State College, Pa., November 3, 2002- Sophomore Joel Moceri (Reading, Pa.) was the top finisher for the Nittany Lions on Sunday at the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. Moceri¡¯s time of 25:22.1 on the 8K course put him at 47th place out of a total of 87 runners.

The Nittany Lions scored a total of 290 points, placing tenth out of the ten Big Teams that competed. Wisconsin came in first with a score of 25 points, Ohio State was second with 79 points and Michigan was third with 80 points. Indiana scored 95 points for fourth and Minnesota rounded out the top five with 108 points.

Other placers for the Nittany Lions included senior Josh Loren (Waterford, Pa.) running a 25:37.0 for 55th place, sophomore Mike Gioia (Blue Point, N.Y.) placing 57th in a time of 25:41.8 and junior Chris Pruitt (Flemington, N.J.) placing 65th in 26:05.1. Rounding out the scoring for Penn State was senior Michael Enwright (Jamison, Pa.) in a time 26:06.6 for 66th place, sophomore Erinn Otterson (Butler, Pa.) placing 69th in a time of 26:34.0 and sophomore Chris Foster (Severna Park, Md.) finishing with a time of 26:44.6 for 70th place.

Junior Andy Roth (Jackson, N.J.) and senior Steve Holmes (Waynesboro, Pa.) also placed for the Nittany Lions in times of 26:58.5 and 27:35.7, respectively.

Next up on the Nittany Lions schedule is the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on November 16. The meet is set to begin at 11:00 a.m.