While the Illinois men’s cross-country regular season ended last Friday, the real competition is just beginning for the Illini. They will run their first postseason race of 2013 when they take part in the Big Ten Championships race Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Illini are coming off a weekend that saw five Illinois runners finish in the top five at the Illini Open, though three of the five ran unattached. Sophomore Sam Telfer earned Big Ten Cross-Country Athlete of the Week for his efforts in the race. Telfer finished the 8-kilometer race in 25 minutes, 19 seconds.
“I’m happy for Sam,” head coach Jake Stewart said. “He is still a big part of what we’re trying to do although he’s not going to Big Tens this week.”
Jannis Toepfer, Liam Markham, Ian Barnett, Luke Carroll, Will Brewster, Brendan McDonnell, Tommy King, Paul Zeman and Graham Morris will run against the top runners from the 11 Big Ten schools to determine which teams and individuals are the best in the conference.
“I expect our guys to run with good composure,” Stewart said. “The majority of our guys have been in a Big Ten championship in some capacity whether in cross-country or in track and field, so they want to approach it like it’s no different than any other meet.”
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Stewart also said his team has a plan for success on Sunday.
“Our plan is to be aware of what’s going on within the race,” Stewart said. “Championship races are a lot different than some of the race environments we’ve been in thus far. It’s going to be a lot more tactical, there’s going to be a lot more feeling each other out in terms of when teams or individuals may move.”
Only four teams in the Big Ten — No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 16 Michigan, No. 24 Indiana and No. 31 Minnesota — are ranked ahead of No. 32 Illinois. At the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational, Illinois beat Minnesota and finished just 23 points behind Indiana. Wisconsin has won 13 straight conference titles.
“At the end of the season, nobody cares what you ran at Notre Dame or Wisconsin,” Toepfer said after the Wisconsin adidas Invitational. “It only matters what you run that day.”
Illinois, which has not won the Big Ten cross-country title since 1984, heads to West Lafayette in search of its fourth conference championship in school history.
McDonnell was among those who felt confident in the team’s abilities.
“I think that we should come away with some hardware,” McDonnell said. “Our team is as fit as it’s ever been. This is a year where we could do really well. Jannis should finish pretty high.”
Last season, Illinois took fourth overall at the conference meet. Toepfer led the way for the Illini in that race, finishing ninth with a time of 24:09. At Wisconsin, Toepfer ran a personal-best 23:50. The Big Ten Championships 8K record is 23:18, set last season by Mohammed Ahmed of Wisconsin.
Thomas can be reached at [email protected].
