Type BYU qualified 19 athletes for this week’s NCAA Track and Field Championships, including defending indoor national champions Carter Cutting and Jane Hedengren.
The meet will be held, as usual, at the University of Oregon. The men will compete Wednesday and Friday, the women Thursday and Saturday.
“Jane is a one-woman wrecking crew. You can never say anyone is a lock, but it’s going to be difficult to beat her.”
— BYU director of track and field on BYU phenom Jane Hedengren
BYU’s Carter and Hedengren claimed individual victories last March in the NCAA indoor championships — Cutting in the mile and Hedengren in the 3,000 and 5,000.
Hedegren, a freshman from Utah’s Timpview High, has easily the fastest times in the nation in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs heading into this week’s national championships, 14:50.50 and 30:46.80. She’s 13 seconds faster than her nearest rival in the 5,000 and three seconds faster in the 10,000.
Cutting, a junior from Oregon (who also attended Corner Canyon High for a year), will compete in a loaded field in the 1,500, where his time of 3:35.88 ranks only 11th. Simeon Birnbaum, a junior from Oregon, set an NCAA record of 3:31.69 in April.
“Our women are in a position where they could end up on the podium,” says Ed Eyestone, BYU’s director of track and field. “Jane is a one-woman wrecking crew. You can never say anyone is a lock, but it’s going to be difficult to beat her.”
With Hedengren potentially scoring 20 points, the women’s team could crack the top eight in the women’s team competition.
Aside from Hedengren and Cutting, BYU has a number of athletes who could score points this weekend.
Tayvon Kitchen, a freshman from Oregon who already owns the BYU school record at 5,000 meters (13:16.27), has the nation’s fifth-fastest time in the 5,000, trailing four African athletes. Ben Barton, a 6-foot-5 All-American, ranks fourth in the decathlon. He also will team up with Jonah Heimuli, Jayden Jesse and Josh Taylor on BYU’s 4 x 400 relay, which qualified with a time of 3:03.79 in the NCAA prelims. Taylor clocked an unofficial split of 44.69 on the anchor leg in that race.
“We’ve got a lot of people qualified on the men’s and women’s sides,” says Ed Eyestone, the director of track and field at BYU.
With the influx of international athletes lured by NIL money plus the dramatic inflation of performances and the NCAA’s stiff qualifying marks, it has never been more difficult to qualify for these championships. BYU has qualified nine men and 10 women.
The hallmark of BYU’s program is distance and mid-distance running, but this year junior Paje Rasmussen qualified for the national championships in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. She is only the fifth female sprinter from BYU to qualify in the 100 or 200 since 1982 — Cathy Guischard in 1993 (200 meters), Windy Jorgensen in 1995 (100 meters), Mindy Neeley in 2010 (200 meters), Jaslyn Gardner in 2024 (100 meters) and Rasmussen in 2026 (100 and 200). Rasmussen set school records of 11.06 and 22.69 this season.
Local qualifiers for this week’s NCAA track and field championships
BYU
- Carter Cutting, 1,500m
- Tayvon Kitchen, 5,000m
- Isaac Hedengren, 5,000m
- Ethan Ruffin, high jump
- Barton-Heimuli-Jesse-Taylor, 4x400 relay
- Ben Barton, decathlon
- Paje Rasmussen, 100m, 200m
- Tessa Buswell, 800m
- Krystie Solomon, 800m
- Carlee Hansen, 1,500m
- Carmen Alder, 1,500m
- Raygan Diamond , steeplechase
- Taylor Lovell, steeplechase
- Jane Hedengren, 5,000m, 10,000m
- Jenna Hutchins, 10,000
- Kaiah Fisher, discus
Utah State
- Landon Bott, 800 meters
- Logan Hammer, pole vault
- Walker Deede, javelin
Utah
- Chelsea Amoah, 200m
- Mackenzie Rogers, steeplechase
Weber State
- Peter Visser, steeplechase
