It's a three-peat for BYU women's cross country.
The Cougars won their third-consecutive Big 12 championship Friday in Lawrence, Kansas, with freshman phenom Jane Hedengren leading the way with a record-breaking outing.
Hedengren finished the 6,000-meter race with a time of 18:29.6, the fastest mark in Big 12 history and nearly 45 full seconds ahead of the second-place finisher to win an individual title.
Four other BYU runners finished in the top 15 of the 6,000-meter race: No. 3 Riley Chamberlain (19:15.2); No. 10 Nelah Roberts (19:49.7); No. 11 Taylor Lovell (19:51.4); and No. 13 Zariel Macchia (19L53.7).
As a team, BYU finished 34 points ahead of second-place Iowa State. Utah came in at sixth in the conference.
Additionally, BYU's men's team finished fourth in their own championship. The Cougars' top performers in the 8,000-meter race were No. 15 Tayvon Kitchen (23:17.6), No. 17 James Corrigan (23:21.8) and No. 19 Noah Jenkins (23:22.9).
With Friday's performance, BYU now has 26 women's cross country titles in program history, with coach Diljeet Taylor capturing eight of them including a current streak of seven in a row between the West Coast Conference and Big 12.
Diljeet Taylor, BYU women's cross country coach, works with runners during practice in Provo on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
