DES MOINES, Iowa - A slight hesitation may have cost Dacia Barr a chance for something really big.

Instead, the Arkansas junior had to settle for a huge personal-best time and a fourth-place finish in the 1, 500-meter run Saturday at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium. Barr's finish helped Arkansas score 11 points, good enough for a tie for 22 nd place in the team race.

LSU won the women's title with 67 points, beating defending champion Arizona State, which finished with 63. The Lady Tigers were tied with the Lady Sun Devils before finishing second in the 1, 600 relay while Arizona State was fifth.

Barr wanted a hot early pace in the 1, 500 and got it from defending champion Brie Felnagle of North Carolina. With 800 meters remaining, Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego charged forward in an attempt to break the sprinters in the pack.

Barr, who had been in third the first 700 meters, didn't go with Kipyego immediately and trailed after the five-woman lead pack. With 200 meters remaining, Barr passed Felnagle for fourth and a hard charge down the stretch gave her a time of 4 minutes, 11. 02 seconds.

The time is a two-second personal best and the second-fastest time in school history. Florida State's Hannah England passed Kipyego late to win in 4: 06. 19, an NCAA meet record.

"I doubted myself a little bit and I wish I hadn't," Barr said. "I have to learn from it and take it to the next race and not do that again. I hesitated a little bit. I was tired. I just didn't have it to push it a little extra."

Barr wanted to run 4: 10 and finish in the top three. The school record, held by Christin Wurth-Thomas, is 4: 10. 49, which Wurth-Thomas set at the 2003 nationals.

"I ran a personal record and got fourth, so I can't be too mad," Barr said. "It would have been an outstanding meet if I got 4: 10 and top three. It wasn't horrible."

Barr has one more year of cross country eligibility but finished her outdoor career Saturday. It was Barr's second consecutive All-America performance after a fifth-place finish in last year's 1, 500.

"I never would have thought I had the potential to go to a national meet, much less make the finals," Barr said. "I progressed every year. It's exciting to know I have the ability to keep progressing."

The Lady Razorbacks were hoping for a better team showing at the national meet. Their top players delivered as pole vaulter Katie Stripling finished third and Barr finished fourth.

Stripling entered the meet with the second-best mark in the nation. Barr was fourth in the 1, 500.

The Lady Razorbacks had two runners in the 5, 000, but Christine Kalmer and Catherine White didn't score a point despite ranking sixth and eighth, respectively, heading into nationals.

Kalmer made the final but faded to 14 th in 16: 40. 52. If Kalmer had run her season-best time of 16: 13. 28, she still would not have scored.

White didn't qualify for the final after running 17: 46. 26 in the qualifying round. White, a true freshman, had a strong season going before catching a stomach virus at the SEC meet in Auburn, Ala., and she was unable to round back into top form the rest of the season.

Arkansas had scoring thoughts for 11 th-ranked Denise Bargiachi in the 10, 000, but Bargiachi finished 19 th. She was solidly in seventh place before briefly gagging on a drink of water with about 2, 000 meters remaining.

It broke her stride momentarily and she never recovered, falling from seventh to 19 th in the next 800 meters.

The Lady Razorbacks didn't have any other realistic scoring opportunities from their other entries, but each finished higher than their rank heading into nationals. Makeatha Cooper, ranked 22 nd, finished 17 th in the first round of the 100 hurdles, missing the semifinals by one spot.

Megan Jackson, ranked 24 th, finished 23 rd in qualifying in the 3, 000 steeplechase. The 17 thranked 1, 600 relay team finished 14 th.