Hamilton's Eli Saucier '18 will compete in the 200-meter dash at this weekend's 2018 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.
The preliminary heats of the 200 meters begin at 5:15 p.m. Eastern time (4:15 Central) on Friday, March 9. The top eight qualifiers advance to Saturday's final at 5:05 p.m. Eastern time (4:05 Central). Birmingham-Southern College is the host institution.
Varsity Teams: Football and Track & Field
Honors: NESCAC Fall 2017 All-Sportsmanship Team, 2017 NESCAC Men's Track & Field All-Conference Team, 2018 NCAA Division III All-Region honoree
Hamilton Records: 200-meter dash (21.75 secs.), 60-meter dash (6.96 secs.), and 4x400-meter relay (3:20.79 secs.)
Major: Mathematics
Minor: Economics
Hometown: Douglasville, Ga.
High School: Hiram High School
According to Monday's announcement of the NCAA qualifiers, Saucier is seeded eighth among the 15 athletes in the 200 meters. He is the program's first national qualifier since Joe Jensen '15 placed fourth in the 400 meters and fifth in the 200 meters in 2015. Saucier, who finished runner-up in the 200 meters at the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference Indoor Championships on March 3, will make his first trip to the NCAA meet.
Saucier posted his qualifying time of 21.75 seconds on Feb. 25 at the Boston University Last Chance Qualifier. In the process he overcame Jensen's previous program record of 21.84 seconds, which he set at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 7, 2015.
As a Douglasville, Ga. native and two-sport student-athlete at Hamilton, Saucier is used to competing on the track and the football field 1,000 miles from home, but this weekend he will have the opportunity to win an individual national title just two hours away from his hometown.