- Jane Hedengren broke a 17-year-old record in the 10,000-meter semifinals.
- BYU women made history with two championship berths in the 10K since 2001.
- Utah State's Logan Hammer and Walker Deede qualified for NCAA championships in track events.
PROVO — Freshman phenom Jane Hedengren once again stole the show int he 10,000-meter semifinals to advance to the NCAA championships, but one of her teammates helped the BYU women make history to open the NCAA West regionals Thursday.
Hedengren broke a 17-year-old facility record at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas to win the women's 10,000-meter semifinal in 31 minutes, 27.30 seconds and advance to the NCAA championships in the event.
She won't be alone at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, though.
Jenna Hutchins, the senior from Johnson City, Tennessee, who earned first-team All-American honors in the event after finishing sixth nationally in 2024, added an eight-place finish in 32:30.50 to qualify for the national championships.
It's the first time since 2001 that the Cougars have earned two championship berths in the 10K.
Hedengren led from the start, but New Mexico rival Pamela Kosgei took the lead in the final lap before the freshman from Timpview High crossed in front at the line to hold off Kosgei by .28 seconds.
Hedengren, who owns the 10,000-meter collegiate records when she ran 30:46.80 at the Stanford Invitational in April, broke the facility record set by Providence's Danette Doetzel in 2009 — while also finishing more than 30 seconds behind her national record time of 30:46.80.
Utah Valley's Morgan Nokes finished 18th in the event, narrowly missing out by six spots for a trip to nationals with a team-best time of 33:17.71.
𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐎𝐍 🎟️ pic.twitter.com/HMif4g3RRy
— BYU Track & Field/Cross Country (@BYUTFXC) May 29, 2026
Thursday's 10,000-meter run was the only semifinal of the women's regional meet with a spot at the NCAA championships on the line.
Both Kali McEuen and Zoey Bonds earned a spot for BYU in Saturday's 100-meter hurdle quarterfinals with a pair of top-15 finishes in the first-round heats. It will be the second quarterfinal of the day for McEuen, who is also set to compete in the 400-meter hurdles.
Paje Rasmussen's 11.37 100-meter first-round time helped her secure a spot in Saturday's quarterfinals to go with her 200-meter spot. She'll be joined by Utah's Chelsea Amoah, who advanced to the quarterfinals after finishing third in her heat with a time of 23.04 seconds.
Carmen Alder, Carlee Hansen-Thompson and Zariel Macchia will all look to earn a trip to nationals Saturday in the 1,500-meter quarterfinal after finishing a respective first, third and 16th across the four first-round heats.
Tessa Buswell and Krystie Solomon-Jensen will each compete in the 800-meter quarterfinals after a pair of automatic qualifiers, including a personal-best time of 2:03.38 by Solomon-Jensen.
In limited men's competition, Utah State's Logan Hammer earned his third consecutive trip to nationals with a leap of 5.37 meters (17-7 1/4) to finish tied for seventh in the pole vault.
The four-time All-American from Nampa, Idaho, is just the fifth Aggie track and field athlete to ever qualify for five different national championships, and joins former U.S. Olympians Chari Hawkins and James Parker as the only ones to do so consecutively.
Hammer will join Utah State teammate Walker Deede at the NCAA championships after the junior from Springville secured his first career berth with a launch of 70.02 meters (229-9) for a 12th-place finish in the men's javelin.
The Mountain West champion is just the fourth Utah State javelin thrower to qualify for nationals in program history, and the first since Sindri Gudmundson in 2019.
