When the Illinois men’s cross country team competes in the Big Ten Championships on Sunday, it will be taking on some of the best runners in the country. Head coach Wendel McRaven said the Big Ten is the best men’s cross country conference in the nation.

“Wisconsin is the favorite, Iowa is the odds on No. 2 in the conference, while Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan will battle for the middle positions,” McRaven said. “To sneak into that group, we will have to have a really good race.”

The Illini finished eighth at the Big Ten’s last year, and McRaven said that the goal for the team is to run better than it has in the past.

Illinois continues to do just that after posting a 23rd-place finish at the Pre-National Meet two weekends ago, improving one place upon 2004’s finish.

They continue to improve, even without their “heavy-hitting” trio of seniors Jason Bill and Jon Houseworth and junior Trent Hoerr, who are all redshirting this season, McRaven said.

To prepare for this race, McRaven said, he has backed down the volume of training, in order to focus on more race-specific aspects. He also said the team’s main training phase is over and that the men are rested and healthy.

The Illini will be led by senior Eric Wallor and sophomore Dan Stock. At the Pre-National Meet in Terre Haute, Ind., Stock finished first for the Illini and 69th overall, with a time of 24:52; while Wallor finished with a 25:17 for the 8k race. McRaven believes that Stock could challenge for a top-25 spot.

“That’s what’s really neat about this team; we could be a lot better than we are on paper. Our strength is that we have four guys who can finish right behind (Stock).”

The Illini will also look to get team points from freshman standout Tim Maier and sophomore Maciej Sniegorski, who at the Pre-Natonal Meet, ran a season-best 25:20.

Also competing for the Illini are sophomores Justin Aronson, Matt Flaherty, Michael Kelley, Tim Kelly and redshirt freshman Ian Clausen. Kelly will run in the meet despite coming off an injured foot.

For McRaven who feels the Illini are as prepared as they can be for Sunday’s meet, he said his team is running better than ever before.

“My goal is realistic, first and foremost, we want to run the best race of the year,” he said. “That’s the name of the game; you’ve got to be ready to rock and roll when the big meets come around.”

The men’s race will start at 11:30 a.m., and take place at Les Bolstad Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. The top-seven finishers will be named to the All-Conference first team, while the eighth through 14th finishers will take second team honors.

Although the Illini are in a rebuilding year, McRaven is still excited to see the improvement his team has made from last year’s Big Ten’s to this season.

“All the evidence shows that we’re better than last year,” he said. “We just need to climb up that ladder.”