BLOOMINGTON, IN – Led by three top-15 finishes, the Illinois men's cross country team placed fourth at Big Ten Championships on Sunday at the Indiana Championship Cross Country Course. Sophomore Jon Davis (24:20.6) and junior Jesse Reiser (24:30.2) earned All-Big Ten honors, placing ninth and 13th respectively, while redshirt junior Zack Smith (24:37.3) fell one spot shy of the honor with a 15th place finish. Michigan won the Big Ten team title with 71 points, while Michigan State (82) and Wisconsin (88) finished second and third.
"I think we had a good day," said head coach Jake Stewart. "I think it's a growing point in our program. I don't think anyone overally excited with our finish. It was a good day. We beat some teams that we felt like we needed to beat, and fell just behind some teams we think we can beat. I think we can look at what we did today and feel good about where we are moving forward. We still have a lot that we can still accomplish this fall, and I think every guy on the team believes that."
Tied for the second-best finish under head coach Jake Stewart, the Illini featured four runners in the top-30 to pace the team. In addition to Reiser, Davis and Smith, redshirt junior Billy Magnesen took 27th. For Davis, Smith and Magnesen, the finish marked their best of their careers at Big Ten Championships.
Staying in the lead pack for the majority of the race, Davis and Reiser jockeyed amongst the rest of the Big Ten's best, sitting in the top-five at the race's midway point. With Reiser holding steady in the top-five through 6,000 meters, Davis briefly slipped outside the top-10 entering the final 2,000 meters. While Davis was able to move up two spots to finish ninth, Reiser dropped 10 spots between the 6,000-meter and 7,000-meter mark, but held on to take 13th.
"Jon improved upon his finish from a year ago, and is all-conference, said Stewart. "I'm sure he wanted more, and there's going to more that he can have in the next few weeks but it was a solid showing. I thought Jesse [Resier] had a really tough day, dealing with some things structurally that he's going to have to work through. He gave his best effort today and he can be really proud of the way he competed and what he put forth for the team."
Smith made his push into the top-15 in the second half of the race, steadily moving up from 26th to 15th in the final 4,000 meters. After dropping from 12th to 26th during the fourth kilometer, Smith maintained a 3:04 per kilometer split as he bypassed five runners at the 5,000-meter mark and another four in the seventh kilometer.
"Zack Smith had his best day in an Illini uniform, said coach Stewart. "When we sat down at the beginning of the year, he felt that a top-17 -18 finish at the Big Ten meet was within his reach, and he's performed in a way all year that would allow him to do that. He ran a very smart race, moved up over the last thousand to three-thousand meters really well."
While Smith made his move in the second part of the race, classmate Billy Magnesen moved into the top-30 by the 5,000-meter checkpoint and held his position for the reset of the race. Sitting 66th after the opening kilometer, the redshirt junior moved 34 spots over the next 2,000 meters, 19 spots in the first of the two kilometers. Sitting in 30th from the 5,000-meter to 8,000-meter marks, Magnesen made a final push in the last kilometer to pass three guys for 27th place.
"Billy ran really well," Stewart said. "He hit a rough patch around the 5,000-meter mark, but he got through it and ran the last two kilometers really aggressively and moved up quite a bit."
Running fifth and sixth on Sunday was redshirt sophomore Zach Dale (50th/25:16.6) and redshirt junior Dan Lathrop (53rd/25:17.6). Working through the final 4,000 meters together, Dale and Lathrop both moved more than 15 spots. Dale picked off 21 runners from the 4,000 meters to 6,000 meters, while Lathrop's biggest move came in the fifth kilometer where he passed nine runners.
Dale and Lathrop both passed redshirt freshman Jack LaLonde, who placed seventh on the team with a 60th place finish, staying between 50th and 60th for most of the race.
Seniors Garrett Lee and Luke Brahm rounded out the nine Illini competing, placing 69th and 90th, respectively.
In two weeks the Fighting Illini will travel to Ames, Iowa for the Midwest Regional where they will look to qualify for their second straight NCAA Championships appearance. Hosted by Iowa State University, the regional meet is set for Friday, November 10.
Illinois Individual Results (Full Results):
9. Jon Davis, 24:20.6*
13. Jesse Reiser, 24:30.2*
15. Zack Smith, 24:37.3
27. Billy Magnesen, 24:55.4
50. Zach Dale, 25:16.6
53. Dan Lathrop, 25:17.6
60. Jack LaLonde, 25:23.9
69. Garrett Lee, 25:29.1
90. Luke Brahm, 26:16.9
*All-Big Ten
Team Scores:
1.Michigan - 71
2.Michigan State - 82
3.Wisconsin - 88
4.Illinois - 113
5.Purdue - 133
6.Minnesota - 142
7.Indiana - 159
8.Penn State - 159
9.Nebraska - 196
10.Iowa - 235
11.Ohio State - 332
12.Rutgers - 366
For complete coverage of Fighting Illini cross country, visit FightingIllini.com, follow the Illini on Twitter (@IlliniMXC and @IlliniWXC) and Instagram (@IlliniMXC and @IlliniWXC) and like Fighting Illini Men's Cross Country and Fighting Illini Women's Cross Country on Facebook.
