Jane Hedengren wants you to know that she doesn’t always feel great for race days, either—but if you give yourself a chance, you never know what might happen.
Ahead of the 3,000 meters at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, she wasn’t sure what her race plan would be. Gun for another national record? She’d already set eight this year. Sit and kick? Her body was “a bit wrecked” after setting back-to-back records in the mile (4:23.50 at the Hoka Festival of Miles) and the two-mile (9:17.75 at Brooks PR) earlier this spring.
She decided to race with an open mind, which yielded a national title and a new national record of 8:40.03. The record in question already belonged to Hedengren—but that doesn’t mean it came easy.
“It ended up being quite the grind,” she says. “I didn’t feel as rhythmic and fresh as I often have for these bigger results. But it was great to have that experience and to know that I can still be tough and really work my way through the race even when the conditions aren’t perfect, because oftentimes they won’t be perfect. That’s the beauty of it—I don’t think they should be perfect and if you’re chasing perfection, you’re just going to be disappointed and fragile.”
One could argue that the Timpview High School graduate enjoyed a nearly perfect outdoor track season. She set the national record books ablaze, becoming the first high school girl to break 15 minutes for 5K with a 14:57.93 in addition to her incredible times at shorter distances. Her times would make her immediately competitive at the collegiate level, and possibly even the pro level—though she reassured Runner’s World that she’s committed to competing for BYU for the next four years.
“I think I still have a lot of training and development to do,” she says of her running career trajectory. “I’m excited to be part of the team and get my education, and that’s what’s important to me right now. If it makes sense down the road [to go professional], we can explore that, but right now I’m approaching BYU as the next four years of competition.”
Though her times would make her competitive at this month’s USATF Outdoor Championships—with a shot at making the world team—Hedengren says she’s looking forward to a break this summer before training for the fall cross-country season.
Diljeet Taylor, BYU women’s head cross-country coach and associate director of track and field, knows she has a generational talent on her hands.
“Look, Jane’s a competitor. I think what impresses me more than what she’s doing is how she’s doing it, right?” she says. “So confidently, with so much poise. Obviously, the more you run these outstanding times, the more there is visible and invisible pressure that just happens to exist. That’s what’s most impressive about it all is the humbling way in which she has surpassed all of these records and done it all with so much grace and an outward reflection of her relationship with God.”
Track and field isn’t always a linear sport, and Taylor says her foremost responsibility as a coach is protecting Hedengren’s future as an athlete.
“Can she make that next step [to the pro level] already? Her times have proven that,” Taylor says. “But I don’t want to skip steps. I think there is such valuable experience and insight to be gained from the collegiate experience that will serve her when we fully go to the other side of being a pro.
“My job as her coach is to make sure that she has longevity and sustainability in the sport, and that we chase things the right way—that we inspire a generation of girls.”
List of high school records Jane Hedengren set in 2025
Indoor
- 1500 meters (en route) - 4:07.68 (Nike Indoor Nationals)
- 1 mile - 4:26.14 (Nike Indoor Nationals)
- 5,000 meters - 15:13.26 (Nike Indoor Nationals)
Outdoor
- 1600 meters (en route) - 4:21.81 (HOKA Festival of Miles)
- 1 mile - 4:23.50 (HOKA Festival of Miles)
- 3,000 meters - 8:40.03 (Nike Outdoor Nationals)
- 3200 meters (en route) - 9:14.65 (Brooks PR Invitational)
- 2 mile - 9:17.75 (Brooks PR Invitational)
- 5,000 meters - 14:57.93 (Bryan Clay Invitational)
Hedengren has a personal link to BYU, as her father, John, was an All-American in cross country for the Cougars, and her brother, Isaac, currently competes on the team. Provo is a hotbed for running, as the BYU women are reigning NCAA DI cross-country team national champions and Taylor was recently named one of three head coaches for Nike’s new Swoosh TC.
Taylor is no stranger to the external pressure that comes with coaching a high school phenom, and she says she is in the best place in her career to help Hedengren navigate the transition to the next level—in whatever event she chooses to pursue.
“There is room for improvement in every single event in track and field, from the 800 meters all the way up to the 10K,” Taylor says of Hedengren’s potential. “I don’t want to place any limits or barriers [on her] or put her in any lane or in any event yet. I want to see where she can thrive the most. And, most importantly, what does she love? What event is she the most passionate about? And that’s where we’ll start.”
When asked to pick a standout moment from a season made for the highlight reel, Hedengren didn’t select any of her national records—she picked a near-miss moment, instead. This winter, she opened her indoor track season at the Simplot Games, where she clocked a mind-boggling 9:37.50 for 3200m at 4,500 feet of elevation. For context, her converted time would have been just a few seconds shy of Mary Cain’s national record (Hedengren would later run 9:34.12 outdoors to break the record).
“There’s something about a season opener where you don’t have any expectations and you can just race,” Hedengren says.
She’s tried to carry that no-expectations mindset into her other races this year.
“I try to approach races with an open mind for a good day,” she says. “You get 75 percent through the race, and then maybe it’s going to be a great day. But if you go in with too many expectations, it doesn’t leave any room for the race day magic to happen.”
Similarly, she approaches training with an open mind.
“If I’m running 72s, sometimes that feels hard, even though it’s the pace I should be running for 5K but I don’t worry about it too much. I run a lot slower in practice [than I do in a race]. I do a lot of work at 5:30 pace, which isn’t anywhere near what I would be running in a race, but it’s just strong, consistent work.”
Hedengren has been relevant on the national stage for a few years now (she ran a 4:35 mile as a sophomore), but has enjoyed a fully injury-free breakout season in 2025 since winning Nike Cross Nationals in the fall. She attributes part of that to embracing more of a strength-based approach to running, incorporating longer tempo work, as well as a more thoughtful strength training regimen per a professional strength coach. (She used to write her own strength programming herself).
Mileage-wise, Hedengren has worked her way up to around 60 miles a week this season and says she steadily increased her mileage by about 5 miles per year each year of high school. She supplements her running with cross-training sessions a few times a week in the pool or on the Arc Trainer to get more volume with less risk for injury.
“I’m feeling grateful that I was able to stay healthy this season,” she says of her record year. “It’s just a gift to move my body and compete in the sport that I love… Overall, looking back at the season with lots of gratitude.”
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Johanna Gretschel is a freelance writer and broadcaster living in Austin, Texas, who has covered elite track and field and running in all its forms. She contributes to Runner’s World, ESPN, Austin American-Statesman, FloTrack, MileSplit, Women’s Running and Podium Runner. Yes, she has run a marathon!
