Rowan’s Rajahn Dixon from Eastern, Eli Hendricks from Penns Grove advance to 200 final at NCAA Division 3 Nationals!!!!!!

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Rowan’s freshman Rajahn Dixon from Eastern and sophomore Eli Hendricks from Penns Grove advanced to the 200-meter dash finals at the NCAA Division 3 Championships Thursday in Geneva, Ohio.

Racing in the second of three semifinals, Dixon clocked a lifetime-best 21.13 with a legal 0.0 wind, the 2nd-fastest time in Rowan history behind school record holder Jah’mere Beasley from Sterling, who ran 20.91 on the same track at SPIRE Academy in both the semis and finals at 2022 NCAA Division 3 Nationals.

Dixon’s previous PR was a 21.22 in a last-chance meet last week at Widener University in Chester, Pa. His high school PR was 21.40 last May at the Camden County Championships at Haddon Township, and his wind-legal high school PR was 21.57 at West Philly Nationals in June of 2023. So he’s nearly half a second faster now than in high school.

Dixon was the 3rd-fastest qualifier into the final, behind only Samuel Blaskowski of Wisconsin La Crosse, the Division 3 record holder at 100 meters and No. 2 all-time in the 200, who ran 20.56 in the first heat, and Kevin Arthur of St. John’s of Collegeville, Minn., who ran 21.07 in the third.

Hendricks was 2nd to Blaskowski in the first heat in 21.22, making him the 6th-fastest in the trials and 3rd-fastest “small-q” qualifier. He also ran with a 0.0 wind reading and raced within 1-100th of a second of his lifetime-best 21.21, also from the last-chance meet at Widener last week.

Earlier in the day, Hendricks ran on Rowan’s school-record 400-meter relay team, which advanced to Sunday’s final with the 11th-fastest time in NCAA Division 3 history. That story is here.

The 200 final is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. on Saturday.

Here’s the current all-time Rowan top-5, with three of the top four coming this month:

20.91 … Jah’mere Beasley [Sterling], NCAA Division 3, Geneva, Ohio, May 28, 2022 [+1.9]
21.13 … Rajahn Dixon [Eastern], NCAA Division 3 prelims, Geneva, Ohio., May 22, 2025 [+0.0]
21.18 … Shamar Love [Bridgeton], NJAC Championships, Ewing, May 3, 2025 [+1.4]
21.21 … Eli Hendricks [Penns Grove], Widener Final Qualifier, Chester, Pa., May 12, 2025 [+0.5]
21.28 … Charles Cooper [Paulsboro], NCAA Division 3, Berea, Ohio, May 26, 1979 [N/A]

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