The Penn State men's indoor track and field co-captain Dorian Lowe couldn't have described it better when he said last week: "It's just time. It's Big Ten time."

The 2002 Big Ten's Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships have arrived and the Lions know it is time to get down to business. And they believe they couldn't be more prepared. The championship begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday at the University of Minnesota.

After a weekend off, the Nittany Lions are rearing to go and are not worried that they might have lost their momentum as the Big Ten championship approaches.

"I think it was a good idea to have a break," All-American Brian Derby said. "It gave us time to work on our inconsistencies."

In January, with a 9-1 record, the Lions were ranked as high as No. 2 in the National Power Rankings above Big Ten rivals such as Indiana and Wisconsin.

After the Lions' performance at the USTCA Collegiate Challenge Cup on Jan. 9, they are upbeat about their chances of winning the championship.

At his Big Ten media day, Lions coach Harry Groves said that the Lions have been progressing very well this season and a sign of this is their rising scores.

The Lions are confident even though they will be going up against teams such as the Hoosiers, who are responsible for Penn State's two losses this season.

When asked about the Lions' nemesis, the Hoosiers, Groves said, "I think they will be tough and I think they will score well."

Groves also feels that at this time in the season the Lions are at the point where they can't do anything more than to go out and perform.

The general feeling among the team is that even though they have had a lot of individual success this season, they have to perform as a team in order for them to be competitive at the championship.

"Anytime somebody gets a good performance," Lowe said, "it helps to build the team. But we are a team and we work well that way."

This is made more important by the fact that at the championship, the first eight places score points for their respective team.

Over the course of the season, Groves has continuously said that the Big Ten is one of the most competitive conferences in the nation. He even went as far as to say that if you were to finish in the top 10 in the Big Ten conference, you would be ranked in the top 20 in the nation.

Success for the Lions this weekend will rest partly on the shoulders of the freshmen class, especially Matt Lincoln and Jaret Campisi.

"They (freshmen) have set the standard for this team," Groves said. "Normally it would have been the seniors, but they have changed it around."

But in an event this big, where even the most experienced athletes could have goose bumps that would turn them into Jello, there is a concern that the freshmen might be overwhelmed by the experience.

"It's a learning experience," Lowe said, "and the meets we had before have prepared us for this."

Goose bumps aside, the Lions feel they are as prepared as they can possibly be. "We don't want to get into the habit of making excuses for the Big Ten," Derby said. "We are as good as we are going to be."