The BYU Cougars took home two individual national championships on Saturday.
Freshman Jane Hedengren won the women’s 3,000-meter final at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to secure her second national title in as many days, and Carter Cushing won the men’s mile.
Hedengren’s race was historic.
Her time of 8:36.61 broke Parker Valby’s meet record, and having already won the 5,000 meters on Friday, she became the first BYU woman to win two NCAA individual titles at the same championship, according to BYU.
In her post-race interview with ESPN, she called it a “big privilege” to have raced in both the 5,000 and 3,000 meters.
“I feel like right after the 5K it’s kind of weird because you’re in this interesting spot where you got another race coming up, but you also want to celebrate the race that just happened and so it’s a delicate balance, but 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.
The freshman led the entirety of the race, and in the last 800 meters was practically racing herself, finishing with a seven- second lead over runner-up Pamela Kosgei (8:43.86) of New Mexico.
With nobody around her, Hedengren smiled and gave a little tug on her singlet to show off the BYU logo as she crossed the finish line.
Utah junior Erin Vringer finished 11th (8:57.27), and Hedengren’s teammates Riley Chamberlain (9:07.20) and Jenna Hutchins (9:13.35) finished 14th and 15th, respectively.
Entering the race, Hedengren was the Big 12 runner-up and had the second-fastest time (8:34.98) in the NCAA for the event behind Alabama’s Doris Lemngole, who pulled out of Saturday’s competition due to a lingering foot injury.
As for Cutting, the junior won the mile after taking the lead halfway through the race, finishing in 3:58.94.
He held off Virginia Tech’s George Couttie by 0.36 seconds to win the first NCAA title of his collegiate career.
Cutting 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.
BYU’s Indoor Championships results
Here is how the other BYU athletes performed.
In the women’s mile, Chamberlain, who is the NCAA mile record holder, finished fifth with a time of 4:40.80.
Senior Ben Barton placed fifth in the heptathlon with 6025 points, a personal best.
In the men’s 3,000 meters, Isaac Hedengren finished seventh while Tayvon Kitchen finished ninth.
The two quickly made their way up to the front and took turns leading the pack through the first half of the race.
The second half turned dramatic and ended with a photo finish and later, two disqualifications.
New Mexico star Habtom Samuel was named the winner but was later disqualified, as was Eastern Kentucky’s Taha Er Raouy “for contact on the final turn of the race,” according to CITIUS MAG.
Initially the runner-up, NAU’s Colin Sahlman, who was leading the race at the moment of contact, was named the champion as a result.
In the team scores, the BYU women tied with Arkansas for fourth, and the BYU men tied with Iowa and Texas A&M for seventh.