Heather Dorniden finished eighth in the title race of the 800 meters in a time of 2 minutes, 4.44 seconds at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Dorniden did, however, add her Minnesota-best ninth All-America honor to her Golden Gopher track resume.

Michigan's Geena Gall defended her national title in the 800 meters running a career-best time of 2:00.80.

Dorniden and Gall ran the first lap in just under a minute, hitting the midway point shoulder to shoulder in a race that looked like it might become a battle between two of the best middle distance runners in Big Ten Conference history.

As the field of runners hit the backstretch, Dorniden faltered slightly and the Gall took the lead for good. Dorniden battled but didn't have the extra gear today that we had witnessed in the past. Her time of 2:04.44 was her second-fastest of the season, but not fast enough to climb to the top of the list is such a talented 800-meter final field.

""At the 550-meter mark, I knew I just didn't have it today,"" said Dorniden. ""I was still going to give it all I had. There was no way I wasn't going to earn All-America honors in my last race.""

The Minnesota women finish the NCAA Championships with 14.5 team points, just a half a point off last year's highest total in history. The Gophers finished 18th overall, the sixth top-20 finish in Minnesota history. Texas A&M captured the team title.