It didn’t take long for freshman Chris Toloff to earn Big Ten honors.

After his first collegiate race ever, the cross country runner was named this week’s Big Ten cross country athlete of the week, by posting a second place, 20:24:27 performance in the four-mile at the Grand Valley State Fall Classic on Aug. 31.

“It was great,” Toloff said. “I was pumped to come to MSU and run with the collegiate guys.”

It may have only been the season opener - and Toloff’s first race ever for MSU - but head coach Jim Stintzi said he expects his success to continue.

“He looked very good,” Stintzi said. “I think he will be one of the best runners, he has great potential.”

Potential that’s been building since puberty.

Toloff began running in seventh grade after a teacher noticed his talent.

“My gym teacher got me into it,” Toloff said. “Because some of my friends were doing it, he thought I should do it too.”

And that teacher apparently had a good eye. Toloff went on to become one of the top runners at Novi High School.

During his high school tenure, he was part of a team that won a state championship in 1999 and finished second in 2000. In his senior year, Toloff finished second at the state meet.

The key to his success wasn’t very unusual - keep practicing and stay healthy, he said.

Once at MSU, it didn’t take long for Toloff to prove his freshman status wasn’t going to cloud his focus. Toloff’s skill caught the eye of many players, including sophomore co-captain Jason Mueller.

“He’s fast,” Mueller said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but the first couple of practices I was surprised.”

But junior co-captain Ben Evans said he never really had any doubts about Toloff’s abilities.

“I knew he was going to be good,” Evans said. “He was one of the top runners in the U.S.”

The team’s next race is the Spartan Invitation, at 4 p.m., Sept. 21 at Forest Akers East.