The best athlete at BYU might be running under your radar.
Even as heralded freshmen AJ Dybantsa and Bear Bachmeier take up most of the oxygen in the conversation about the Cougars, star runner Jane Hedengren doesn’t need much of it to thrive.
Hedengren, the freshman phenom who runs both cross country and track for BYU, has already shattered Big 12 records in her first campaign. Now, the Provo native is looking to deliver a national championship in her first season.
The former Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year went to Kansas and led BYU to a Big 12 title last week. She ran a conference-record 18:29 in the 6K, breaking the previous best by over 30 seconds. It was the fastest anyone has completed the Kansas course.
BYU is going to the regionals of the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 team in the country on Friday, anchored by its new star.
The Cougars won the 2024 national title as well, and are looking to repeat as champions.
“Every school has a lot of the same things as far as facilities and stuff. But this school is special with the resources of the relationships and Coach [Diljeet] Taylor and the people to learn from. Ultimately, that is why I decided to come here,” Hedengren told BYUtv last week.
Hedengren has been shattering records since she was a sophomore in high school.
She ran the fastest 5K time in high school cross country history at under 16 minutes. She sprinted to the Utah mile record and just about every other record in her senior season.
She won the Nike Cross Country national final by a record 41 seconds. And she capped off her high school career with a third state title.
She could have run anywhere in the country, but picked her hometown school. The Timpview High graduate followed in her father’s footsteps. John Hedengren is a professor at BYU, teaching chemical engineering. He also ran at BYU in the late 1990s.
Hedengren’s brother, Isaac, is on the men’s cross country team for the Cougars.
“Coming in, I had a different perspective on what it meant to be one of the best in the NCAA. But you can do it many ways. The way these women approach life, like I had a different approach on what it took to be great. These women are so disciplined in doing it in great ways, but they also live their life and have joy in other avenues,” she told BYUtv.
Hedengren is surrounded by several veterans who helped BYU become the odds-on favorite to win another title.
Riley Chamberlain, a senior, and Nelah Roberts, a sophomore, both finished in the top 10 to seal a Big 12 title.
It was BYU’s third Big 12 championship, winning the conference every year since entering the league in 2023.
It would be BYU’s seventh cross country championship if the program can win again. Taylor is trying for her third title since taking over as the program’s coach. She won in 2021 and 2024.