Dorsett finishes collegiate career with bronze medal, second All-American honor

MARION, Ind. — Charles Dorsett III capped off a stellar senior season and highly-decorated collegiate career Friday, grabbing a bronze medal finish and All-American designation with a third-place mark in the 800 meters during the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Indiana Wesleyan University. He is the first All-American in program history.

"Charles has built the foundation of the program since he's been here," TAMUT Track & Field coach Natnael Amare said. "He had a great cross-country season where he was All-Conference, qualifying for the national championships and he was the top-ranked runner going to the national championships. Now he has become the first All-American in the history of the program. I am so proud of what he's accomplished – finishing his second degree in engineering while raising his daughter and working at the hospital. Again … unbelievable. He is truly going be missed in this program and now his big goal is to see if he can make the Olympic trials in Tennessee."

Dorsett was an All-American in 2022 at Texas Wesleyan before transferring to A&M-Texarkana for the 2022-23 academic year and qualified for nationals a year ago. In his final collegiate race, he clocked a time of 1:50.47 to make it to the medal stand just 1.06 seconds behind the winner.

A leader for the Eagles' Men's Cross-Country program as well, Dorsett won the Red River Athletic Conference cross country title in November, helping the Eagles to a second-place finish as a team. He was twice named RRAC Runner of the Week during the cross-country season.

During Friday's race, the senior from Fort Worth ran sixth through the first 400 meters but stayed consistent as others fell off during the last 400 to move into the top three.

Dorsett will leave Texarkana as the most decorated Cross Country and Track & Field athlete in program history.