For just the third time in the last seven years, the Michigan women's track team didn't take home the Big Ten Title. The 18th-ranked Wolverines finished second, 33 points behind No. 14 Penn State.

Michigan rallied from sixth place after Saturday's events to within four points of the Nittany Lions after junior Geena Gall finished second in the 800-meter run. But Penn State pulled away in the meet's four remaining events to secure the championship.

"We were hoping to have an outstanding day and move all the way up to the championship, so we were a little disappointed with our continuous high expectations," Michigan coach James Henry said. "We're always expected to be in the top three and vying for the championship, and I think we did that for three quarters of the meet."

Senior co-caption Nicole Edwards continued her outstanding season by winning the 1,500-meter run. Edwards finished with a time of 4 minutes and 23.15 seconds, edging out Minnesota's Heather Dorniden and Gall to win the event by less than a half second.

Michigan also got event wins out of junior Casey Taylor and freshman Emily Pendleton. Taylor took the triple jump with a leap of 42-8 1/4, nearly matching the school record of 43-0 1/4. She also added two additional points to Michigan's total by finishing seventh in the 100-meter dash. Pendleton won the discus event with a toss of 171 feet, five inches.

The Wolverines also received a solid effort from junior co-captain Tiffany Ofili. Ofili, who was the Big Ten's two-time defending 100-meter hurdles champ, placed second in the event this year. She also finished third-place in the long jump and fourth in the 100-meter dash and ran the first leg for the 4X100-meter relay team, which placed fifth.

"I thought Tiffany Ofili had a valiant effort, in both the long jump, the 100 hurdles, as well as the 100 dash," Henry said. "I was really pleased with how she performed."

Michigan was dealt a blow early in the weekend when distance runner Toni-Lynn Salucci was injured in Friday's 10,000-meter run. The graduate student was bothered by a foot injury, and was held out of the 5,000-meter run after it was clear Penn State locked up the title. The Wolverines will now look to get healthy before the NCAA Mideast Regionals, which take place May 30 and 31 in Fayetteville, Ark.

"(The injuries) kept us from being a lot more competitive in the end," Henry said. "So getting healthy is something we've definitely got to do. We've got to get our people back and ready for regionals."