Is This Utah Teenager The Best Girls Track Athlete In History? She Certainly Looks The Part

Forbes

18-04-2025

ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 12: Jane Hedengren of Timpview wins the girls two miles in a national ... More high school record 9:34.12 in the 57th Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High School on April 12, 2025 in Arcadia, California. (Photo by)
Standing maybe just a shade over 6-feet, Jane Hedengren is fast becoming one of the all-time greats in high school running.
The 18-year-old from Provo, Utah, is currently amid one of the biggest tears in high school track and field history. On Thursday, the Timpview High School senior became the first American teenager to secure a result under 15 minutes for 5,000 meters, posting a time of 14:57.93 against a sea of collegiate and professional women at the Bryan Clay Invitational in California, finishing third in the race.
Her performance is now the 11th-fastest performance in the world for 2025 and a new U.S. under-20 record. The previous best time for an U20 athlete? 15:20.57.
The time suggests, maybe sooner rather than later, that she can compete on the world stage. With qualifying for the World Championships in Tokyo fast arriving, Hedengren is currently ranked seventh among American women—though for reference, the winning time for the women's 5,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June was Elle St. Pierre's highly-strategic 14:40.34.
'She's certainly made an incredible jump in the last year to insert herself in the conversation," said Chris Chavez, the founder of Citius Mag, a network dedicated to coverage of all levels of track and field. "The key thing for Jane to become a contender for the team would be learning to close hard in a championship-style race.'
That being said, Hedengren's performance wasn't surprising.
Last week, she set a national record at two miles. A month earlier, she broke the high school mile record, and in December she nabbed a national championship in cross country.
Hedengren's last loss was six months ago.
'I was really set on, 'I'm going to come into this race feeling really good today,'' Hedengren told FloTrack after her 5K record.
High school track and field results are all fickle. They change year to year. Athletes come and go. But the legendary figures—names like Katelyn Tuohy and Mary Cain—and their career successes have held around.
Tuohy was a generational talent from New York who won three national cross country championships and set a slew of national high school records over her time for North Rockland. She's long been considered the GOAT of distance running at the high school ranks, surpassing Cain, who last held that mantle and reached the World Championships in 2013 as a high schooler at Bronxville.
Tuohy's national success stretched over three seasons before she went on to have a dazzling career at North Carolina State, winning a handful of individual and team titles with the Wolfpack. Cain, meanwhile, turned pro out of high school in 2014.
Is this six-month stretch enough to create a legend out of Hedengren?
'I think Jane's indoor and outdoor tear put her on the Mt. Rushmore of high school girls distance running," Chavez said. "She's already beating college women without having taken a single class at BYU. (But) I think I still give the edge to Mary Cain as the best high schooler because she was able to make the 1,500m final at the World Championships in 2013 and it was in an era before super shoes.'
That worldview really depends on the person. Are legends the product of years of service? Or can an athlete who flies close to the sun for a short amount of time have the same impact?
The future Brigham Young University athlete now owns six high school national records. She finished her high school cross country career with the fastest performance ever recorded for the 5,000 meter distance.
Tuohy's best moments in high school have all been supplanted. So have Cain's.
In time, so will Hedengren's.
Arcadia, CA - April 12: Jane Hedengren of Timpview (Utah) wins the women's 2 mile invitational ... More during the 2025 Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High School in Arcadia on Saturday, April 12, 2025.(Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
That's the evolution of track and field in this country. Records are like door stops. All of them are meant to move.
Then again, Hedengren's run does feel a bit different. She certainly doesn't look like your typical high school running superstar, towering over most of her competitors.
She also comes from a long-line of high performers on the track – her father, John, ran at BYU and was inducted as a Hall of Famer in 2015. Her brother, Isaac, currently competes for the Cougars.
Running was in Hedengren's DNA growing up. A year from now, she'll be competing for BYU's Diljeet Taylor, considered one of the NCAA's top distance minds. The Cougars won the NCAA title in cross country this past fall, too.
Thursday was Hedengren's first true race against athletes outside high school.
What's more incredible is the fact that she beat Florida's Hilda Olemomoi, a 10-time first-team NCAA All-American; Georgetown's Chloe Scrimgeor, a 7-time NCAA All-American; and Stanford's Sophia Kennedy, a 4-time NCAA All-American, in that 5K at Bryan Clay.
These women are all headed to the professional ranks.
Hedengren, meanwhile, is still 18, still in high school, and still a few months away from graduation.
'High schoolers are not shy about pushing themselves to the limit and with all of these advances in training, technology and mental breakthroughs – all these records need to be written in pencil,' Chavez said.
Sooner rather than later, maybe that legendary status will be cemented.