Jane Hedengren Wins Her Second Big 12 Title, and No. 1 BYU Makes It Four Straight

BYU sophomore Jane Hedengren won the women's 6K at the Big 12 Cross Country Championship in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday morning, Oct. 31, running 19:28.0 on Oklahoma State's Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course. Oklahoma State's Billah Jepkirui was second in 19:38.0, 10 seconds back, and Iowa State's Betty Kipkore was third in 19:39.9. BYU's recap said Hedengren was out in front for the entire race, which was run in the rain.

"It was a blast racing out there today, especially in the rain," Hedengren said afterward.

It was Hedengren's second straight Big 12 individual title, and her team came with her. The No. 1 BYU women's cross country team scored 56 points to West Virginia's 63, BYU's fourth consecutive Big 12 women's team title since it joined the conference in 2023. The Big 12 said BYU is the second women's program in conference history to win at least four in a row.

Five weeks after the Cowboy Jamboree

Hedengren's first race on this course this fall went to Oklahoma State. At the Cowboy Jamboree on the same course on Sept. 26, she finished third in 19:32.5. Jepkirui won that race and set the course record at 19:24, and Oklahoma State's Maureen Cherotich also finished ahead of her. BYU still won the team race that day with 32 points.

Three weeks later she was missing from BYU's lineup at Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., where TFRRS lists no result for her. World-Track reported she sat that meet out with an illness.

On Saturday she reversed the Jamboree result. She ran 4.5 seconds faster than in September, finished four seconds outside Jepkirui's course record, and beat both Oklahoma State runners who had finished ahead of her. Cherotich was fourth in 19:40.1.

The top 10 and BYU's scoring five

The top 10 finishers, from the Big 12's All-Big 12 list and World-Track's results:

1. Jane Hedengren, BYU, 19:28.0
2. Billah Jepkirui, Oklahoma State, 19:38.0
3. Betty Kipkore, Iowa State, 19:39.9
4. Maureen Cherotich, Oklahoma State, 19:40.1
5. Mercy Kinyanjui, West Virginia, 19:42.7
6. Rosemary Longisa, Iowa State, 19:45.4
7. Joy Naukot, West Virginia, 19:46.0
8. Sheylah Kurgat, Colorado, 19:46.7
9. Mercy Chepkemoi, Arizona, 19:50.3
10. Sheila Chepkirui, West Virginia, 19:51.8

BYU's title came from depth behind its winner. Senior Taylor Rohatinsky was 11th in 19:53.9 and senior Lexi Goff-Thompson 12th in 19:54.7, less than a second apart. Taylor Lovell was 15th in 20:03.0 and Nelah Roberts 17th in 20:12.6, and Karrie Baloga was 19th in 20:16.7. BYU's scoring places were 1, 11, 12, 15 and 17.

West Virginia put three runners in the top 10 and still finished seven points short. Oklahoma State (116) edged Colorado (117) by a point for third. Utah was fifth with 132, ahead of Iowa State, Arizona and nine other Big 12 teams. In the men's race, Colorado won its first Big 12 title since 2007 with 36 points, Oklahoma State's Denis Kipngetich won the individual race in 23:05.7, and BYU's men were third with 91.

From Timpview to two NCAA titles

Hedengren is from Provo, and BYU is the hometown program. BYU's roster lists her as a 5-foot-9 sophomore and a Timpview High School graduate. Her brother Isaac runs on BYU's men's team, and her uncle, Alan Hedengren, ran for BYU.

At Timpview she broke nine national high school records, from the mile to 5,000 meters. In December 2024 she won the Nike Cross Nationals girls' race in a course-record 16:32.7, and in April 2025 she ran 14:57.93 for 5,000 meters, the first high school athlete under 15 minutes.

Her freshman year at BYU went:

• Oct. 31, 2025: Big 12 champion in a championship course-record 18:29.60
• November 2025: second at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 18:38.9, behind Alabama's Doris Lemngole
• 2025 season honors: Big 12 Runner of the Year and Newcomer of the Year
• Dec. 6, 2025: 14:44.79 for 5,000 meters indoors at Boston University, a collegiate record
• March 13-14, 2026: NCAA indoor champion at 5,000 meters (15:00.12, ahead of Lemngole) and 3,000 meters (8:36.61), the first BYU woman to win two individual titles at one NCAA championship
• April 2026: 30:46.80 at the Stanford Invitational in her first 10,000 meters, an NCAA record
• June 2026: third in the 10,000 and ninth in the 5,000 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships

She opened this fall by winning the UVU Invitational 3-mile on Sept. 4 in 15:08.62, a Scera Park course record by BYU's account, which made her the USTFCCCA's National Women's Athlete of the Week. BYU went on to win Pre-Nationals over No. 1 NC State on Oct. 16 without her in the lineup.

Will Jane Hedengren run at the LA28 Olympics?

BYU has not set that as a goal. Asked about the future in March, coach Diljeet Taylor told the Deseret News that no goals had been set for when Hedengren turns pro: "We just want to be where our feet are."

Hedengren has said much the same. In an August 2025 Nike interview she said she was working toward goals like an Olympic medal but was careful about thinking too far ahead, and was taking things one step at a time.

Others have looked further. Two-time Olympian Kara Goucher told the Deseret News she expects Hedengren to make many world championship and Olympic teams, and could see a first world team as early as the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing. The Deseret News has reported that Goucher, speaking in December 2025, could see Hedengren running the 10,000 meters for the United States at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. That was before Hedengren had run a 10,000 at all; four months later she set the NCAA record on her first try.

World Athletics has scheduled athletics at LA28 for July 15-30, 2028, with the track program at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Hedengren, born Sept. 23, 2006, would be 21. She would first have to earn a place on the U.S. team, and she is still racing at the college level, where she was third in the NCAA 10,000 and ninth in the 5,000 in June.

What's next for BYU

BYU's schedule lists the NCAA Mountain Regional on Nov. 13 at the North Golf Course in Albuquerque, hosted by New Mexico, then the NCAA Championships on Nov. 21 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind. BYU's women were runners-up at nationals in 2025, and Hedengren was second individually.

Key facts:

• Athlete: Jane Hedengren, sophomore, BYU women's cross country and track and field
• Hometown: Provo, Utah (Timpview High School)
• Result: won the 2026 Big 12 women's 6K, Oct. 31, 2026, Stillwater, Okla., in 19:28.0, 10 seconds ahead of Oklahoma State's Billah Jepkirui (19:38.0); her second straight Big 12 title
• Team: BYU 56, West Virginia 63, Oklahoma State 116, Colorado 117, Utah 132; BYU's fourth straight Big 12 women's team title
• Career highlights: 2026 NCAA indoor 5,000m (15:00.12) and 3,000m (8:36.61) champion; NCAA 10,000m record 30:46.80; second at 2025 NCAA cross country
• Coach: Diljeet Taylor
• Next: NCAA Mountain Regional, Nov. 13, Albuquerque; NCAA Championships, Nov. 21, Terre Haute, Ind.