TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- It wasn't unreasonable for the No. 2 Arkansas women's cross country team to expect to have the NCAA championship trophy handed to them after Monday's NCAA championship race at Indiana State's LaVern Gibson Course.

It turned out the only thing presented to the Lady Razorbacks after the race was a muddy shoe.

Arkansas coach Lance Harter handed Christine Kalmer her shoe in a bittersweet moment after the race. Kalmer lost her shoe at the 1K mark of the 6K championship race, running barefoot on one foot for most of the race in excessively muddy and cold conditions, finishing 117th.

The loss of the shoe was fatal to Arkansas' NCAA championship hopes. Unbeaten entering the race, the Lady'Backs finished fifth as Stanford won its second straight national title.

"I was exactly where I wanted to be -- in the top 25," Kalmer said. "There was some pushing and shoving going on and somebody stepped on my shoe. I had to stop and take it off.

"It was just one of those things."

Harter estimated that the freak occurrence likely cost the Razorbacks a shot at the title. Given that Kalmer never finished worse than 10th this season, her average finish would have at least vaulted Arkansas to second place.

"We lived by 15 seconds -- because that's our average span, but today we lost a runner and it had a huge negative effect on our team score," Harter said.

Arkansas' best performance was freshman Brooke Upshaw's 37th place finish, with a time of 21 minutes, 30 seconds. Dacia Barr was 58th, Dani Parry 64th, and Denise Bargiachi 86th. Miranda Walker (134th) and Kelly Vrshek (215th) participated but did not score.

"Brooke rises to the challenge, no matter what conditions there are," said Harter on SEC champion Upshaw. "I don't want to slight fifth in the nation, we'll take that anytime."

Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego won the race to remain unbeaten this season. She won easily with a time of 20:11.1, 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Jenny Barringer of Colorado.

Kalmer took her misfortune in stride. Along with the rest of her teammates, she has a good chance to return to Terre Haute in 2007. Every Lady'Back who scored in the race returns, none are upperclassmen.

"I am pretty upset, but when I look back on it tomorrow it will be funny. There's nothing I can do about it now," Kalmer said.