Falling well short of its pre-race goal, the Penn State men's cross country team registered a disappointing ninth place at the Big Ten Championships yesterday at the University of Minnesota.

The Lions finished with 239 points, well short of champion Wisconsin, who took the top four spots and eight of the top ten in the race for its seventh straight Big Ten victory.

Junior Dan Mazzocco, the team's top runner in all but one race this season, led the Lions once again and finished 15th out of 82 runners with a time of 24:57.48. Penn State's next highest runner was senior Chris Nirschel in 43rd place with a time of 25:47.58. Seniors Sean Kennedy and Ian McCann finished in 53rd and 62nd place, respectively.

The Lions came into Big Tens looking to redeem themselves after coming away disappointed in its ninth place performance at the Penn State National on Oct. 15. Penn State coach Harry Groves said that a top five finish would be a successful run, but the team was unable to gain any momentum in the face of some stiff competition. The Lions were unable to pack together and only Mazzocco was able to break away and make a move towards the front of the pack.

The Big Ten meet featured six teams in the MONDO national top 30 poll and was believed to be one of the toughest races the team will run all season. The team also faced the added disadvantage of not having run against any other Big Ten teams before Sunday's race.

The Lions will have little time to recover and are now looking ahead to the Mid-Atlantic NCAA Regionals in Bethlehem, Pa on Nov. 12.

While the Regionals won't feature as strong a field as the Big Tens, it's a major opportunity for the team to place some runners in the NCAA Championship and extend its season.