Detweiller cross country course is part of Illinois running lore.

Every November the forest preserve is flooded with the best high school runners in Illinois, contending for state titles.

Tonight the Illini will venture to the Peoria park to take on 21 teams in the 18th Bradley Open at 5:30 p.m.

"A lot of the teams are smaller schools, so they might have a couple of individuals that can run with us," Illinois head coach Karen Harvey said. "It will depend on what Mizzou brings."

Missouri defeated the Illini at last weekend's Missouri Cross Country Challenge in Colombia, Mo. However, Illinois isn't focused on getting revenge, rather Harvey has decided to use the race as a workout to prepare for next weekends, tussle with Michigan State and Penn State.

"Penn State and Michigan State are both ranked in the top 15 in the nation," Harvey said. "They will both be there. They're both in our conference. It will be a big race and it's time for us to show what we can do."

Three of Illinois' highly touted freshmen are expected to debut in tonight's meet.

As a native of Russellville, Ind., Cassie Hunt, who will don her orange and blue jersey for the first time in her career, is the lone Illini who has not competed at Illinois High School Association State course before.

"This race is really to get us prepared for next week, it's more of a low key meet," Hunt said. "(The girls) have said that the course is pretty flat, with a gradual up at the end, but the more you know about a course, the better you can race."

Fellow freshman Sammie Polock, a top Illinois recruit from Wheaton North High School, is looking forward to her inaugural collegiate race, as well as her return to the famous course, where she wrapped up her high school career.

"I'm excited just because I get to run on the same course that I ran on last year in high school," Polock said. "It's going to be cool to put on the U of I uniform for the first time and represent the school."

Polock's familiarity with the course may turn out to be a slight disadvantage for her and the top Illini runners, who were instructed to hold back for the first 3 kilometers of the course.

"It's going to be kind of weird (to hold back)," Polock said. "I'm used to the hype of that meet and it's going to be hard to hold back, I'm used to all of the people that are usually there, and I've been waiting to race all summer and so far, all fall."

Illinois' dominant duo from last weekend's meet against Mizzou, where the Illini finished second out of the five schools in attendance, will not be traveling to Peoria, Ill.

Junior Casie Simpson, who led the Illini with a fourth place finish, and freshman Stephanie Simms, who finished sixth, will not compete to conserve their strength for their Big Ten battle on Sept. 19.

"Coach says that you can't run that many races in a row," Simms said who is still excited about her strong performance in Missouri. "Towards the end of the race I was shocked that I was doing so well in my first college race."

Simpson will not race to fight off an illness which left her drained at the end of the Missouri race.

"We ran well as a team last weekend and I had a strong finish, so I'm happy about that," Simpson said, who is already focused on the duel with Michigan State.

"The (Michigan State) meet is going to be a great way to tell where we are in the Big Ten," Simpson said. "After that we'll still have two months to get ready for Conference, so it'll be a good way to see what we have left to do."