Illinois women's cross country head coach Karen Harvey's prediction was right on course.

She predicted that her team would place between spots five and seven at the Big Ten Championship meet on Sunday in East Lansing, Mich., and that is exactly what happened. The team placed seventh.

"I can't answer whether or not I'm satisfied with my team's results in that one word," Harvey said. "I know, and anyone who follows our team knows, that we could have finished fourth. That's pretty depressing. We were so close to putting Illinois on the map."

According to Harvey, the reason the team didn't finish better than seventh place was because some of her team didn't run in their pack.

The freshmen trio of Cassie Hunt, Pam Wolf and Stephanie Simms led the Illini through Michigan State territory by placing first through third for their team.

"No other team in the conference, no team in the nation is led by three freshmen," Harvey said.

Hunt was the first Illini runner to cross the finish line in 12th overall with a time of 21 minutes and 36.9 seconds. Hunt was not only the first Illini to finish the course, but also the first freshman runner to finish the race.

"(Coach) Harv told me that I had a good chance going into the race of being the first freshman to finish," Hunt said. "I wanted to be the first freshman to finish, but I wasn't sure how it would end up going into the race."

The Big Ten Championship meet was the fourth consecutive time this season that Hunt has placed first for Illinois. The only race she didn't place first for the Illini was at the Bradley Open on Sept. 12, in which she finished second for the team.

According to Harvey, Hunt beat her personal record for a 6,000 meter run on Sunday by 19 seconds.

"She's awesome," Harvey said. "She beat big dogs, top runners. She got one of the fastest times in this school's history and the second best time in this school's history at the Big Ten meet. I'm so happy Cassie pulled through for us."

Wolf finished 32nd overall and second for the Illini with a time of 22:10.7 while Simms followed closely behind finishing in 22:15.8 seconds to take the 36th spot.

Junior Casie Simpson finished the course in 22:30.6 and placed fourth for the team and 46th overall while sophomore Tabitha Volling took the last scoring position for the Illini by finishing fifth for the team with a time of 22: 57.3. This is a 30 second improvement from Volling's previous fastest finish.

The team finished ahead of Ohio State, Northwestern, Purdue and Iowa.

According to Harvey, in order for her team to improve in their upcoming regional race, they need to get in their packs again. They need to do what they have been doing all season. She said it's not their fitness level that needs improvement.

Harvey had a group meeting after the meet to discuss the results.

"I fired the team up," Harvey said. "I let them know exactly what they did wrong. We're not done. We still have a chance to finish high in the regional and go to the NCAA championships. Our season is not over."

Hunt believes that the meeting will be beneficial to the team's future.

"It's going to help," Hunt said. "She told everyone what they had to do to run more together. I think the girls will take what she said to be more successful."