BYU’s Jane Hedengren is on the verge of history. Here’s what she said ahead of her first national championship
Less than 24 hours from competing in her first NCAA Divison I cross country national championship, Jane Hedengren sat on a stage for a press conference Friday.
To Hedengren’s right sat NC State’s Grace Hartman, who finished fifth last year, and to her left sat defending champion Doris Lemngole.
But BYU’s freshman phenom drew the majority of media attention, fielding the first three questions of the press conference.
“I’m…super excited for tomorrow. I think there’s a lot of new opportunities this season, and I’ve been having a great time,” Hedengren said in her opening statement.
“It’s a privilege to be here with the my team and my coach, and (I’m) just looking forward to the memories and we’re really just hoping to put our best selves out there. We’ve been working hard this season.”
If Hedengren wins the NCAA individual title, she’ll be the first female true freshman to do so since 1985 and the second ever to accomplish the feat.
Hedengren has won all three of her collegiate races in her debut season. At the Pre-National invitational — her first race — she set a course record (18:42.30) by nearly 25 seconds. She followed that up with a Big 12 record (18:29.60) at the Big 12 championship.
Then last week at the NCAA Mountain Regional, she completed the 6,000-meter course in 19:06.60, roughly 42 seconds ahead of runner-up Pamela Kosgei, the reigning regional champion and the NCAA 5,000- and 10,000-meter champion.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself this season,” Hedengren said. “There’s been a lot of growth, and that’s been a win in itself. It’s a privilege to be here with my team.”
She plans to put her “best self out there and be the best to my ability.”
The freshman said she hasn’t paid attention to the media attention her success has attracted and the pressure that can come with it following her dominant high school career and now her collegiate success.
“I just love being able to be out there with my team, and so that’s been an incredible opportunity,” Hedengren said. “I think it’s been so fun being in college and to have new people to compete against, and I love being in high school, but I was really excited for this next step step and so just really grateful to be here and to be competing against some incredible women.”
The BYU women are the reigning national champions. On Friday, head coach Diljeet Taylor said she was “really grateful” to have coached the 2024 Cougars — who now have the opportunity to win back-to-back championships — but Taylor said she doesn’t think that about that.
“Every collegiate championship is a new opportunity for a new group of women to see how tough they can be and how well they can race, and again, I control just the seven women, and probably tomorrow, not really control once the gun goes off, but I’m excited to see them chase that opportunity,” Taylor said.
Going into Saturday’s national championship, the Cougars are ranked No. 2 behind NC State, whom Taylor said she has “a lot of respect” for.
The last five national titles have been won by the two schools — BYU in 2020 and 2024 and NC State in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
“There’s a rivalry,” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a negative thing. I think they make us better, and hopefully we push them to also be better.”
She and NC State head coach Laurie Henes speak to each other often about their programs, Taylor said.
“We’re pretty open about kind of what we’re trying to do with our programs, which is be two female coaches that are kicking trash in the NCAA and having strong women to do it, so that ultimately is our goal, and I think we’ve done that,” Taylor said.
“We’ve proven regardless of what happens on Saturday, November 22 doesn’t change what we’ve already done and the type of women that we’re building in our program.”
The NCAA Division I cross country national championships will be broadcast on ESPNU Saturday. The women’s race begins at 8:20 a.m. MT, and the men’s race begins at 9:10 a.m. MT, where the BYU men will compete.
