Savoy, Ill.-- The Penn State women's cross country team finished the Big Ten Championships in a seventh place tie Sunday at the University of Illinois.

For Penn State, freshmen Michelle Wale (Pine Bush, N.Y.) and Chelsea Lenge (West Hartford, Conn.) finished neck and neck. Wale finished 23rd with a time of 18:02.3, while Lenge took 24th place in a time of 18:03.5. Kris Phillips (Niskayuna, N.Y) finished close to the Penn State leaders, finishing in 27th place with a time of 18:07.2. Also scoring for the Nittany Lions were Maureen Thomas (So., Bethlehem, Pa.) and Beth Sharkey (So., Hazleton, Pa.). Thomas took 35 place with a time of 18:14.4, while Sharkey finished 44th, crossing the line in a time of 18:25.1.

The Spartans of Michigan State ran away with the team title with a score of 35, followed by their in-state rivals from Michigan, who scored 101 points. Defending champion Wisconsin finished third with 106 points, while the University of Minnesota took fourth with 112 points. Purdue rounded out the top five with a score of 116, while Northwestern took sixth with a score of 137. Penn State tied with host Illinois for seventh, finishing with a score of 153. Indiana (173 points), Ohio State (300), and Iowa (354) rounded out the field. The individual champion was Bethany Brewster of Wisconsin, who finished with a time of 17:02.7. She was followed by Ann Somerville of Michigan State (17:06.9) and Lindsay Zinn of Purdue (17:09.4). Michigan State's Michelle Carson finished fourth with a time of 17:18.4, and Rachel Evjen of Northwestern finished fifth in a time of 17:23.7.

The Lions will be back in action in two weeks on November 10th at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.