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TAMPA – The University of South Florida men's and women's track and field teams will gear up for the BIG EAST Indoor Championships, scheduled in two weeks, as the Bulls head to the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup Friday and Saturday hosted by Penn State in the Bulls' last competition before the conference meet.

West Virginia, Tulane, Auburn, Cornell, Princeton, East Carolina and the host Nittany Lions are several of the teams scheduled to compete. Action will begin at noon Friday with the pentathlon and will continue through the evening, followed by a full day of events Saturday.

For the first time this year, fans will be able to follow the action live through live stats. Click here to access the live stats page and get up-to-the-minute results as they become available throughout the day Friday and Saturday. Also, for the complete meet schedule, click here, and for the heat sheets, click here.

Several ranked squads will be there to compete at the 200-meter Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track, including No. 8 Penn State and No. 17 Auburn on the women's side, and the No. 14 Nittany Lions and the No. 20 Tigers for the men.

Check back at GoUSFBulls.com for the complete recap and meet results when they become available each day. As always, results will be posted first on the Media Center page, along with results from every meet throughout the year.

USF Adds Two Provisional Marks
Senior Yvana Hepburn and junior Stephanie Duffy earned USF's first two NCAA provisional qualifying marks of the season last Friday at the Reebok Invitational held at Northeastern University in Boston.

Hepburn ran a time of 7.86 in the 55-meter hurdles to take first overall at the meet by .28 seconds. Her time was exactly what was needed to post a provisional time in the hurdles. When converted to the 60 hurdles, her time adjusts to 8.43, only .03 seconds off her school-record and personal best.

Duffy, meanwhile, cleared 13-3.5 in the pole vault to eclipse the NCAA provisional height of 13-1.5. Her height not only stands as the second best at USF and a personal best, but Duffy went eight inches above her previous indoor high.

Continue reading below for a recap of the Reebok Invitational.

Duffy Also Ranks Nationally
Duffy's mark of 13-3.5 at the Reebok Invite currently stands 17th in the nation in the pole vault heading into the weekend. Hepburn's converted time of 8.43 in the 60 hurdles puts her in 28th as far as the nation's best goes.

Sophomore Lauren Noe joins the duo in the national rankings, as she stands 39th in the weight throw with a toss of 60-1.25. For the men, freshman Lindsey Lamar's 60 meters time of 6.77, attained in his first and only collegiate meet, puts him in 28th. Freshman Neamen Wise also ranks in the top 40 in the nation, holding down the 32nd-best heptathlon point total with 5,142.

BIG EAST, Here We Come
The number currently stands at 21 for the women and 19 for the men in terms of BIG EAST qualifying times/marks posted so far during the 2009-10 indoor season.

Four athletes on the women's side have earned their way to the BIG EAST meet in the triple jump, while three have done the same in the pole vault. USF has also qualified two in the weight throw and 60 hurdles.

For the men, four qualifying mark come in both the 60 meters and the pole vault, with another three in the 200 and two each in the 400 and 60 hurdles.

Click here for the entire list of who's heading to the conference championships for the women, and here for the men, as the Bulls look to add a few more names to the list this weekend.

Need for Speed
The men's team has already proven that it will be a force in the race for the 60, 200 and 400 sprints titles at the conference championships, but the Bulls got some unexpected production their last time out at the Minnesota Invitational two weeks ago.

Although known to be quick on his feet, freshman Neamen Wise turned some heads as he ran the third-fastest time in the 60 meters in the BIG EAST in 6.86 seconds while competing in the decathlon in Minneapolis. He joins Lamar, who carries the fastest time in the 60 in 6.77, senior Greg Fontus, who currently ranks fifth in the conference, and senior Armante Marshall, who stands 10th, in the BIG EAST's fastest 60 meter times.

As if that weren't enough, freshman Derrick Hopkins - a teammate of Lamar's on the football team - is schedule to run at Penn State. Hopkins, by all accounts, is a slightly faster runner than Lamar, as Hopkins owns a career personal best of 10.25 in the 100 meters, while Lamar's career best stands at 10.35, although Hopkins has yet to run this season. According to Head Coach Warren Bye, all Hopkins needs to do is avoid a false start in order to qualify for the BIG EAST Championships, as the Bulls could theoretically have four of the six fastest athletes in the BIG EAST this year when all is said and done.

And of course the Bulls will also add football players Sterling Griffin and Kayvon Webster to the mix for the outdoor season, who, along with Hopkins, helped the Monsignor Pace 4x100 relay team post the fastest high school time in the nation in 2009.

Rewriting the Women's All-Time Top 10
As the Bulls get geared up for Penn State, several athletes on the women's side have already changed the look of the all-time indoor top-10 list.

Hepburn moved into second in the 55 hurdles after her time in Boston, while freshman Ena Johnson earned her a spot on the list in eighth in the hurdles. Freshman Dariel Jackson etched her way into ninth in the 55 meters in 7.26 seconds, while junior Rachel Etienne and senior Kayla Richmond rank fifth and sixth, respectively, now in the 500 meters.

Duffy solidified her spot in second in the pole vault, while freshman Courtney Anderson posted the fifth-best mark in the high jump. In the throwing events, sophomores Lauren Noe and Atasha Warren moved into second and eighth, respectively, in the weight throw, with Warren also moving into fourth in the shot put.

Freshman Monique Williams made a splash in the long jump, posting the fifth-best mark there her first time out, and also jumped into the top-10 list in the triple jump with the eighth-best mark in school history. Tralanda Todd and MaShonda Rayner (10th, triple jump), sophomore Nicole Rozario (10th, mile and 3,000 meters) and sophomore Allie Prendergast (eighth, 3,000 meters) have also earned top-10 marks this year.

Click here for the complete indoor top-10 list.

Last season marked the first time in more than a decade the men compete during the indoor season, so a complete top-5 list has not been formed yet.

Having Solid Seasons
Several of USF's male athletes have been impressive among their BIG EAST bretheren, highlighted by Lamar's top time in the 60. Fontus ranks second in the 200 and fifth in the 60, while Wise stands third in the 60 and second in the heptathlon

Sophomores Reshaw Exilien (400) and David Aristil (60 hurdles) and senior Grant Scelzi (pole vault) each rank third in their respective events, while seniors Sean Young and Michael Kursteiner rank fifth in the pole vault and high jump, respectively.

Check the table to the right for the complete list of athletes on the men's side who own top-10 conference marks this season.

Click here for the complete BIG EAST performance list for the men and women.

Last Time Out For the Bulls
Aside from the two provisional marks from Duffy and Hepburn, seveal other athletes performed well for the women's team at the Reebok Invitational. The men's team did not travel.

Rozario and sophomore Yasmin Smith both qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the mile, while freshman Nicole Smith cleared 11 feet in the pole vault to earn her way to the conference meet. Smith finished fifth at the meet, while Duffy and junior Dana Webb went 1-2 in the pole vault.

Rayner and Todd had USF's fourth and fifth newest BIG EAST marks in the triple jump at the meet as they tied for fourth. Freshman Ena Johnson added a sixth in the 60 hurdles, as her time in the 55 hurdles converted to just under the BIG EAST time.

Freshman Courtney Anderson won the high jump title, joining sophomore Shaniel Chambers in the 500 as event winners. Prendergast finished second in the 3,000 meters, coming up just short of her personal best. Noe bested her PR in the weight throw and threw past the 60-foot mark to take second at the meet.

Head to the new Media Center page to find the links to the full recap and the results in PDF format from the Reebok Invitational, as well as the recap and results from every meet during the rest of the season as they happen. Don't forget to keep tabs on the team's progress throughout the year with the Track & Field Records and History Index page, which includes everyone's personal bests - indoor and outdoor - as well as a running tab of the best times and marks for the season and a complete performance list.

USF Unveils 2009-10 Online Interactive Guide
The USF athletics department will no longer print media guides and has now switched over to a new online, interactive format, which features vivid photography, videos of both the coaches and athletes, as well as everything else one would need in order to stay informed about the USF track and field program. Click here to head to the press release and then click on the image inside the story to open up the 2009-10 Track & Field Interactive Guide. Learn more about the athletes, watch them perform on the track, listen to what the coaches have to say about the program, and much, much more.

Up Next
The BIG EAST Indoor Championships come calling Feb. 20 and 21 at the Armory Track in New York City.