RUSTON, La. – A pair of Louisiana Tech Track and Field athletes have qualified for the 2019 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Championships, which is set to begin this Thursday, May 23 in Jacksonville, Florida.
 
LA Tech will be represented by sophomore Cole Courtois in the pole vault and junior Denzel Harper in the long jump competition. This marks the second straight season the two Bulldogs have qualified for the NCAA Preliminary Championships. Both Courtois and Harper earned All-Louisiana honors in 2018.
 
The preliminary competitions are set for May 23-25. The University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida will host the East Preliminaries. The qualifiers out of the East and West regions will move on to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships scheduled for June 5-8 in Austin, Texas.
 
The men's long jump competition is set to get underway at 2:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, while the men's pole vault is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. CT that same afternoon.
 
Courtois enters the preliminary championships ranked 15th in the east with his first-place mark of 17-3 (5.26m) that earned him a gold medal at the C-USA Outdoor Championships.
 
Harper qualified with his long jump of 25-5.5 (7.76m) at the 92nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, a mark that currently ranks 15th in the east.
 
The two student-athletes competing in Jacksonville this week marks a total of 132 qualifying entries Louisiana Tech has produced since the east and west preliminary championship format began in 2010.
 
A total of 89 Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field student-athletes and eight relay teams have qualified for the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships preliminary competition, it announced last week by the NCAA.
 
Individuals in the top 48 and relay teams in the top 24 of their respective events qualified for the preliminary competition. The top 24 nationally-ranked decathlon and heptathlon competitors automatically earned a spot to the national championships. Rice's Charlie Card-Childers and UTSA's Gary Haasbroek will both make the trip to Austin for the decathlon.
 
Fans can watch live and on-demand coverage of both the east and west preliminaries on FloTrack with a Pro Subscription. Live results will also be available for the East Preliminary Championships and can be accessed at https://dt8v5llb2dwhs.cloudfront.net/East/index.htm.
 
For complete coverage of Louisiana Tech Track and Field and Cross Country, please follow @LATechTFXC on Twitter or visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.