a new Anderson school record for the event.
The top three in the race qualify for the world championships in Budapest, Hungary. Dotson enters a field of 14 runners as the No.1 seed, filled with NCAA Division I and the top high school runners in the country. Behind Dotson's top time is Aiden Smith from University of Oregon, whose best 5k time is 14:00.26. The three seed is Andrew Rogers from the University of Missouri, Columbia, with a mark of 14:08.26. Those who finish inside the top-six will have a chance to be selected to the 2023 Pan Am U20 Championships August 4-6 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
"This is a huge accomplishment for Elliot as he gets to race against some of the best runners in the country with a chance to earn himself a spot on the US National Team," said coach Kevin Eagle. "This is not necessarily a race that we have been training for as it's right in the middle of our summer XC training block, but we feel like it will be a great opportunity for this young runner as he keeps building fitness throughout the summer."
The USA U20 5,000m National Championship is slated to begin at 4:24 PT/7:24 ET on Sunday July 7th. Results can be found at autrojans.com at the conclusion of the event.
Link to full USATF U20 National Championship Information can be found here.