Two Brigham Young University runners won individual national championships over the weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Freshman Jane Hedengren claimed her first NCAA title by winning the women’s 5,000-meter race with a time of 15 minutes, 0.12 seconds, setting a new facility record by 14 seconds, on Friday, March 13.
The following day, Saturday, March 14, the native of Provo, Utah, captured her second individual national championship by winning the women’s 3,000-meter final with a time of 8:36.61, setting a new meet record and becoming the first BYU woman to win two NCAA individual titles at the same championship, according to BYU.
In an ESPN interview, Hedengren described competing in both events as a “big privilege.”
Hedengren said she wanted to celebrate her first victory but had to balance that joy with focusing to run again the next day.
“I’m just grateful it was able to wrap up the way it did, and now it’s time for some downtime and some celebration,” she said in a Deseret News report.
The other BYU runner to win an individual national title was junior Carter Cutting, who won the men’s mile with a time of 3:58.94.
In winning his first career NCAA title, Cutting, of Wilsonville, Oregon, became the first BYU man to win an NCAA indoor individual title since Miles Batty did so 15 years ago — also in the mile — according to BYU.
“I was the underdog, not many people would’ve picked me to win it,” Cutting said in a BYU news release. “I had people in my corner believing that I could do it and instilled that belief in me. I came out here and ran for God and the people around that have supported me.”
The BYU women finished fifth in the team competition with 27 points, the Cougars’ highest finish in the team standings since placing third in 2009. Georgia won the team competition with 53 points.
The BYU men finished in a three-way tie for seventh with Northern Arizona and South Carolina, each scoring 20 points. Arkansas, the host team, won the team championship with 73.5 points.
