EAST LANSING, MICH., NOV. 2, 2003- The Penn State men¡¯s cross country finished in a tie for seventh place with Michigan State Spartans today at the Big Ten Championships hosted by the Spartans.

The No. 2 nationally ranked and No. 1 regionally ranked Wisconsin Badgers took home the Big Ten title with a score of 40 points. The No. 6 ranked Michigan team took second with a score of 57 and No. 19 ranked Indiana was third with 90 points. The Nittany Lions scored a total of 218 points.

The competition field included five nationally ranked teams and six teams ranked fifth or higher in their respective region.

Sophomore Dan Mazzocco (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was the first Nittany Lion across the line placing fourth in a time of 24:20.7. Mazzocco¡¯s fourth place finish also earned him a spot on the first team All-Big Ten team. Mazzocco has already been chosen as Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Week twice this season and recently won the Penn State National on Oct. 18.

Junior Joel Moceri (Reading, Pa.) was the second Nittany Lion across the line coming in at 39th with a time of 25:19.3. Senior Josh Loren (Waterford, Pa.) finished 61st (25:49.1), senior Chris Pruitt (Flemington, N.J.) placed 63rd (25:55.1) and freshman Daniel Deichert (Gibbsboro, N.J.) finished 69th in a time of 26:06.1.

Rounding out the scoring for the Nittany Lions was sophomore Dorian McDonald (Bethlehem, Pa.) coming in at 64th (26:16.5) and junior Kyle Berseth (Bear, Del.) placing 66th in a time of 26:33.3.

Also competing was junior co-captain Matthew Lincoln (Toronto, Canada) placing 80th (26:35.5) and junior Tim Walker (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) coming in at 83rd in a time of 27:06.8.

The Nittany Lions are back in action on Nov. 15 for the NCAA Region II Championships at Lock Haven University. The race is set to start at 11:00 a.m.