No. 1 Cougars win third-straight Big 12 Championship

Behind Hedengren's individual title, BYU won its seventh-straight conference championship.

Author Halle Taylor
No. 1 Cougars win third-straight Big 12 ChampionshipNo. 1 Cougars win third-straight Big 12 Championship

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 1 BYU women’s cross country team won the Big 12 Championship on Friday morning at Rim Rock Farm.

Full Results

Individual Big 12 champion Jane Hedengren led the Cougars to their third-straight Big 12 title with her record-shattering performance. The freshman from Provo clocked an 18:29.60, the fastest 6,000-meter time in Big 12 Championship history by more than 30 seconds. Hedengren stayed in front throughout the race, but pulled away from the rest of the field through 5000m. The National Girls Gatorade Player of the Year finished over 44 seconds ahead of second-place Joy Naukot of West Virginia. Additionally, this marks the second-straight meet in which Hedengren set a new course record.

The Cougars won the team title with 38 points, 33 ahead of No. 6 Iowa State. It was the fourth time this season BYU has finished a meet with fewer than 40 points. No. 7 West Virginia took third with 86 points, followed by No. 11 Oklahoma State (86) and No. 16 Colorado (128).

Senior Riley Chamberlain was BYU’s second finisher, placing third with a time of 19:15.20, just over a second behind Naukot. The Loomis, Calif. native has placed in the top three at all four meets this season.

Nelah Roberts, Taylor Lovell and Zariel Macchia rounded out the Cougars’ top five, placing 10th, 11th and 13th, respectively.

Hedengren, Chamberlain, Roberts, Lovell and Macchia each earned All-Big 12 honors with their top 15 finishes.

BYU Women

Place Athlete Time
1st Jane Hedengren 18:29.60
3rd Riley Chamberlain 19:15.20
10th Nelah Roberts 19:49.70
11th Taylor Lovell 19:51.40
13th Zariel Macchia 19:53.70
17th Carmen Alder 20:00.30
19th Jacey Harkins-Farmer 20:03.10
21st Lexi Goff-Thompson 20:04.20
27th Taylor Rohatinsky 20:19.00
62nd Emerald Kehr 21:36.90

The conference title marked the eighth of head coach Diljeet Taylor’s career at BYU and her seventh consecutive championship (2019–22 WCC, 2023–24 Big 12). It was also the 26th conference title in BYU women’s cross country history.

Up Next
BYU will travel to Salt Lake City for the NCAA Mountain Regionals on Friday, Nov. 14. Race time and broadcast information will be announced later.