The Illini men’s cross-country squad took second place at Friday’s Orange and Blue Preview and nearly took the individual victory as well.

The meet, held at the UI Arboretum in Urbana, featured the Illini along with Big Ten powerhouses Wisconsin and Michigan. No. 2 ranked Wisconsin took the overall victory with 33 points, followed by the Illini (42) and Michigan (50).

“I’m happy with the front three and where they’re at and pretty disappointed with everyone else, but we got a month to fix it,” Illinois head coach Gavin Kennedy said.

The Illini will race this course again when they host the Big Ten Championships at the end of October. This was the first race of the season for five of the seven Illini, and other than individual finishers Dan Kremske (second place), Colin Mickow (third place) and Nate Troester (sixth place), the top of the leaderboard was nearly absent of Illini.

“It’s not a given to put on a vest at Illinois, you have to earn it, and hopefully some other guys get things done in the next few weeks,” Kennedy said.