Good is not good enough.

This was the sentiment that was echoed by the Penn State women's cross country team this weekend, at Big Ten Championships in Champaign, Ill.

It was good that the Nittany Lions improved on last year's eighth place finish by finishing tied for seventh. But it was not good enough when the Lions had aspirations of a top five finish entering the weekend.

"We were a bit disappointed as a team after the race, because we were hoping for a top five finish," Penn State women's cross country coach Beth-Alford-Sullivan said. "Although, we did make some good progress this weekend. Also, we were able to take a lot of things form this race that will better prepare us in the future."

The Nitany Lions finished tied for seventh with Illinois with 153 points. Michigan State dethroned six time defending Big Ten champ Wisconsin to capture the team title. The Spartans won by outscoring in-state rival Michigan 35- 101. Wisconsin slipped all the way down to third, after injuries and illness depleted their squad. Wisconsin scored 106 points. Minnesota followed them with 112. Rounding out the field was Purdue (116), Northwestern (137), Penn State and Illinois (153), Indiana (173), Ohio State (300) and Iowa (354).

Wisconsin's Bethany Brewster, won the individual crown in 17:02, after her teammate Erica Palmer was unable to defend her title when she was lost for the season three weeks ago.

Michigan State's Ann Sommerville finished second in 17:06 seconds. Freshman Lindsay Zinn of Purdue crossed in 17:09 seconds. MSU's Michelle Carson was next to cross the line in 17:18 seconds. Northwestern's Rachel Evjen rounded out the top five, and ran the 5,000 meters in 17:23.

Penn State's top finisher was Michelle Wale who finished 23rd with a time of 18:02. Wale continued to pace the Lions, despite not running her best race of the year.

"It was a very disappointing performance," Wale said. "I was hoping to do much better. But all I can do now is to put it behind me, and use it to fire me up for the next time out."

Right behind Wale was fellow teammate Chelsea Lenge, who crossed in 18:03 seconds. Kris Phillips finished 27th, and ran the 5,000 meters in 18:07. Maureen Thomas, 35th, and Beth Sharkey, 44th, rounded out the top five for the Lions. They finished in 18:14 and 18:25, respectively.

The Lions found the Orange and Blue Golf Course on the University of Illinois very difficult to compete on. The course was extremely flat, which made the race run faster than usual. It lacked the bumpy terrain that the Lions like and are used to competing and training on.

"The majority of our runners are what we call 'hill runners,' so this was a very big change for us being that it was so flat," Wale said.

The Lions now have two weeks to recuperate before competing again at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. Penn State looks to carry this experience with them so they can put together a better showing at the regional.

"I think it (Big Ten) certainly pumps me up to do better at the regional," Lenge said. "We want to go out perform well, so we can make nationals. Even more so I do not want it to be my last race."