NEW ORLEANS – Behind three-straight meet wins and a runner-up finish at the NCAA National Championship, Jane Hedengren earned the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Mountain Region Women’s Athlete of the Year honor on Tuesday afternoon.
Hedengren made her collegiate debut at the Missouri Pre-Nationals, where she shattered the 6,000-meter Gans Creek Cross Country Course record by nearly 25 seconds. The true freshman finished more than 23 seconds ahead of the second-place runner.
Two weeks later, Hedengren set a new 6000m Big 12 Championship record with her personal-best 18:29.60. The Provo, Utah, product earned a margin of nearly 44 seconds over the runner-up to secure the conference title.
Hedengren won the NCAA Mountain Regional by more than 42 seconds, averaging a 36.8 second winning margin across those three meets. She then earned the program’s best individual nationals finish since Whittni Orton’s 2021 win, taking runner-up behind two-time champion Doris Lemngole of Alabama. Her 18:38.90 also would have broken the previous NCAA national championship record set by Florida’s Parker Valby.
To view the full release, visit the USTFCCCA website.