Folks have got to start somewhere.

And UNCW’s men’s cross-country team can’t get much closer to starting at the bottom.

The Seahawk squad features a skeleton squad-just seven members.

The new coaching staff, including returning head coach Jim Sprecher and distance assistant coach Layne Scheier, felt the team was so out of shape that they see this season as a training springboard to spring track and the 2004 cross-country team.

In recent years the cross-country athletes, who run distance events in the track season, felt like ugly step-children to the track squad’s sprinters and field athletes.

But renewed discipline brought a spark to the small squad, and the athletes project good things to come.

“I can’t wait to see what he does,” said senior Paul Chakota, “Just take charge. Set the rules. (In the past) if they (athletes) weren’t there for practice, oh well-it wasn’t serious.”

But the coaching staff knows it has a seriously large task ahead.

“Job number one is to rebuild our numbers. We’re a little low in the numbers, a little low in quality,” Scheier said. “They’re not in good shape. We’re trying to build them up like in the summer. A lot of them aren’t used to much distance.”

The coaches hope that increased training, plus two solid recruiting classes, equals a steady climb up the CAA standings and an eventual challenge to distance-running powers JMU and William & Mary.

“It’s going slow,” said freshman Paul Hemberger. “We’re going to pull in some recruits this year and next year. In the coming years we can get some people wanting to run.”

It seems that Hemberger, who finished eighth overall at the un-official Campbell Invitational and senior Andy Painter, who’s taking a redshirt year after he found out his National Guard unit got called up to active duty, will provide building blocks for future years.

For now, runners hope the new regime will help the athletes earn personal-best times each year.

“I didn’t get better,” Chakota said, lamenting his college running years. “I stayed with the same time each season.”

“I look forward to seeing our full potential with two good coaches in my final season,” he said.