WESTFIELD, Mass. - Westfield State University has six track and field athletes who have qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championship meet, which will be held May 24-26 at the Veteran's Memorial Field Sports Complex in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Defending All-American 100-meter hurdler Sabrina Pray (Mansfield, Mass.) headlines the Owls' group, as Pray qualified seventh in the 100 hurdles. Pray's seed time is 14.29 seconds, even faster than her mark at last year's NCAA meet. Pray entered the meet as the 22nd seed and advanced to the finals, where she placed seventh to earn All-America Honors.

Other Owl women who qualified include junior Lexi Popp (Westford, Mass.), who is seeded second in the 400 hurdles; senior Jessie Cardin (Sutton, Mass.), who is the third-seed in the 3000 steeplechase; and senior Ashley Craig (Westford Academy/Groton, Mass.), who is the fifth-seed in the pole vault.

On the men's side, senior David Drigo (Masconoment/Middleton, Mass.) will make his second appearance at the national meet in the javelin, and sophomore William Canty (Grafton/South Grafton, Mass.) is a first-time qualifier in the decathlon.

Pray is scheduled to compete at 3:30 p.m. (central/4:30 p.m. eastern) on Friday in the 100 hurdle preliminaries, with the finals scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (2:00 eastern) on Saturday.

Popp has a seed time of 1:00.26 in the 400 meter hurdles, just 42/100ths of a second behind top seed Lilah Drafts-Johnson of Oberlin College. Popp also ran a qualifying time that was fast enough to be the ninth seed in the 400 meters, but will forego competing in that event to focus on the hurdles. Popp will compete in the prelims at 3:15 PM Central Time (4:15 Eastern) on Thursday, with the finals scheduled for 2:25 PM on Saturday.

Cardin ran in the steeplechase in 2016, finishing 9th in the nation, missing All-America honors by one place, as the top eight finishers in each event earn All-American honors from the US Track and Field Collegiate Coaches Association. Cardin is a two-time All-American in cross country and competed in the NCAA Indoor Championship meet in the 5,000 meters earlier this season. Cardin will compete at 5:00 p.m. (Central/ 6:00 Eastern) on Thursday in the preliminary heats, with the finals slated for 11:45 am (Central/12:45 Eastern) on Saturday.

Craig makes her second appearance at a national meet. She qualified for the NCAA Indoors this winter, finishing in 10th place with a height of 3.70 meters (12'-01.5"). Craig has improved at nearly every meet this spring, and is seeded with her latest school-record height of 3.90 meters (12'-9.5"). The women's pole vault is one of the first events at the meet, with the competition beginning at 12:00 p.m. (central/1:00 p.m. eastern) on Thursday.

With four highly-seeded competitors, the Owl women will vie for a high team placing at the meet. Westfield was ranked 14th in the country in last week's USTFCCA rankings (based on a mathematical calculations of points scored using the national performance lists). The Owls had a 10th place team finish in 1982, largely on the strength of Cindy Sturm-Menard's national championship in the 3000 meters, and All-America finishes in the 1,500 and 5,000 as well.

Drigo earned All-America honors in his first appearance at the NCAA Championships in 2016, as he finished seventh in the men's javelin with a throw of 60.69 meters. He enters the meet as the 18th-seed this time around. The men's javelin will be contested at 11:00 AM (Central/12:00 PM Eastern) on Friday.

Canty will make his debut at the National Championship meet. He set the Owls record for the decathlon with a score of 6,356 points at Holy Cross' multi events meet earlier this spring. The men's decathlon begins on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. (central/11:00 a.m. Eastern) and continues throughout the day. Day 2 events begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday and conclude at 5:45 p.m. with the 1,500 meters.

Westfield State has had four national champions in track and field, most recently Travon Godette in the men's javelin in 2015. Current assistant coach Marlee Berg won the indoor women's high jump in 2009, Claudine Rice won the women's hammer throw in 1994, and Sturm-Menard topped the 3000 in 1982.

The NCAA will provide live video and scoring from the meet at NCAA.com , and the host site, the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse has a myriad of information available at http://www.uwlathletics.com//sports/2017/12/7/TRACK_0423131617.aspx?id=379