The pressure is off. The Illinois men's cross country team underachieved, finishing ninth at the Big Ten Conference meet two weeks ago.

For Saturday's NCAA Midwest Regional, the Illini don't have any pressure with the United States Cross Country Coaches Association ranking Illinois ninth in the regional.

"I don't think they're as nervous as before conference," said Illinois cross country head coach Paul Pilkington. "They're a little down with the way conference went. The pressure's off of us now and hopefully the guys will come through. Hopefully, at least five guys will come through and run well."

Eliminating nerves will benefit several of Illinois' runners. The team's top runner, sophomore Jason Bill, needs to eliminate the abdominal muscle problems that slowed him in the last two races.

"I've been feeling really good," Bill said. "My stomach muscle thing seems fine. Hopefully, I can just worry about racing and not worry about getting injured and all that negative stuff."

The Illini hope to advance beyond Saturday's regional meet in Stillwater, Okla. To advance, the team will need a performance from Bill like the ones he gave early in the season.

"We need things to fall together for Jason up front," Pilkington said. "If we can keep him from getting that side stitch that will help us a lot. He's very fit and in good shape. It's just a matter of if he can get through without that problem."

Before the abdominal problem, Bill excelled in the early season. During Bill's second race of the season, he finished fourth at the Great American Cross Country Festival. The following week, Bill finished 12th in the Cowboy Jamboree on the NCAA Regional course at Oklahoma State.

Each of those races spanned 8,000-meter courses, but on Saturday, Bill and the rest of the Illini will run their first 10,000-meter race of the season.

"We've worked on strength all year, and coach has trained us for 10,000 meters instead of the eight kilometers," junior Kris Cunningham said. "I think as a whole, we have a stronger team. The longer distance should help everybody."

The seven runners competing for Illinois on Saturday will be senior Brent Pfeiffer; juniors Cunningham and Tim Hobbs; sophomores Bill and Jon Houseworth; and freshmen Trent Hoerr and Eric Tietz. Each of the runners needs to perform well for Illinois to reach the team's season-long goal of reaching the NCAA National Championships that take place on Nov. 24 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

"I've talked to all of them about stepping up," Pilkington said. "We have to have five guys have outstanding races. We need to have at least five step up and have their best races of the year. If they do that, we'll be OK in terms of having a chance (to reach nationals). We can't afford to have any of them have a down race."