BEAR, Del. - - The Wilmington University cross country teams will have six regular season meets to prepare themselves for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship meet in which each the men and women will again look to compete for a title, as head coach Keith Jones announced his 2012 schedule on Thursday.
The Lady Wildcats return in 2012 after placing second in the CACC Championship and 11th in the NCAA Division II Regional Championship a season ago, while the men's team placed third at the CACC Championship and 17th at the NCAA Division II Regional Championship.
September is a loaded month for the Wildcats as the season opens with the team returning to the Delaware Valley College Invite on the campus of Delaware Valley College on September 1. The following Saturday, Wilmington will host its 12th Annual WUXC Invite at its home course, Carousel Park.
After the lone home meet of the season, the Wildcats head to New Hampshire to take in the course the NCAA Northeast Regional meet will be held out, racing on Mines Falls Park in Nashua, N.H. To close out the month of September, Wilmington will head to two of the area's top meets, first at the Philly Metro on the 22nd and then the Don Cathcart Invite in Winter Place Park, Salisbury, Md., on the 29th.
Wilmington gets a bit of a break in October, as the team will compete on its home course at the Goldey-Beacom Fall Classic on Friday, October 5 before resting for the CACC Conference Championship on Sunday, October 21. The conference meet will again be held at the Belmont Plateau at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.
The NCAA meets begin in November, where the Wildcats will look to finish in the top two of each race at the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Championship as Mines Falls Park in Nashua, N.H. to qualify as a team for the NCAA Division II National Championship hosted by Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo.
Each team returns its top runner, as CACC runner-ups Whitney Hora and Bill Steele will race in their junior seasons. Hora earned All-Region honors at the Northeast Regional meet, finishing seventh overall. Steele placed 14th, also earning All-Region honors for being inside the top-25.