TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Jenny Barringer keeps closing the gap on Sally Kipyego. So far, Kipyego keeps winning.

As they have in races for the past two years, Texas Tech's Kipyego and Colorado's Barringer ran at the front of the pack Monday at the NCAA cross country championships. Just as she did at the same meet last year, Kipyego beat Barringer for the title.

Barringer's second straight national runner-up finish on the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course was the highlight of the day for the perennial powerhouse Buffs, who have made plenty of memories in Terre Haute the last few years.

CU's rebuilding women's squad finished 23rd as a team, and the men, ranked second in the nation coming into the event, ended up a disappointing seventh.

Running with Florida State's Susan Kuijken and Iowa's Diane Nukuri in a battle for second place, Barringer had a decision to make about halfway through the race: hang safely where she was at, knowing she could out-kick Kuijken and Nukuri to the finish; or go for broke trying to catch Kipyego — who had begun gapping the trailing trio — and risk a much lower finish if she ran out of steam before the end.

Barringer went for it all. And though she didn't catch Kipyego, her choice had her holding her head high afterward.

Kipyego covered the winding, rolling 6K grass course in a time of 19 minutes, 30.9 seconds. Barringer finished in 19:47.8. Kuijken placed third in 19:57.3, and Nukuri was fourth in 20:07.0.

"I wanted to risk it more than I ever had before, because second isn't good enough for me," Barringer said. "I moved earlier than I ever have. I had a little less in the last 500 meters than I ever have. So coming out of this I'm really proud of all the hard work I've put in."

Although she acknowledged some frustration incontinually finishing second to her Big 12 Conference rival Kipyego, Barringer said she's seeing progress.

"Last year it was 45 seconds, then 26 seconds," Barringer said. "Then this year it was 14 seconds and six seconds and then today I'm not sure how much. But I'm closing the gap. I don't think I'd be as good as I am if I didn't have such good competition."

Buffs head coach Mark Wetmore was equally proud of Barringer, the reigning U.S. steeplechase champion.

"A great race from Jen, what we hoped for," Wetmore said.

Sara Vaughn joined Barringer in earning All-American status with a 31st-place finish.

Stanford won the women's title for the third year in a row. Oregon placed second. Florida State was third.

Vaughn's husband, Brent, placed fifth to pace a CU men's squad that otherwise never really got rolling.

Fellow senior Stephen Pifer also became an All-American with a 34th-place finish, but he was among multiple Buff men disappointed that he didn't make his move soon enough.

"It was just poor execution on my part," Pifer said. "The pace was slow up front. I should have been up near it and responding to the race. Instead I was too far back whenever the move was made, and I was just playing catch-up."

Liberty's Josh McDougal won in a time of 29:22.4, out-sprinting Oregon's Galen Rupp to the finish by one second. Vaughn crossed in 29:47.4.

Rupp's Ducks took their first team crown since 1977. Iona, Oklahoma State, Northern Arizona and Wisconsin rounded out the top five. Alabama also beat the CU men, who had finished outside the top five only two other times since 1993 and certainly didn't expect to do so on Monday.

"If we're not on the podium it's a bad year for us," Wetmore said.