It was a day of firsts for the men’s cross-country team at the Big Ten Championships in East Lansing,   Mich. 

In Illinois head coach Jake Stewart’s first appearance at the conference championship meet, the Illini finished fourth overall — the team’s best finish in 16 years.

“We ran with a lot of confidence today. We ran with the same intensity that we have run with all season long,” Stewart said. “The team showed up to race, executed the plan we put in place during practice  and competed at the level I expected from them.”

Graduate student Jannis Toepfer and senior Hunter Mickow led the team Sunday, with both earning second-team All-Big Ten honors. 

Toepfer finished first for Illinois in the 8K with a time of 24:07. 

He placed ninth overall, running the 10th-fastest time in school history. 

Mickow crossed the finish line a second later with the time of 24:08, and redshirt freshman Ian Barnett ran 24:20 — a personal record.

“We all said at the start of training camp that this team had a lot of potential,” Toepfer said. “I think we really pulled it together this meet and we showed that we are a team that can go a long way.”

Favorite Wisconsin won its 14th straight and 46th overall Big Ten crown. 

Michigan came in second place and Indiana was third.

Though Stewart was impressed with his team’s ability to finish fourth behind three top-30 teams, he was most impressed with the performances of the top three runners.

“I was very pleased with the clutch performances from both Jannis and Hunter,” Stewart said. “They ran phenomenally throughout the entire race. I also thought that Ian Barnett had an incredible day. He has been battling some setbacks recently     and for him to perform the way he did was one of the gutsier performances I have seen in awhile.”

Senior Jordan Hebert and redshirt freshman Tommy King also scored points for Illinois. 

Hebert placed 21st overall after crossing the finish line in 24:22, while King finished 28th with a time of 24:32.

Stewart said he is looking forward to getting back to practice to improve for the season’s remaining weeks.

“We still have a lot of season left, and we can still get better. We can’t rest on our laurels at this point. We have to find ways to get better whether that’s staying healthy and taking care of our injuries,” Stewart said. “We have to get better in the next two weeks and that’s the focus.”

Toepfer summed up the significance of the team’s performance at the meet going forward.

 “Knowing we can be up there is huge confidence boost. We’re just a few points behind Indiana, who was ranked 15th in the nation.“

Dan can be reached at [email protected].