Advice on cameras for a photojournalist?

I'm a sophomore in college, majoring in photojournalism. My goal is to eventually become a sports photographer and I know I'll need to get like a Nikon D700 one day but right now I can't afford that. So I've been looking at entry-level cameras and I was wondering if a Nikon D5100 would suffice? I'm currently just doing regular photojournalism along with some sports. Can a Nikon D5100 work well out on the field and in the gym? Any recommendations on other cameras in the price range of the D5100?

I believe the D5100 is an upper level, entry level camera. And a very good one. I have the D5000, and have no complaints with it.
I've seen the D5100 online as low as $550.

Canon 60d is a great camera! I used it recently at a major tennis event in Tokyo. I found it was the lens that needs more attention! I originally used a 70-200mm 2.8 IS and that worked great, but then I used a 300mm and that was amazing! So I guess for entry level a 60d with a 70-200 mm 2.8 you don't really need the IS as you are shooting at high speeds anyway. But even as entry level if you are covering sports photography you have to have that 70-200mm lens at least.

I don't know anything about Nikon sorry.

There are four camera in the price range of the D5100 (or D5200) that you should really be looking at. Nikon's D5200 (and older D5100) and Canon's T4i (and older T3i) are the two most common and there's little between then, though if you were to nit pick the Nikons perform a little better. You also have the Sony SLT-A57 which adds far better video to the mix, but at the expense of an electronic viewfinder that lags just enough for sports photography to start getting awkward. The joker in the pack is the Pentax K30, just a capable as the Nikon and Canon offerings, but with a more robust and weather proof body. I have to agree with the earlier poster though, that if you are going to be shooting sports you'll need to be looking at a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens quite early on too! Such a lens is a necessity in order to get nice bright, high speed shots.

Any dSLR should suit your purposes. After all, photojournalists use to use old film cameras (some still do).

I think you are making things more complicated than they really are.