LAFAYETTE The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns track and field team will send 12 student-athletes to the 2015 NCAA East Preliminary Round that begins on Thursday at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium.

Action begins on Thursday at 11 a.m. CDT with the first round of the men's hammer throw before running events begin at 3:30 p.m. Live results for the meet, that is scheduled for May 28-30, will be available at RaginCajuns.com.

Seniors Tia Mitchell (women's long jump) and Devin Davis (men's long jump) each will make their third appearance at the NCAA East Preliminary with Morgan Cormier (400-meter hurdles), Dionte Heath (men's high jump) and Justin Victor (men's hammer throw) each qualifying for the second time overall.

Making their first appearance for Louisiana at the NCAA East Preliminary are Hanoj Carter (men's 100-meters, 200-meters, 4x100-meter relay), Jeryl Brazil (100-meters, 4x100-meter relay), Tyler Hughes (4x100-meter relay), Bismarck Ebiweh (4x100-meter relay), William LeBlanc (men's high jump), Stacy Imagbe (women's long jump) and Madalyn Trisler (women's high jump).

Mitchell, ranked 38th in the NCAA East Region, qualified after posting a mark of 20 feet, 1 inch at the Texas Relays in March. Davis, who qualified in the men's long jump in 2012 and 2014, is rated 28th in the NCAA East Region after posting a jump of 24-9 earlier this month at the Sun Belt Conference Championships.

Cormier qualified for the second consecutive year in the 400-meter hurdles after his time of 51.98 seconds at the Louisiana Classic was the 43rd best mark in the NCAA East Region. Heath, who is also ranked 43rd regionally, qualified in the high jump for the second time after posting a mark of 6-9 at the Northwestern State Invitational.

Victor, who competed in the hammer throw at the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary, enters the meet ranked 10th after posting a mark of 219-8 at the McNeese Cowboy Relays.

LeBlanc, rated 23rd in the NCAA East Region, earned his first appearance in the high jump after clearing the bar at 6-11 at the Texas Relays. Trisler, ranked 30th in the women's high jump, cleared the bar at 5-9 at the Northwestern State Invitational and Imagbe, rated 19th in the long jump, posted a mark of 20-6 at the McNeese Cowboy Relays.

Carter will compete in three events for Louisiana after qualifying in both the 100-meters and 200-meters while running the second leg of the Ragin' Cajuns 4x100-meter relay team. Carter posted a time of 10.20 in the 100-meters to rank 11th in the NCAA East Region and recorded a time of 20.66 in the 200 to rank 13th.

Brazil will join Carter in the 100-meters after recording a time of 10.52 to rank 55th in the NCAA East Region. Brazil, who ran the anchor leg in the Ragin' Cajuns 4x100-meter relay team that posted a time of 40.26 at the Louisiana Classic, will be joined by the freshman tandem of Ebiweh and Hughes.

The NCAA Selection Committee accepted the top 48 performers in each individual event and the top 24 relay teams in both relays to compete at each site hosting the NCAA Preliminary Rounds (East - Jacksonville, Fla.; West - Austin, Texas) for a total of 96 athletes in each individual event and 48 relay teams competing in each event nationwide.

When competing at the NCAA Preliminary Rounds next weekend, the top 12 finishers in each individual and relay event will move on for the semifinal and final rounds of the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships scheduled to run June 10-13 at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.