VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Gallaudet University All-American men's sprinter Eric Gregory (Metairie, La.) flew to the 200-meter dash final after he posted the fastest time in the preliminaries with a time of 21.36 seconds here Friday evening at the 2024 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
Gregory ran in the fifth and final heat and knew what time he needed to post to make sure he was one of the top eight times to advance to Saturday's final. Gregory just didn't make the cut for the final, he will be the No. 1 seed as he crossed the finish line in 21.36 seconds. Gregory was a thousandths of a second ahead of nemesis Sam Blaskowski from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who ran in the first heat and posted a season best time of 21.37 seconds.
Blaskowski and Gregory have history in this event as the duo finished second and third, respectively, in last year's 200-meter dash indoor championship as the they had the same time of 21.16 seconds. Blaskowski's official time was 21.154 compared to Gregory's 21.157.
The duo will be the favorites heading into Saturday's 5:30 p.m. final. The top eight finishers will earn All-American honors.
Gregory and Blaskowski will be able to settle things on the track head-to-head as they run side-by-side in the second heat of two on Saturday. Gregory will be in Lane 5 with Blaskowski to Gregory's right in Lane 6. The pair will be joined by Roanoke junior Brady Fowler (21.67) in Lane 3 and Rhodes senior TJ Clayton (21.53) in Lane 4.
In the first heat, the favorite will be University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh junior Londyn Little (21.47), who posted the third fastest time on Friday and will be lined up in Lane 5 on Saturday. Little won the second heat on Friday and right behind him in the same heat was Trine senior Jake Gladieux (21.53), who will be to Little's right in Lane 6 on Saturday. The other two runners in Heat 1 will be Olivet senior Jordon Brown (21.70) in Lane 3 and UW-La Crosse junior Luke Schroeder (21.54), who won the third heat on Friday as he gutted out a performance after going down in the hurdles event earlier in the afternoon.
The NCAA Division III indoor track and field championship record in the men's 200-meter dash is 20.72 seconds and it is held by Cheikna Traore from Ramapo College of New Jersey, who set the mark in last year's finals. The time is also the all-time NCAA Division III mark. The facility record is 20.55 seconds set by Makanakaishe Charamba.
Gregory has won back-to-back 400-meter dash national championships (2022, 2023) during the outdoor season and placed third in the 200-meter dash (outdoor) in 2022. Gregory has four All-American honors to his credit between outdoor and indoor.
The NCAA will be providing live results and video during the two-day championships at NCAA.com. See links below for direct links.
2024 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship Information
