Analysis: BYU freshmen Jane Hedengren, Tayvon Kitchen lead the way at NCAA championships

Jane Hedengren’s captivating freshman cross country season came to an end Saturday at the NCAA cross country championship, where she finished as the individual runner-up behind Alabama’s Doris Lemngole.

The BYU women’s team, was the reigning champions, also finished second behind N.C. State following strong performances from Hedengren and Riley Chamberlain, who finished fourth.

Following the race, BYU coach Diljeet Taylor found her team and huddled them together.

“You did your jobs. I’m very proud,” Taylor said.

Taylor told them their second- and fourth-place finishes were a first for BYU. She then praised their courage and encouraged them to remember “who they are” before they had a team prayer.

As the rest of the team went to greet their supporters, which included BYU President C. Shane Reese, Taylor and Hedengren stayed behind.

Taylor leaned over the barricade, her feet now on its bottom rung, and grabbed her freshman phenom by the shoulders. She told Hedengren to be proud of herself and her efforts and that they’re “just going to keep working,” Hedengren told reporters.

She later added that “it’s a huge privilege to know and love (Taylor) and get to work with her.”

Women’s NCAA cross country championship

Hedengren beat the course record she had set in her debut at the Pre-National Invitational (18:42.30) on Oct. 17, completing the 6,000-meter race in 18:38.9 minutes.

But it wasn’t enough to beat Lemngole (18:25.4), who pulled away in the last kilometer.

Many projected Hedengren could take down Lemngole and win the individual title — something only one true freshman woman has done before.

When asked post-race how she felt about finishing second, Hedengren paused before answering.

“I’m proud of my efforts today. I wanted to put myself out there and be proud of that effort,” Hedengren said.

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She thought she executed her plan for the race “very well.”

“I was hoping with putting my best self out there today that I would have a chance at the win,” Hedengren said. “I really wanted to chase that in a way that I thought had the best shot of (that), and today for me, I felt like that meant going out and setting the pace and trying to pull myself and others through a fast race hopefully.

“No one else could hang with that pace, but Doris was there today, and that was an awesome fight out there to be with her,” she said.

It was a fast race indeed. At Pre-Nationals, Hedengren became the first woman to complete the Gans Creek course in under 19 minutes.

On Saturday, the top 13 women all accomplished that feat.

Hedengren quickly found her way to the front of the pack with Arkansas’ Sydney Thorvaldson, Washington State’s Rosemary Longisa and Lemngole on the muddy Gans Creek course in Columbia, Missouri, the grass still wet from the previous day’s rain.

Following the first 3,000 meters, Lemngole, the defending champ, and Hedengren began pulling away.

Hedengren continued to stick with Lemngole. The two were either side by side or Hedengren just a stride behind.

In the final kilometer, the broadcast on the big screen near the finish line had panned away from the battle for No. 1. When it returned, Lemngole’s lead over Hedengren had grown significantly as she kicked on the afterburners, and a wave of “oh no’s” and “no’s” escaped from the spectators glued to the screen.

Lemngole would finish 13.5 seconds ahead of Hedengren to secure back-to-back individual titles.

Following nationals, Hedengren said she will focus on the upcoming indoor track season and not the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in January.

“I’m looking forward to years ahead of me to keep building and to keep working and learning and failing and just getting back up again,” Hedengren said.

BYU’s scorers behind Hedengren and Chamberlain were Nelah Roberts in 41st place (19:22.9), Taylor Rohatinsky in 47th (19:29.8) and Taylor Lovell in 55th (19:35.4).

The University of Utah was the only other Utah-based team in the championship and placed 17th.

Utah Valley University senior Morgan Nokes competed individually and finished 23rd (19:10.4), just eight months after giving birth.

Men’s NCAA cross country championship

The BYU men, who finished 11th, also featured their own strong freshman performance with Tayvon Kitchen leading the pack for roughly half the race.

Kitchen confessed to reporters that that was not his plan and probably not what coach Ed Eyestone wanted.

“But I felt good, and by like 600 meters, I was in the front, and I was like, ‘I guess I’m here. Might as well stay here,’” he said.

Kitchen made rationalizations to keep his position at the front for as long as he did, he said. After 6,000 meters, Kitchen fell back to sixth place and then back to 37th at the 7,000-meter mark. He finished 32nd overall.

“I think I could have raced it a little smarter, maybe not wasted so many gears in the beginning and maybe have been in the pack a little more comfortably,” he said. “But, I mean, you got to get used to being in front and doing stupid things at some point, so freshman year is the time to do it.”

Kitchen had high praise for BYU’s cross country program and fellow BYU freshman Hedengren.

“I will just say that BYU is the place to get good if you want to get good. I mean, Jane’s a testament. She was incredible in high school and honestly, even more incredible now. She was second and really incredible,” he said.

Kitchen then acknowledged critics’ assertion of BYU having an unfair advantage with older athletes who served missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I think people get confused and think the mission is an advantage with age and stuff, but you don’t really get to run on their mission. I think it’s a testament — if you go straight to BYU, member or not, (Ed) Eyestone is the right coach, and that’s the right team to get really fast,” he said.

Behind Kitchen, BYU’s scorers were Noah Jenkins in 43rd place (29:08.5, James Corrigan in 94th (29:33.2), Davin Thompson in 99th (29:34.2) and Max Davis in 141st (29:53.8).

No other men’s teams from Utah competed Saturday, but Weber State’s Peter Visser finished 35th individually and won the men’s Elite Athlete Scholar award, which is given to the male student-athlete at the championship with the highest cumulative GPA.