Hedengren led the Cougars to their third straight Big 12 title with her record-shattering performance at Rim Rock Farm on Friday. 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 top-ranked 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.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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

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.

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.

Men’s cross country finishes fourth at Big 12 Championships

Freshman Tayvon Kitchen crossed first for the Cougars in Lawrence, Kansas, at 15th overall in the 8,000-meter race with a time of 23:17.6. He was followed closely by senior James Corrigan and sophomore Noah Jenkins finishing 17th and 19th, respectively.

Senior Davin Thompson finished 22nd, crossing the line in 23:25.4, with fellow senior Luke Grundvig rounding the top five for the Cougars in 30th.

“Proud of the way the men rolled out,” BYU head coach Ed Eyestone said. “We tried to pack it up early on and our top four ran where they needed to and were closing the gap on our fifth man. Happy with Tayvon’s performance getting all-conference as a true freshman. Noah Jensen and James Corrigan had really nice races as well. We have some work to do but I still believe we can be a top four team at Nationals in three weeks.”

The USTFCCCA No. 8 ranked Cougars earned 102 points to take fourth behind No. 2 Oklahoma State with 20 points, No. 1 Iowa State with 43 points and No. 5 Colorado with 87 points.

BYU came out fast through the first mile of the race crossing the marker ahead of the pack with two Cougars in the top four. The team was able to keep their pack together through the race despite falling behind Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Colorado with all ten Cougars finishing between 15th and 45th.

BYU heads to Salt Lake City, Utah to compete in the NCAA Mountain Regional hosted by the University of Utah on November 14.