- Jane Hedengren, a BYU freshman, won the 5K indoor national title Friday.
- She finished in 15:00.12 at the NCAA championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
- Hedengren broke a 22-year-old record and holds the American collegiate record.
PROVO — The one thing that eluded her during her freshman cross country season now belongs to Jane Hedengren.
The distance running phenom from BYU won her first collegiate national title Friday, jumping out to an early lead in the 5,000-meter run and never looking back en route to a 15-minute, 0.12-second finish at the NCAA indoor track and field championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Hedengren started fast, taking a .38 second lead over Alabama's Doris Lemngole — the reigning cross country champion who held off Hedengren at Gans Creek in the fall — in the first 400 meters, and never looked back.
Lemngole, a 24-year-old junior from Kenya who also won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in June 2024 during the outdoor championships, finished more than 3 seconds behind Hedengren for second.
New Mexico's Pamela Kosgei was third in 15:07.76 and Florida teammates Hilda Olemomoi and Judy Chepkoech rounded out the top five behind Hedengren, who broke a 22-year-old facility record held by Providence's Kim Smith by more than 14 seconds.
Hedengren also owns the American collegiate record in the race when she went wire-to-wire to win the event in 14:44.79 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University back in December, shattering the previous record held by Lemngole by nearly eight seconds.
That's the 11th-fastest time in the women's 5,000 meter in the world.
But the Big 12 outstanding freshman of the year for women's indoor track and field was still warming up. The 19-year-old true freshman from nearby Timpview High Schooler the third-fastest mile in NCAA history at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in February, breaking the tape in 4:22.22, and went on to finish runner-up in the event at the Big 12 championships with a time of 4:24.33.
She added a conference title in the 3,000 meters, crossing in 8:46.11 and beating the field by nearly 10 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
Hedengren is the second 5,000-meter indoor champion in four years from BYU, joining former Davis High star Courtney Wayment's individual title in 2022 with a time of 15:30.17.
As she closed her final 400 meters in 1:04, the seven-time national high school record holder and reigning Gatorade female athlete of the year didn't turn back until she was approaching her coach Diljeet Taylor with waiting arms and a yell while wearing a sweatshirt that included Hedengren's face on it.
🎥 WATCH: @BYUTFXC freshman Jane Hedengren collects the first NCAA title of her career, running away from national cross country champion Doris Lemngole over the closing stages of the 5,000m final and crossing the line in 15:00.12 🏆pic.twitter.com/PR5LyrY49O
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) March 14, 2026
BYU's distance medley relay team of Taylor Rohatinsky, Sami Oblate, Tessa Buswell and Jacey Harkins-Farmer added first-team All-America honors to the Cougars' tally with a sixth-place finish in the event.
Zoey Bonds finished 10th in the pentathlon for second-team All-American honors, and top-ranked Riley Chamberlain clinched All-American status with a time of 4:28.96 in the mile to advance to Saturday's final.
Other standout performances from in-state athletes included the Utah DMR team earned repeat first-team All-American honors when the quartet of Bri Rinn, Emily Martin, Kyla Martin and Erin Bringer finished seventh with a combined time of 10:52.58.
Three Utah State athletes took second-team All-American honors Friday, including senior Logan hammer after clearing 5.40 meters (17-8.5) in the men's pole vault, good for 14th overall.
Sophomore Ayodele Ojo, Jr. placed a 15th-place finish in the 60-meter finals in 6.71 seconds, and junior Landon Bott finished 16th in the men's 1800 meters in 1:52.28 to become the Aggies' first All-American in the event since 2018.
