Spring fever usually doesn't strike until April. For the Penn State women's indoor track team, though, the exceptionally warm weather lately has brought on an early case.

Eager to finally begin its season after intense fall training, the team will start indoor season with the Penn State Relays at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Multi-Sport Facility. Ten teams will travel to State College to take on the Nittany Lions, who are more than ready to face some outside competition.

"The majority of the team has been training for a long time, so they're really excited to start this year off," throws coach Dayna Holston Wenger said.

The offseason featured an especially intense workout for the Lions. The Blue-White intrasquad meet on Dec. 10 gave them a taste for competition early, but they feel prepared now to meet some different competition.

"This is the first time we'll get real competition outside of our teammates, and we're looking forward to that," sophomore sprinter Shana Cox said.

Most of the running events will be relays instead of the traditional races, and total points will not be kept for each team. The events in this meet are a way to individually measure performance against new competitors.

"It just allows you to see how far along you are in your fitness so you can set yourself up better for the higher pressure meets," junior hurdler Kim Markel said.

The Lions are using the first few meets of the season as building blocks for the Big Ten Championships. They are eager to avenge their second-place finish in outdoor last year and expect to be competing for the championship.

"When Michigan and Illinois take their victory laps and you stand and watch them, that gets something in your heart," Wenger said. "We have a lot of people returning that got beat last year that don't want it to happen again."

The team already has shown promise to build on last year's record-breaking season. The teammates and coaching staff alike have noticed the team has shown incredible dynamics in workouts that will undoubtedly help the team when the meets get tougher.

"We all have a common goal which is success, which is winning Big Tens," Cox said. "I feel like a lot of times when you have that common goal, things are a lot easier."