INDIANAPOLIS (Men’s Track & Field) – Florida Tech graduate student Ja’Mar Watson became the track & field program’s first national qualifier on Tuesday as he was selected to compete in the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships in Pueblo, Colo.

Watson, a space systems major, will participate in the hammer throw on Thursday, May 24, at 2:30 p.m. EDT at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl. He provisionally qualified for the championships with a throw of 61.67 meters at the University of Miami’s Hurricane Alumni Invitational on Saturday, April 14. His distance stood among Division II’s best the remainder of the season and held up as the 11th longest throw at the Division II level.

The Baltimore, Md. native will be joined in the event by 15 other participants. Ashland’s Ryan Loughney enters the championships having recorded Division II’s longest throw this year, 70.15 meters.

Watson enrolled at FIT after competing in football and indoor and outdoor track & field at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. At RPI, he participated in the NCAA Division III Championships twice in the hammer throw, finishing 13th at 55.97 meters in May 2011.

The NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships will be streamed live at NCAA.com starting May 24.  Highlights of the championships will be shown on the CBS Spring Seasonal Show, which will air at 3 p.m. EDT, Sunday, June 17, and 2 p.m. EDT, Saturday, June 23.