BYU's Jane Hedengren continues her spree of obliterating records, as she stepped up for her first-ever outdoor 5k event only to shatter the NCAA record with a time of 14:50.50.
FIRST 5K. NCAA RECORD. 🤯@BYUTFXC star Jane Hedengren made her outdoor 5000m debut and broke the @NCAA record in 14:50.50.#NCAATF pic.twitter.com/mIqJOJdAvC
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) April 19, 2026
This is an absolutely insane time for a number of reasons. To put this into perspective, that's 2 minutes and 58 seconds per kilometer. In freedom units, Jane Hedengren posted 3.16 miles with an average of 4 minutes and 47 seconds.
Some people just make things look so easy, you wonder why you even bother participating in the same sport at all, even at a non-competitive level. At the peak of my athletic prowess -- a below-average distance runner in high school -- I never ran one mile as fast as Hedengren's average pace here. Not even close. I struggle for personal bests purely for my own edification. She tears apart the record book because she's bored. We are not the same.
Clearly, not even her peers are the same. The BYU athletics female athlete of the year award winner continues to humiliate and belittle her competition, and at a certain point, you have to wonder if she feels any regret. Any shame? The slightest droplet of guilt for humiliating the human race as regularly as she does?
You can watch her debut outdoor 5k race, where she quickly controlled the narrative, demoted her competition to side characters in her story, and flew past other elite competitors almost as if they were JV athletes.
Keep in mind that the leading racer that started the race ahead of Hedengren was a pacer -- not actually competing in this race. Hedengren separated almost instantly, and never looked back as she soared across the track and added another notch to her increasingly legendary young collegiate career.
Hedengren and the Cougars are in pursuit of the NCAA title.
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