PUEBLO, CO. – Elliot Dotson of the Anderson University men's track and field team is getting set to compete in the 5,000m at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships on Saturday (May 27).
29 men and 11 women have been selected from the South Atlantic Conference to compete in the championships. Anderson, Carson-Newman, Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne, Limestone, Tusculum, and Wingate are all sending male participants while Carson-Newman, Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne, and Wingate are sending female participants.
Dotson, a freshman from Greenville, S.C., posted his qualifying time for the 5,000m at the Virginia Challenge (Apr. 21) with a time of 13:57.18 to break the Anderson school record. This season, Dotson has also set the outdoor 1,500m record (3:49.74) at High Point, the indoor mile record (4:08.55) at the Carolina Challenge and the indoor 3,000m record (8:17.93) at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston.
"Elliot has had one of the best freshmen campaigns in Anderson history," said coach Kevin Eagle. "He is currently ranked as the No.1 true freshman in the 5K for the entire NCAA. He has done everything we have asked of him all year. Elliot has earned this trip to nationals by not settling and is determined to be the best in the country. I know that whatever the outcome is on Saturday, Elliot will lay everything he has out on that track."
The NCAA National Outdoor Championships is a three-day event, ranging from today until Saturday (May 25-27) in Pueblo, Colorado. Elliot Dotson will run the 5,000m on May 27 as the 13th ranked runner. Dotson is in a field of 21 runners, joining two runners from Wingate University in Hamza Chahid (No.2 at 13:33.32) and Scott Nutter (No.11 at 13:54.39) as the only ones representing the South Atlantic Conference. The event is slated for 8:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. eastern) with live results available at autrojans.com.
