JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Thirty-four outdoor track and field athletes head to Jacksonville, Fla. to represent the America East and their respective schools at the NCAA East Regional Meet at the University of North Florida, May 24-26.

The NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field East Preliminary Round includes the top 48 qualifiers from each individual event and the top 24 qualifiers in the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays. The top 12 finishers at the regional meet will go on to compete at the NCAA Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, June 6-9.

Eight of nine America East schools send representatives to Jacksonville including a league-high seven from Boston University. The University of Vermont brings six competitors to the regional meet while Stony Brook and UMBC boast four. Binghamton, Maine and New Hampshire all have three event entries this weekend.

The 2012 America East men’s and women’s outdoor champion, Albany sends a collection of field athletes to the competition. Alexander Bowen and Alfonso Scannapieco qualified in the high jump and pole vault on the men’s side and Patricia McNish qualified for the Great Dane women in the long jump. Jonathan Santana qualified individually in the 400-meter dash.

A quartet of former All-Americans highlight the participants on the women’s side. Stony Brook’s Lucy Van Dalen, the national champion in the indoor mile, Boston U.’s Allison Barwise, Maine’s Corey Conner and Vermont’s Nika Ouellette all qualified within the top-10 of their events. Van Dalen ranks seventh in the 1,500-meter run while Conner qualified No. 5 in the 5,000. Ouellette enters at No. 6 in the javelin throw and Barwise is the top qualifier in the high jump two weeks after clearing 1.87 meters at the ECAC Championship.

UMBC’s Mercedes Jackson is the only America East competitor to qualify individually in two events. The rookie speedster will run in the 100 and 200-meter dashes at the regional meet.

The men’s entrants are headlined by a pair of indoor All-Americans who both qualified in the top-20 of the 1,500-meter run. Binghamton’s Erik van Ingen qualified No. 1 in the region after his performance at the Virginia Classic two weeks ago and Boston U.’s Rich Peters, the national runner-up in the indoor mile, qualified No. 16.

Elsewhere on the men’s side, Boston U. junior R.J. Page, the Most Outstanding Track Performer and Coaches’ award recipient at the conference championship meet, qualified No. 30 in the 200-meter dash and will run a leg in the Terriers’ 4x400 relay. Fellow Terrier Tewado Latty qualified in the 400-meter dash and will also run in the 4x400 relay.