The Orange and Blue freshmen led the men’s cross country team to a second-place finish in the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Saturday.

Freshman Jim Riddle led the Illini, finishing the 8K race in a time of 25:02, good enough for sixth place. Big Ten Runner of the Week Jeremy Stevens crossed the finish line just two seconds behind Riddle to finish in seventh place.

“I was a little bit disappointed for sure,” head coach Wendel McRaven said. “We had some positive things in that we had a few guys that stepped up and ran well, and then we had some places where we probably fell off a little bit. I tell the guys ‘don’t make any excuses,’ but we had a little sickness running through the team.”

Stevens, a junior, was the only non-freshman in the top seven Orange and Blue finishers on the Lakefront stage in Chicago.

“I felt good.” Riddle said. “I felt a lot better than last week. I felt a little bit under the weather. I thought it went well. It was a good feeling being first for the Illini, but I’m not going to dwell on it.”

Freshmen Nathan Troester, Nathan Bohne, Colin Mickow and Chris DeSilva continued to show a promising future for Illinois, as they all finished in the top-20.

“Jimmy Riddle ran a nice race for us. He had been sick earlier in the week,” McRaven said. “I felt like Colin Mickow really stepped up to another level at the meet and also felt that Nate Bohne did well … Nate Troester also ran strong, he woke up that morning getting sick.”

Troester is keeping his focus on the Illini’s upcoming meets and what needs to be done for the team to continue to develop.

“We have Pre-Nationals coming up the next couple weeks, and we’ll use that as another stepping stone for Big Ten and regionals,” Troester said. “We need to be able to work together in races and then just try to be up there at the front of the pack.”

The Illini will take two weeks off from competition before heading to the Pre-Nationals meet on Oct. 18 in Terre Haute, Ind.