NCAA East Preliminary Round Information | Complete Schedule | Men's Field | Women's Field | Men's Heat Sheets | Women's Heat Sheets

TAMPA - With the complete field set for the NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary Round at North Carolina A&T Thursday through Saturday, the 14 University of South Florida athletes headed to the event will face an uphill battle as they look to qualify for the NCAA Championships June 9-12.

Following a different format this season, athletes must finish in the top 12 in their respective event at the East Preliminary Round to meet up with the top 12 from the West Prelim to form a field of 24 at the NCAA Championships. Previously, athletes qualified for the Championships based on regular season qualifying standards, as is still the case with the indoor season.

The complete schedule can be accessed here. In addition, the men's heat sheets are available here, with the women's heat sheets here. Each Regional will host either first round or quarterfinal action (or both) in the running events with the exception of the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, which will run the semifinal at the Regional Prelim. The NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., will then host the semifinal and final of the running events. Check back with the NCAA's Outdoor Track and Field Championships page for live stats and a live stream as they become available beginning Thursday as well as for all information related to the meet.

Both Regionals will host qualifying action for the field events, and as is the case with the running events, the top 12 advance to the NCAA Championships. More than 2,500 athletes from 200 schools will compete at the East Regional.

The 14 Bulls set to compete - seven each for the men's and women's teams - equals the number of combined qualifiers from the 2008 and '09 Regionals for USF and trails the 15 that qualified in 2003 in the first year of Regional competition. The seven qualifiers for the women's team is the most since 2004 when eight made it to the Regional, while the men's team had eight in 2008 before qualifying nine last season.

USF has had at least one athlete at the NCAA Championships since 1999.

Check back with GoUSFBulls.com for complete coverage after each day's events.

Below is information on the athletes scheduled to compete for USF arranged by the time for their scheduled events.

Casey Wagner, Javelin, Thursday - 10 a.m. Sophomore Casey Wagner comes in to the NCAA Preliminary Round ranked ninth in the East Region in the javelin at 155-7. A competitor at the meet as a freshman in 2009, Wagner placed ninth at last year's Regional, one of three that was held each year before the NCAA moved to the two-region system now in place. Wagner originally set the school record as a freshman, then broke it twice in 2010, including the final time at the Penn Relays when she placed fourth with that throw of 155-7. A USA Junior National Champion last summer - USF's first ever - Wagner just missed out on All-BIG EAST honors in 2010. She placed fourth overall at BIG EAST after finishing second her freshman campaign. In addition to her accomplishments on the field, Wagner was named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team as well as the USTFCCCA Division I All-Academic Track and Field team following her freshman season. Wagner is originally from Quakake, Pa. Wagner's Full Bio... Sarah Canter, Javelin, Thursday - 10 a.m. Sophomore Sarah Canter makes her first NCAA Regional appearance in the javelin after improving her personal best by nearly 14 feet from a year ago. Canter threw 143-1 in the first meet of the season for the Bulls, the USF Open March 5, which moved her into third all-time at USF. That throw ranks her 38th in the East heading into the Prelims. A toss of 141-0 in her sixth and final throw at the BIG EAST meet in 2010 netted her a sixth-place finish, a huge improvement from the 15th place she garnered as a freshman in 2009. The Knoxville, Tenn., native also qualified for BIG EAST in the discus both seasons, taking 11th as a sophomore. Canter's Full Bio... David Aristil, 400 Hurdles, Thursday - 3:30 p.m. (First Round), Friday - 7 p.m. (Quarterfinal) Sophomore David Aristil ranks fourth in the East Region in the 400 hurdles after posting a time of 50.42 at the BIG EAST Championships. After a solid regular season, Aristil hit his peak at just the right time at the Championships at the beginning of May, taking home the conference title in the 400 hurdles. Aristil set the USF school record after running his 50.42, breaking the old mark of 50.50 held by USF Olympian Kemel Thompson and set in 1996. Aristil's win marked the third year in a row the Bulls won the 400 hurdles championship following two-time winner Glenn Fowler in 2008 and '09. Aristil also qualified for the NCAA Prelims in the 110 hurdles but chose to run the 400 hurdles, his stronger event. Aristil took fourth in the 110 hurdles at BIG EAST this year. Hailing from Boynton Beach, Fla., Aristil is also a strong 400 runner, as he ranks second all-time at USF with a time of 47.50 behind former USF football player Carlton Mitchell. Aristil's Full Bio... Sean Young, Pole Vault, Thursday - 4 p.m. Senior Sean Young will get one last go-around at NCAA competition after qualifying for the Championships two years ago as a junior. He enters this year's Prelims 29th in the pole vault after clearing 16-10.75 at the Sea Ray Relays April 10. That jump followed a one-month absence from the track for Young, as he battled back from an ankle injury that prevented him from even running down the runway that entire month prior to Sea Ray. Young finished 14th at the NCAA Championships in the pole vault two years ago after taking fourth at the Regional event. Young finished third at the outdoor BIG EAST Championships this season after placing second at the indoor meet. He was the 2008 BIG EAST outdoor champion and placed second outdoors in 2007. The Titusville, Fla., native missed the 2009 indoor and outdoor BIG EAST meets after suffering a broken thumb. He ranks second all-time at USF with a leap of 17-2.75, achieved in 2008. Young's Full Bio... Greg Fontus, 100 Meters, Thursday - 5:30 p.m. (First Round), Friday - 6 p.m. (Quarterfinal) Senior Greg Fontus will make his second NCAA Regional appearance after he qualified for the 100 meters after running a time of 10.50. That time, achieved at the Bulls Invitational March 19, ranks him 43rd in the East Region and is the second-fastest time ever at USF. Fontus also competed at last year's Regional in the 200 meters. He led the USF 4x100 relay to a third-place finish at this year's BIG EAST meet and a second-place finish in 2009, including the school-record 40.75 set at this year's BIG EAST Championships. He qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the 100 and 200 meters all four years at USF after walking on to the team his freshman season. Fontus also qualified for the 60 and 200 meters at the BIG EAST indoor meet the last two years. Prior to 2009, USF had not competed in men's indoor track since the 90s. Hailing from Miami, Fontus also ran in the school record 4x400 this year. Fontus' Full Bio... Lauren Noe, Hammer, Friday - 11 a.m. Sophomore Lauren Noe makes her first NCAA appearance in the hammer, as she stands 42nd overall after a throw of 179-3 at the Bulls Invitational March 19. That throw ranks her third all-time at USF behind a pair of former NCAA competitors in Dayana Octavien and Taylar Stallings. She placed seventh at this year's BIG EAST Championships in the hammer, as well as eighth in the discus, an event she also ranks in the top 10 all-time at USF. Those followed her 10th-place performances in both at the 2009 BIG EAST Championships her freshman season. She ranks second all-time at USF behind Octavien in the indoor weight throw. Originally from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Noe redshirted in 2008 at Kent State before coming to USF last season. Noe's Full Bio... Stephanie Duffy, Pole Vault, Friday - 4 p.m. Sitting at 17th in the East Region in the pole vault after leaping 13-1.5 at the Sea Ray Relays April 9, junior Stephanie Duffy is looking to get to the NCAA Championships for the first time after competing at the Regional meet her first two years with the Bulls. She is coming off a third-place finish at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships after winning the indoor BIG EAST title, the second indoor pole vault title for the Bulls in three years. She also finished third at the 2009 Outdoor Championships, as she owns three All-BIG EAST honors during her career. Her jump of 13-3.5 at the indoor championships ranks her second all-time at USF. She also owns the third-best mark in the outdoor top-10 list at 13-1.5. She is also an accomplished student-athlete, twice earning USTFCCCA Division I All-Academic Track and Field honors. Duffy hails from Washingtonville, N.Y. Duffy's Full Bio... Dana Webb, Pole Vault, Friday - 4 p.m. Junior Dana Webb will join teammate Duffy in the women's pole vault at the Prelims, and like Duffy, Webb makes her third Regional appearance in three years at USF. She ranks 29th in the East Region after posting a jump of 12-10 at the South Florida Invitational May 14. She is coming off her BIG EAST title performance at the outdoor meet, where she became USF's first BIG EAST women's outdoor champion in the school's five years in the BIG EAST and the second pole vault champion ever for USF on the women's side. She finished third at the indoor meet as a freshman in 2008 and just missed out on All-BIG EAST indoor honors this year when she took fourth. She ranks second all-time at USF with a jump of 13-3 in 2009, as well as third indoor at 12-7.5. The Valparaiso, Ind., native has been twice named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team as well as the USTFCCCA Division I All-Academic Track and Field Team. Webb's Full Bio... Yvana Hepburn, 100 Hurdles, Friday - 5 p.m. (First Round), Saturday - 7:20 p.m. (Quarterfinal) Senior Yvana Hepburn wraps up her collegiate career with her second NCAA Regional appearance, as she sits in 24th in the 100 hurdles after running an all-time personal best of 13.49 at the LSU Alumni Gold meet April 17. That time, which ranks her second all-time at USF, was followed up by an All-BIG EAST performance at the 2010 outdoor meet, in which she placed second overall in the final. A year earlier, Hepburn finished in third at BIG EAST. She is the school record holder in the indoor 60 hurdles and also ranks second in the 55 hurdles. The 2010 indoor season saw her post an NCAA Provisional time in the hurdles, one of two provisional marks posted by USF athletes - men or women - during the indoor campaign. Hailing from Pomona, N.Y., Hepburn was twice named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and earned a spot on the USTFCCCA 2009 Division I All-Academic Track and Field Team. Hepburn's Full Bio... Michael Kursteiner, High Jump, Friday - 5 p.m. Senior Michael Kursteiner brings the most NCAA Regional experience of any Bull as he makes his fourth appearance at the meet in the high jump in his four years at USF. He ranks 28th in the Region after he cleared a personal best 6-11 at the Spike's Classic April 4. Kursteiner follows in the footsteps of former USF high jumpers Jimmy Baxter and Errol Blackmon, who combined for seven appearances at the NCAA Championships since 2001. Kursteiner placed fourth at the indoor BIG EAST Championships this year, his best finish ever at the conference meet. He took sixth at last year's NCAA Regional after clearing 6-10.25. Kursteiner ranks fifth all-time at USF in the high jump as he attempts to become the fifth Bull ever to clear the 7-foot mark. Kursteiner is from Brooksville, Fla., where he won the state high jump title his senior year. Kursteiner's Full Bio... Nicole Rozario, 3,000 Steeplechase, Friday - 9:10 p.m. Sophomore Nicole Rozario is one of four Bulls who rank in the top 10 in the East Region in their respective event, as she stands eighth in the 3,000 steeplechase. She earned that ranking after breaking the school record for the second time during the 2010 season at the Sea Ray Relays April 10 in 10:23.01. Rozario originally set the record at Bulls Invitational March 19. She took fifth at the BIG EAST meet in the steeplechase this year and helped the DMR take sixth at the indoor meet. She also qualified for the BIG EAST Championships in the 1,500 meters and ran in the 4x800 relay. Rozario was a junior national qualifier in 2009 but did not run due to injury. Also USF's best distance runner in cross country after finishing first among her teammates in all six meets she ran in, Rozario arrived at USF after a successful career at Pine Bush High School in Middletown, N.Y. Rozario's Full Bio... Jared Thomas, Discus, Saturday - 9:30 a.m. Sophomore Jared Thomas carries the highest ranking among the 14 Bulls set to compete at the Prelim as he stands third in the discus on the heels of a throw of 193-6. That mark, achieved at the FSU Relays March 27, was the third time Thomas broke the school record in 2010 after he originally set the record as a freshman in 2009. Named the BIG EAST Field Athlete of the Week on March 30 after that performance at FSU, Thomas finished fourth at BIG EAST this season after placing third as a freshman. Thomas competed at last year's NCAA Regional, ultimately placing 13th. Later on as a freshman, Thomas placed fifth at the USA Track & Field Junior National Championships to earn All-America status. Coming to USF from Pensacola, Fla., Thomas competed in the weight throw at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships this season, as he took eighth overall. Thomas' Full Bio... Tyler Perkins, Discus, Saturday - 9:30 a.m. Senior Tyler Perkins will compete in the discus at the NCAA Regional for the third straight year, as he ranks 22nd in the East Region after a personal-best throw of 176-8 at the Bulls Invitational March 19. He placed ninth at last year's Regional meet and ranks second all-time at USF in the discus behind Thomas. He earned All-BIG EAST honors in 2008 after he placed second at the BIG EAST meet. Perkins qualified for the BIG EAST Championships in the javelin this year as well and twice qualified in the hammer earlier in his career. The Tampa native also ranks in the top 10 at USF in the javelin and the hammer. Perkins' Full Bio... Antillio Bastian, Triple Jump, Saturday - noon Junior Antillio Bastian sits 37th in the triple jump after he leaped 49-9.25 at the Bulls Invitational March 19. He competed at last year's NCAA Regional after transferring from NAIA Dickinson State University following his freshman season during which he earned All-America honors. USF's record holder in the triple jump after leaping 51-3.5 in 2009, Bastian will look to get back to his sophomore year form. He earned his best BIG EAST finish in the triple jump at the 2009 indoor meet when he took sixth overall. A native of Nassau, Bahamas, Bastian surpassed the NCAA Provisional mark during the 2009 indoor season. Bastian's Full Bio...