Carlee Hansen-Thompson Won 12 State Titles in Utah. She Left BYU an All-American and Ran 4:04.92 at Nationals

Carlee Hansen-Thompson, a middle-distance runner from Bountiful, Utah, finished fifth in the women's 1,500 meters at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on June 13, 2026, in 4:13.66, closing her BYU career as a first-team All-American.

Two days earlier, in her semifinal, she had run a personal-best 4:07.08, which BYU said moved her to No. 2 on the program's all-time list and put her in her first NCAA final. The Deseret News called the final "a painfully tactical (read: slow) 1,500-meter run."

By late July she was racing for a professional team.

A fast summer after BYU

At the 2026 USATF Outdoor Championships at Icahn Stadium in New York, Hansen-Thompson ran 4:04.92 in her 1,500m heat on July 23, finishing fourth in the heat and sixth overall, BYU reported. BYU described her as "the recent BYU graduate" and said the time kept her No. 2 in program history. Track & Field News marked it as a personal record.

Two days later she finished 10th in the final in 4:12.64. BYU said it was her first race representing Nike Swoosh TC.

Her World Athletics results show a busy summer around the national meet. She was 11th in the promotional 1,500m at the Prefontaine Classic on July 3 in 4:08.09 and third at a Sunset Tour meet on July 11 in 4:06.18, then raced the mile at the Sir Walter Miler on Aug. 7 and started meets in Pfungstadt, Germany, and Bellinzona, Switzerland, in late August.

Three times an All-American

Her BYU bio lists three All-America honors. The first came indoors in 2024, when she ran the 800m leg on BYU's distance medley relay, the NCAA indoor champions, and was named a first-team All-American with the relay. In 2025 she was a second-team All-American in the 1,500m after placing 15th at the NCAA meet in 4:12.35. In 2026 her fifth place made her a first-team All-American, in the race that closed her college career.

The NCAA final itself was slow. The Deseret News described the 1,500m as tactical, and Hansen-Thompson's 4:13.66 in the final was more than six seconds slower than the 4:07.08 she had run two days earlier in her semifinal. That semifinal time, a personal best, put her second on BYU's all-time list until she lowered it again in July.

In the Big 12 she was second in the 1,500m at the 2025 outdoor championships in a then-personal-best 4:08.70, and fifth in the 5,000m, BYU reported, and fifth in the 1,500m in 2026, by her bio. The conference named her All-Big 12 in the indoor mile in 2024 and 2025.

In February 2026 she ran the 3,000m at the USATF Indoor Championships, entered under BYU, and finished 12th in 8:57.23, USATF Utah's results show. Her bio lists an 800m best of 2:05.57, from a second-place finish at the 2026 Stanford Invitational, and a 5,000m best of 15:43.54 from 2025.

Twelve state titles at Woods Cross

BYU prints her hometown as Bountiful and her high school as Woods Cross. Her BYU bio credits her with 12 state titles in high school and lists her as the Utah Gatorade Player of the Year in track and field in 2020 and 2021 and in cross country in 2020-21.

The Salt Lake Tribune profiled her in July 2021. "It's a reflection on what I've done, and I've always viewed it like that," she said of the honor.

Of her high school years, she said: "It made me driven to go do something great and kind of have the underdog mentality of go prove myself."

From North Carolina to Provo

She began her college career at North Carolina, where her BYU bio lists a fifth-place finish in the 1,500m at the ACC Outdoor Championships in 4:17.46 and a 122nd place at the 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships. She transferred to BYU three years before her final season, the Deseret News reported, calling her "a senior from Woods Cross."

Her BYU teammate Taylor Lovell won the NCAA steeplechase title at the same Eugene meet where Hansen-Thompson made the 1,500m final, the Deseret News reported.

BYU now lists her as Carlee Hansen-Thompson; her bio says she is married to BYU distance runner Creed Thompson. Track & Field News and World Athletics still print her as Carlee Hansen.

What comes next

BYU's 2025-26 track and field roster lists her as a senior in its distance group, at 5-foot-3, and she is not on the Cougars' fall 2026 cross country roster. Her BYU bio now carries a section headed Professional Highlights.

Key facts:

• Athlete: Carlee Hansen-Thompson (Carlee Hansen), middle distance; former BYU runner, now with Nike Swoosh TC
• Hometown: Bountiful, Utah; Woods Cross High School
• NCAA: fifth in the 1,500m at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships, 4:13.66; first-team All-American
• Best: 1,500m 4:04.92 at the 2026 USATF Outdoor Championships, No. 2 in BYU history
• Relay title: ran the 800m leg on BYU's 2024 NCAA indoor champion distance medley relay
• High school: 12 state titles; Utah Gatorade Player of the Year in track (2020, 2021) and cross country (2020-21)
• USATF Outdoors 2026: 10th in the 1,500m final, 4:12.64, her first race for Nike Swoosh TC