Three local track athletes have qualifed for the NCAA Division I Preliminary Round to be held May 24 in Jacksonville, Fla. All three will attempt to qualify for the National Meet. The top 12 finishers in the meet will advance to the NCAA National Meet in Des Moise, IA on June 6-9.

UL-Lafayette’s Mayme Cook and LSU’s Annie Simoneaux and Phillip LeBlanc, all Rayne natives, will be in action next week at regionals.

SIMONEAUX - The LSU sophomore placed second at the SEC Meet in Baton Rouge last weekend with a throw of 157’11”. The Rayne High alum was named All-SEC and is currently ranked 11th on the NCAA Div 1 East Region Performance List and 34th on the National Performance List. The LSU Lady Tigers are the NCAA’s new No. 1-ranked team in the wake of their victory at the 2012 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. It marked their league-leading 13th victory at the SEC Outdoor Championships all-time and their 25th SEC team title in program history as they also lead the way with 12 wins at the SEC Indoor Championships (fifth SEC championshop in last six years).

LEBLANC - Notre Dame alum Phillip LeBlanc made the cut for Regionals by placing 48th among competitors. LeBlanc is threw the javelin in four meets during the outdoor season for the Tigers in 2011, setting a new personal record with his series-best mark of 201 feet, 1 inch en route to a 12th-place finish at the SEC Outdoor Championships. He opened this season by tying for sixth place at the LSU Tiger Relays with a throw of 197-9, followed with a seventh-place finish at the LSU Invitational with a toss of 185-11. He also threw 187-6 at the Texas Relays to take eighth place in the B section. The Tigers have moved into the No. 6 spot following their runner-up finish as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

COOK - Louisiana Lafayette freshman Mayme Cook helped lead the Lady Cajuns to a seventh-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Ragin Cajuns Track/Soccer Facility last weekend. The former Notre Dame standout earned eight of the Lady Cajuns’ 70 points with a second-place finish in the javelin. Her throw of 142-5 was second best to UL-Monroe’s Marcie Richard (142-6). Cook’s personal best throw this season was a 152-10 at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette in early March.