The Illinois men’s cross country team will face its first real test of the season tomorrow when it competes in the 33rd Annual Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational in Chicago.

Thus far this season, in the Illini’s first two meets, the Hawkeye Invite and the “Pack-It-Up” Challenge, they took second and first places, respectively.

Facing limited racing competition has allowed head coach Wendel McRaven’s team the opportunity to continue working through its training schedule.

“I won’t back them down early in the season anyway,” McRaven said, “but I know mentally sometimes they feel like ‘I have to back down because I have a big meet coming up.’ It’s allowed us to really focus on training since we’ve gotten here (in August).”

The Illini have been focused on pack running since the season began and hope to transfer their strengths in practice to the meets.

Senior Eric Wallor believes in McRaven’s philosophy and hopes to take his knowledge of the Montrose Beach course and use it to his advantage. Wallor has been Illinois’ leading runner, and finished first overall in the “Pack-It-Up Challenge” on Sept. 17 with a time of 25:43, and in fifth place in Iowa with a 18:37.

“I know that course really well, I ran it when I was a junior in college,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a real good chance to run fast, because it’s got a big hill kind of like ours, but the footing is a lot better there, and I think there’s going to be some good times.”

Scheduled to race for the Illini are Justin Aronson, Ian Clausen, Michael Kelley, Tim Kelly, Tim Maier, Stephen Rogers, Maciej Sniegorski and Brad Topol. Sophomores Sniegorski and Tim Kelly are also expected to add points for the Illini.

At the “Pack-It-Up” Challenge two weekends ago, Sniegorski and Kelly finished in second and third places with times of 25:43 and 25:60, respectively. Sophomores Art Glaz and Dan Walters are battling injuries and are listed as undecided for Saturday’s race.

According to McRaven, the Lakefront Invitational will feature a different racing environment, which he hopes will work to the Illini’s favor.

“It’ll be a big field, in our race we’ll probably see over 30 teams, and so it will be a chance for our guys to get used to the practice of getting out faster, being in a race with some competition,” McRaven said.

The 8k race, hosted by Loyola University, will be held at Chicago’s Montrose Beach, with the men’s gold division running at 12:45 p.m.

“One of the keys to being successful this year is to have that group of guys be able to work together and keep our spread between one and five, and even as a backup between one and seven,” he said. “We’re going to have to keep that spread tight.”