The UNC Wilmington men’s and women’s cross country teams have not placed in the top four of the field in the CAA Championships in over a decade. The men finished fourth in 1996, and their female counterparts claimed fourth in 1998.

Frequently, the Seahawks finished toward the bottom of the conference. This year, assistant coach Layne Schwier is confident that will change. Maturing cross country runners enjoyed a successful spring track season and are now ready to race.

“The men had a strong spring track season and with the addition of a few newcomers, they will definitely be stronger and ready to make that move into the top four as a team at CAAs,” Schwier said in a news release. “The women’s field is more balanced and has more teams than the men, so moving into the top half will be tougher, but certainly something we will be aiming to do.”

Both the men and women runners will start the season Sept. 3 in Buies Creek, N.C. at the Campbell Invitational. Last year, Campbell’s cross country teams earned their first wins of the season by sweeping UNCW in the adidas Seahawk Invitational. UNCW will look to return the favor of beating the host team this season.

“Typically we use our first meet to determine who our depth runners are going to be, and also allow the newcomers to get some experience and a race under their belts before the bigger meets later in the season,” Schwier said.

The Seahawks host one meet this season—the Seahawk Invitational—and it will be held Sept. 9. “It’s our only home competition this fall,” Schwier said, “so we’ll try to put our best foot forward.”