The Fighting Illini men’s cross country team will make the 50-mile trip through the corn fields Friday afternoon to Normal, Ill., to prove who the fastest college team in the state really is.

The Illini, along with 22 other state schools – excluding Southern Illinois and Eastern Illinois – will compete in the first annual Illinois Intercollegiate Meet held on the Illinois State campus.

“We want to prove we are the best team in Illinois,” sophomore Jared Richardson said. “This is the first step of the many accomplishments we hope to achieve this year.”

Richardson will be one of the 10 Illini athletes set to compete in the meet. The sophomore plans to use the eight-kilometer race as a building block for the rest of the season.

“It’s the first race that long,” Richardson said. “I know I’m going to get better.”

Just two weeks ago the Illini captured their third consecutive Illini Challenge title, and the team plans to add this meet to its winning record.

The Orange and Blue have not switched around its training routine and the athletes’ main goals are to stay focused on the task at hand. Last season, the team never visited the Illinois State course and is not totally sure what to expect when the gun blasts off.

“They moved it onto the golf course,” Justin Aronson said. “I assume it’s pretty quick.”

Aronson is just as excited about the interstate rivalry meet as Richardson. As a fifth-year senior, Aronson believes he has a routine when it comes to running. Rarely changing any of his habits, his race style is “automatic.”

The Intercollegiate Meet, just like the Illini Challenge, will not count toward the team’s final point standings during Regionals. Because it’s still early in the season, the runners are not necessarily looking to set any personal records, instead just use the race to improve.

When the team returns to campus, it will have another two-week vacation from competition. On Friday, Sept. 28, the team will have its first real challenge of the year at the Notre Dame Invitational, the first time points will be added into its record.

“Notre Dame is the biggest meet of the year,” Richardson said. “Our work outs (before the meet) will be more race specific.”

Aronson agreed about the importance of the meet, but is also excited to run on the “really flat, fast course.”

The Illini men are set to take off at 5:35 p.m. on Friday from the Illinois State golf course.