The Terrapin cross-country team heads into the ACC championship on Saturday with something new to deal with – high expectations.

After a successful regular season, the Terps will compete in an event where their record includes several 10th-place finishes. This year, the Terps’ mindset is different.

“The momentum that the kids have now makes this a confident group,” said head coach Andrew Valmon. “The kids have taken the new expectations, done a really good job and followed through.”

Leading the women’s side will be senior Meghan Braffet, who has been a top runner for the Terps this season. Braffet has run in two races so far this season, placing in third in her first meet and winning her second.

“This is, knock on wood, the first time she’s been healthy for a full season since she’s been [at Maryland], and she’s just been working out great,” Weir said. “I fully expect her to be all-ACC, and if she has a really good race, she can be maybe top-10 or top-five.”

“I think she bought in,” Valmon said. “Meghan wants to go out on top, and she knows what it takes.”

The men’s side isn’t led by a single seasoned veteran like the women’s side is by Braffet but is instead lead by a duo of sophomores who have keyed a revival for the Terps this season – Ben Diestel and Greg Kelsey.

“With those two guys, you’ve just got to let them run,” Valmon said.

Diestel and Kelsey have finished consecutively in both of the races they’ve run together this year.

“I can always look around, and we can just play off of each other,” said Kelsey. “It’s a lot of help just having someone near you that you can just key off of, and it helps a lot during races.”

Accompanying Kelsey and Diestel for the men will be freshman Alex Lundy, sophomores Joe Simpson and Kevin Gahr, junior Richie Booth and redshirt freshman Drew Abernathy.

“I think that it’s possible for us to be in the top five,” said Diestel. “We probably have the tightest pack in the ACC, which is huge for us.”

And despite their youth and relative inexperience, the Terps won’t be intimidated by anybody this weekend.

“We’re not afraid of going out and dying,” Diestel said. “We’re prepared to leave it all on the track.”

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