Courtesy Wade Erin Sicher and the Georgetown track team kick off their indoor season tomorrow.

The leaves may have fallen, and the mercury in the thermometer is plunging below freezing, but for Georgetown’s nationally renowned track program, things are just beginning to heat up.

The team’s distance runners are coming off a grueling, but successful cross country season, and a top-notch freshman recruiting class is getting adjusted to college life. But the biggest challenge the team may face this season may be off the track – in their lack of an on-campus training facility.

Currently, runners are forced to train on an outdoor track at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, a half-hour van ride across Key Bridge; the pole vaulters have to make an even longer trek each day to the Prince George’s County Sports and Learning Center.

But challenges don’t seem to faze this team. They face them head on. And while competing in a brutally difficult sport to begin with, the team approaches additional challenges with optimism. They see the obstacles in their way as opportunities to build character and camaraderie.

“Life wouldn’t be fun without challenges,” Associate Head Coach Andrew Valmon said. “Running in 20 degree weather, and shoveling tracks to compete, and running to the monuments, and taking buses and taking vans, and being inconvenienced – there’s no sense in doing all that if you can’t go out and enjoy it when you compete. So that’s been one of the things I’m emphasizing to this team. I want them to compete hard, know what their goals are, but also try to enjoy it – because they’ve put the time in.”

Encountering, embracing and overcoming challenges has defined the program, and it has been instrumental in leading Georgetown to its current position as perpetual Big East contenders.

“I like taking on the challenge – seeing us go out with no facilities and still compete at a high level,” Valmon said. “Our kids have been resilient, and we’re always a target in terms of going out and competing, because we win often. And that’s another challenge for them, and it should instill in them that they can do anything they set their minds to.”

This year the women’s team returns several national qualifiers, and the men’s team is similarly packed with talent. Seniors Erin Sicher, Jill Laurendeau and Marni Kruppa and junior Monica Hargrove all made appearances at indoor nationals last season, and although the men’s team lost its only NCAA indoor qualifier from last season – Josh Rollins – the team has a multitude of people that are ready to make an impact this year.

“Obviously, when you look at our [men’s] team, what stands out first is [junior] Franklyn Sanchez, [senior] Chris iltenberg, [junior] Jesse O’Connell, [senior] James Graham and [senior] Davin Williams. Those names come to mind because they were all on the fringe of qualifying individually, or have won at juniors, so those are the people that we’ll be expecting big things from,” Valmon said. “But we’re also going to be looking for a big supporting cast of athletes like [seniors] Dylan Welsh, Robert Wingate-Robinson, Javon Broderick and Mike Smith to give us a really strong balance.”

Like the men’s team, the women’s team is also seeking balance.

“We’re dominant in the middle distances, so the 400m, 800m and mile are our key events,” senior captain Marni Kruppa said. “Our relays are really strong, and our distance medley relay and 4x400m are capable of competing at the national level. The main weakness we have is that we don’t have any field events people, except for the pole vaulters.”

Although field events have traditionally been the women’s team’s Achilles heel – in large part due to their lack of training facilities – the team will look to substantially improve this year.

Sophomore Erica Derrickson enters the season as the school record holder in the pole vault – clearing 12 ft. last spring – and last year earned points in the event for the team at the Big East Outdoor Championships. The addition of freshmen Stephanie Hill and Kate Geller will complement Derrickson in the event and to counter the women’s team’s lack of throwers and jumpers.

The men’s team’s field events also appear to be on the rise, with sophomore Andrew Haskell and highly-touted freshman Danny Pellegrino competing in the pole vault, sophomore Teddy Presley and seniors Davin Williams and Morgan Lewis in the jumps, and senior Adam Rini in the throws.

“We have a good mix of seniors, juniors and fifth-years, and we have a good freshman class, so I think overall the balance is there,” Valmon said.

On the track, the women’s team will be led by Sicher, Laurendeau, Kruppa and Hargrove, as well as seniors Jamillah Bowman and Janelle Billingslea, juniors Sarah Scholl, Amanda Pape, Kori Hamilton, Collen Kelly and Rose Wetzel and sophomores Nicole Lee and Jodee Adams-Moore.

A spectacular recruiting class, including top-notch freshmen milers Sabine Knothe, Erin Henry and Kim Malcolm, and 800m Junior National runner-up Whitney Schmucker should assist the team both in individual events and on Georgetown’s historically strong relays.

The men’s recruiting class features Junior National 1,500m champion Chris Lukezic, 800m state champion Courtney Jaworski, and distance standout Fleet Hower.

The group will get its first chance to compete on Friday at the Navy Lid Lifter in Annapolis, Md.

“Who knows what the weather is going to be like in the next couple of weeks, so with the facility issue, we need to take advantage of every opportunity that we can to race,” Valmon said. “We’re going to double-up a lot of kids just to let them get a feel for indoor track and get ready – get them energized and let some of the anxiety out before exams start next week.”

Some of the highlights of the meet are expected to be senior Robert Wingate-Robinson in the 55m dash, senior Michael Williams in the 400m, and senior captain Davin Williams in both the long and triple jumps.

The team will also break in some young talent, as Knothe, Henry and Malcolm hit the track and Pellegrino vaults for the first time as a Hoya.

“For us, it’s train, train, train, and now we just want to go out and have fun,” Valmon said. “This meet is going to give us the opportunity to have some fun, and work on some things, and if we’re going to make mistakes, it’s better to make them at the Naval Academy than at the NCAAs or the Big East.”