After a season of ups and downs, the UNC Wilmington men’s and women’s cross country teams are preparing for the CAA Championship meet, which will be held Oct. 29 at Georgia State. The women’s group looks to have more confidence after the Blue Ridge Mountain Open in Boone, N.C. This is due to the return of veteran runner Lindsay Ester.

This gave some new life to the team as they showed better pack running, demonstrated by the No. 2-5 runners. However, the front runner, Ester, was still on her own.

Erin Brennan, who was the lead runner in Ester’s absence, didn’t have her best performance of the year, but assistant coach Layne Schwier was impressed with the overall effort. “We still had five solid efforts,” Schwier said. “Lindsay is not yet 100 percent…we look to be top five (in the CAA Championships).”

As far as the men’s group goes, they are still doing well, but at the moment there is an area of concern. “The big thing were fighting with on the men’s team is everyone’s getting sick,” Schwier said. “We’ve just got to get healthy.

“We have a solid top three, so we need a fourth and fifth runner to step up heading into conference,” he added.

With uncertainty on both teams, expectations aren’t set in stone. “Right now it’s just about being fresh. We can’t do anything else to help us, but we can do a lot to hurt us,” Schwier said. “The big thing is getting everyone healthy and to stay healthy.”

With only a few days until the final meet, the team is looking to stay fresh and make final preparations. “I’m just trying to build up their confidence up,” Schwier said.

No matter how the Seahawks do, they have had a challenging but successful season.