Fast Women: Jane Hedengren pulls off the NCAA Indoor double
Fotyen Tesfay runs 2:10:51 in her marathon debut.
Issue 399
Jane Hedengren becomes first freshman to win NCAA 3,000m/5,000m double
Top high school runners often win their races by leading wire to wire, but it’s rare that the same strategy translates well to NCAA racing. But BYU freshman Jane Hedengren is so good, and her pacing was so methodical, that she pulled it off over the weekend, winning the 5,000m/3,000m double at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The level of competition is rising so quickly in the NCAA that just when we think we’ve seen something that will be hard to top, another athlete comes through and pulls it off. Two years ago, Parker Valby ruled the NCAA distance events, winning five national titles in one academic year. Last year, Alabama’s Doris Lemngole took over and won three titles. After she won another cross country title in November, it looked like Lemngole’s reign might continue, but Hedengren, 19, had other plans.
On Friday, Hedengren gradually pulled away from Lemngole and New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei over the final three laps of the 5,000m and won her first national title in 15:00.12. And on Saturday, Hedengren led the 3,000m from the gun, pulled away over the final kilometer, earned her second national title, and broke Valby’s two-year-old meet record, running 8:36.61. While others have won the double, Hedengren was the first true freshman to do so.
In the 5,000m, I was impressed by Hedengren’s closing speed. Thus far, she hasn’t been known for her kick, but she put the hurt on everyone around her, running 33.14, 31.81, and 32.62 for her final three laps.
The race started slowly and Hedengren did initially try just chilling in the pack, but less than two minutes in, she had had enough. She moved to the front—a good strategy as far as staying out of traffic and running the shortest distance—but didn’t start ratcheting down the pace until about a mile in. Her splits were a work of art, and though it might not have been visible watching the race, her competitors undoubtedly felt her gradually squeeze down the pace.
Lemngole ran a really solid race, finishing second in 15:03.42, but she didn’t look like herself at all. Shortly after the race, I posted on Bluesky saying there had to be a story there, because while she has continued to run well, she has been lacking some of her usual gears since the Millrose Games. The following day, we got a little bit of the story when Lemngole scratched from the 3,000m final. The commentators said she had been battling a tendon issue in her foot since Millrose.
I don’t want to take anything away from Hedengren’s performance, because she beat everyone in the NCAA, including Lemngole, but it felt like we didn’t get to see a true Hedengren vs. Lemngole matchup here. I don’t know what caused Lemngole’s injury, but she’s due for a break. She ran so well last spring and summer that her track season stretched until September 17, when she finished fifth in the steeplechase at the world championships. By then, the cross country season was already underway. Whatever she is dealing with, I hope that she can now take the time to take care of it.
The other All-American finishers in this race were Kosgei (third, 15:07.76), Florida’s Hilda Olemomoi (fourth, 15:14.51), Florida’s Judy Chepkoech (fifth, 15:14.58), Eastern Kentucky’s Edna Chelulei (sixth, 15:15.10), West Virginia’s Joy Naukot (seventh, 15:19.63), and Arkansas’ Sydney Vaught (eighth, 15:21.43). Ten out of the 16 qualifiers were Kenyan, a dramatic increase compared to last year’s field, which had three. This year’s race had four U.S. athletes, compared to eight last year. And the other two were Canadian.
The 3,000m was a little less dramatic than the 5,000m, as it seemed pretty clear early on how it was going to play out, especially without Lemngole in the field. While Hedengren ran the 5,000m like a progression run, her 3,000m splits were more even. She split 34-point for the first 13 laps, and 33.81 and 33.16 for her last two.
It was fun to watch Liberty’s Allie Zealand move into second place with four laps to go and briefly look like she might have it in her to start chasing Hedengren down. Twenty-four years earlier, on the same track, her mother, Heather (Sagan) Zealand won the NCAA mile title. That would have been a fun storyline, but finishing fifth on the track where her mother, who now coaches her, won is also pretty cool.
Kosgei was the best of the rest, taking second in 8:43.86. The other All-American finishers were New Mexico’s Marion Jepngetich (third, 8:44.00), Iowa State’s Betty Kipkore (fourth, 8:44.28), Zealand (fifth, 8:45.12), North Carolina’s Vera Sjoberg (sixth, 8:48.70), South Carolina’s Salma Elbadra (seventh, 8:49.49), and Oklahoma State’s Billah Jepkirui (eighth, 8:50.16).
Only three runners (Jepngetich, Zealand, and BYU’s Jenna Hutchins) ran the 3,000m fresh; the other 12 were doubling back from the mile, 5,000m, and/or the distance medley relay. The 3,000m qualifiers were a little more internationally balanced, with six runners from the U.S., six from Kenya, and one each from Sweden, Morocco, Canada, and Turkey. (5,000m results, 3,000m results, 5,000m replay, 3,000m replay)
Experience pays off as Wilma Nielsen repeats as NCAA mile champion
I think a number of athletes will play back the NCAA indoor mile final in their minds and wish they had done something different. No one wanted to lead, so the field went through 800m in 2:30. The race didn’t really get going until 400m to go. Defending champion Wilma Nielsen of Oregon showed her experience by running in or near the lead, in lane one, for most of the race. And a combination of good positioning and good finishing speed helped her repeat as champion, in 4:40.06. She covered the last 400m in 58.68 seconds and became the first woman to earn back-to-back titles in this event since Suzy Favor did so in 1990.
Washington State’s Rosemary Longisa edged out NC State freshman Sadie Engelhardt by 0.008 seconds to take second. Both ran 4:40.21. Longisa, who doesn’t have a lot of indoor championship racing experience, appeared to be one of the fittest runners in the field, but her tactics left something to be desired. She ran so much of the race in lane two that with 500m to go, commentator Dwight Stones, joked that she had already run a mile. She still had enough in her to summon a kick on the last lap. She led at the top of the homestretch, but tied up in the final strides, which allowed Nielsen to go by her.
No one closed faster than Engelhardt, who ran her last 400m in 58.64 seconds. But she was caught up in the pack when the kicking began, and she ran out of room to reel in the lead duo. Like last year, Nielsen is now off to represent Sweden at this weekend’s World Indoor Championships. This year, she’ll race the 1500m, and she’ll be joined in Poland by Longisa, who will represent Kenya in the 800m.
The other athletes to earn All-America honors here were Oklahoma State’s Billah Jepkirui (fourth, 4:40.70), BYU’s Riley Chamberlain (fifth, 4:40.80), Oregon’s Silan Ayyildiz (sixth, 4:41.06), NAU’s Hayley Burns (seventh, 4:41.30), and Oregon’s Juliet Cherubet (eighth, 4:41.51). (Mile results | Mile replay)
In the 800m, Gladys Chepngetich earns her first NCAA title
In last year’s NCAA indoor 800m final, Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich finished eighth of eight runners, earning what was, until this past weekend, her highest finish at an NCAA championship. That race was won by UNC’s Makayla Paige, who led wire to wire after not winning the ACC title two weeks earlier.
I don’t know if Chepngetich had last year’s race in mind, but she employed a similar strategy on Saturday, leading from the start, but setting a reasonable pace that she could close off of. Her splits—28.01, 58.85 (30.82 lap), 1:29.88 (31.05), and 2:00.01 (30.13)—were eerily similar to Paige’s of last year. Though the three athletes behind her challenged her, Chepngetich closed well enough to hold all of them off and win her first NCAA title in 2:00.01, despite not having won the ACC title two weeks ago. Her shocked reaction as she crossed the finish line was one of the best of the weekend.
Making the most of their home track advantage, Arkansas’ Sanu Jallow-Lockhart (2:00.54) and Analisse Batista (2:00.57) went 2-3 and scored 14 points that helped secure their team’s fourth-place finish. (Thanks to other sports, in the NCAA, the top four teams make the podium.) I’ve been impressed by Batista this season. She had a breakthrough performance in the 800m at the SEC Indoor Championships last year, where she took third. But she has kept improving this season, and is now running at that level more consistently.
Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker put up a good fight and finished a close fourth in 2:00.68. The other All-Americans in the race were Kentucky’s Vanice Kerubo Nyagisera (fifth, 2:01.14), Minnesota’s Zoie Dundon (sixth, 2:01.42), Paige (seventh, 2:02.64), and Harvard’s Sophia Gorriaran (eighth, 2:03.03).
This was another event where it felt like we missed a key showdown. It’s impossible to say how Penn State’s Hayley Kitching would have fared in the final, but it was a shame that we didn’t get to find out. In her prelim, she was running in the middle of the pack when she went down hard on the third lap and lost about two seconds. She got up and fought back impressively, running the fastest final lap of anyone in the field by far. But she couldn’t reel everyone in and missed making the final by 0.45 seconds.
The broadcast didn’t provide a great view of what happened, but there was a protest, presumably from Kitching’s team, and it was denied. Kitching came into the meet as the second seed, behind Chepngetich, and ran the most impressive prelim by far, even if it wasn’t enough to get her to the final. I thought she handled the situation maturely on Instagram, where she wrote in a story, “Hey that’s track. You win some, you lose some.” Fortunately her indoor season is not over, as she’ll represent Australia at Worlds this weekend. (800m results | 800m replay)
Oregon wins its first DMR title since 2019
With the middle-distance strength Oregon has, it’s surprising they hadn’t won the NCAA Indoor distance medley relay title since 2019, but a schedule change this year helped. Juliet Cherubet (1200m, 3:19.35), Lakely Doht-Barron (400m, 55.20), Silan Ayyildiz (800m, 2:04.42), and Wilma Nielsen (1600m, 4:29.81) teamed up on Friday night and brought the trophy back to Eugene.
Cherubet, Ayylildiz, and Nielsen all ran the mile prelims (and made the final) three hours earlier. In recent years, all of the NCAA indoor women’s events have been held back-to-back in one session. But this year, they’ve returned to alternating men’s and women’s events, which gave them a little more rest and made the double more doable.
Cherubet and Iowa State’s Makayla Clark handed off first and second on the 1200m leg, and Iowa State’s Jenna James built a solid lead for her team on the 400m leg. By the end of the 800m leg, BYU, Oregon, Iowa State, and Washington had separated themselves from the rest of the field, but their lack of urgency at the start of the anchor leg meant that five other teams moved back into contention, and with a lap to go, the race could have gone any number of ways.
Oregon’s Nielsen did enough to hold off a challenge from South Carolina’s Salma Elbadra, and they won 10:48.76 to 10:49.69. Elbadra’s 4:26.50 anchor leg was the fastest of the day. Iowa State took third (10:50.17), and Florida was fourth (10:50.21). The following day, Oregon’s milers went 1-6-8 in the final. (DMR results | DMR replay)
The kids are amazing, but we still don’t have enough people looking out for them
In addition to it being NCAA championship weekend for all three divisions, it was also national championship weekend for high school athletes. It felt like every time I opened Instagram, I saw posts about young athletes setting records or achieving major milestones. And maybe it’s a symptom of middle age, but my main thought when I see these posts is that I hope they’ve achieved their success in a sustainable way and that the adults around them know what they’re doing and have their best interests in mind.
When I first started following the sport decades ago, I took most of the coverage I consumed at face value. But it didn’t take long for me to start hearing stories about athletes who had accomplished incredible things, but at great personal cost. The Foot Locker finalist who was too injured to run at all in college, or the NCAA champion who was battling an eating disorder or sports-related mental health struggles. I saw a lot of it firsthand as a college athlete, and then even more as a coach. And now, I don’t seek out these types of stories for this newsletter, but I find that they are hard to avoid. Over the years, so many stories have emerged, including some that involve emotional and sexual abuse by coaches, or more subtle manipulation. And for every story I know, I’m sure there are many more that have never been told publicly.
While I’ve seen some progress over the time that I’ve followed the sport, it hasn’t come quickly enough. As I mentioned when I wrote about related topics last fall, new pressures have emerged, and there are more incentives than ever for young athletes to rush their progress. And these problems are present in various forms across all sports, with adults either not knowing any better, getting too caught up in young athletes’ success to see the problems, or being willing to overlook them because the athlete is continuing to perform well.
I think there are a lot of adults doing great work to help young runners, but I still don’t think there’s anywhere near enough widespread education or concern about helping young athletes pursue the sport in a way that’s healthy. Most parents of talented young runners have never been in that position before, and they have no blueprint to follow, and the same is true for a lot of high school coaches. College coaches should know better, but athletes’ success, however it is obtained, reflects well on them in the eyes of many, and it’s easy to get caught up in that and overlook the problems.
I’ve heard people argue that if a high school kid wants to burn bright at that level and then never again, that’s their prerogative. And yes, sure, if that’s truly what they want. But I think it’s hard to have to know that for sure so early in life. I mostly follow high school running so I won’t be surprised by who’s running well at the college level. And I follow college running because I think it’s one of the most exciting parts of the sport, but I’m not just interested in who’s winning. If recent history has shown us anything, it’s that anyone who makes it to the NCAA championships, and quite a few of those who don’t, could be the stars of the future.
There are a lot of incentives to be as fast as possible as soon as possible. But the best coaches in the sport are the ones who know how to guide athletes with their entire careers in mind. And sometimes, graduating healthy, with one’s love of running intact, room to grow in one’s training, and maybe a little bit of unfinished business can be just as valuable for an athlete as being the best at the high school or NCAA level. Maybe not in the eyes of the shoe companies doling out contracts, but in predicting long-term success.
How fast is a woman allowed to run, if she wants to avoid being accused of cheating?
I woke up Sunday morning to the news that Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay, 28, had run 2:10:51, the second-fastest marathon of all time, to win the Barcelona Marathon in her debut at the distance. I reposted the news, and it didn’t take long for the accusations of doping to start rolling in. It made me wonder what time would have been acceptable here if she wanted to avoid them. A 2:14? A 2:16?
I agree that the news was surprising. I am used to learning that someone won a marathon in 2:16-2:22 while I was sleeping. But I wasn’t expecting such a fast time in Barcelona. I should have paid better attention, though, because apparently this was a world record attempt from the start. Tesfay followed two male pacers through halfway in 1:05:03, not far off pace to break Ruth Chepngetich’s world record of 2:09:56. She slowed slightly in the second half, running a still-amazing 1:05:48. Kenya’s Joan Jepkosgei Kiplimo finished nearly eight minutes back, running 2:18:40 for second.
“My plan was to attack the world record but today there was a lot of wind, I was not able to push in the last part of the race,” Tesfay said through an interpreter on the race broadcast. “Today I did not succeed, but in the next marathon I would like to try for the world record.”
I get that a 2:10 marathon, especially in one’s debut, is going to raise eyebrows. But if women are capable of running that fast without doping, Tesfay, the third-fastest half marathoner of all time, with a 1:03:21 personal best, was a good candidate to pull it off. And the fact that running fans haven’t heard of her is on them, frankly, because she has an impressive resume. I don’t know if any athlete I’ve written about in today’s newsletter is clean, but unless there’s solid evidence to the contrary, my default setting is to start by giving them the benefit of the doubt. Because I think it’s irresponsible for fans or members of the media to appoint themselves the arbiter of what’s real and what isn’t.
We tend to see these kinds of accusations more with women’s performances, which is ironic because men are the ones out there literally running faster than any human has before. And we tend to see them more in the marathon, too. I suspect that’s because people don’t understand quite as well what times mean at other distances.
In Chepngetich’s case, the doping allegations turned out to be true, and she’s now serving a three-year ban. But because her positive test didn’t come until five months after her world record, the record stands. Doping has robbed so many people of big moments in the sport, and it can be difficult to catch cheaters. But assuming athletes are doping, without solid evidence, isn’t the way to combat that. (Race recap | Results)
Agnes Ngetich inadvertently rabbits Hellen Obiri to an event record at the NYC Half
The top competitors at the NYC Half often start off conservatively, before gradually picking up the pace throughout the race. Not this year. Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich, a first-timer at this race, threw caution to the wind and led through 5K in a blazing 15:15. Given Ngetich’s resume, Kenyans Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi and Ethiopia’s Fentaye Belayneh took her challenge seriously and went with her.
By 10K, Ngetich and Obiri had pulled away, but before 15K, Ngetich began to struggle. She faded quickly, which left Obiri alone, with a big lead, at the front of the race. Obiri slowed throughout, but the early pace was catching up to Lokedi, her closest competitor, too. With 5K splits of 15:15, 15:35, 16:01, and 16:11, Obiri hung on to win the race in 1:06:33 and take 31 seconds off of the event record that Lokedi set last year. Lokedi finished second in 1:07:10.
Great Britain’s Megan Keith, who had never raced longer than 10K, let the leaders go in early in the race. Her conservative strategy paid off as she ran a more evenly paced race and finished an impressive third in 1:07:13. Diane Van Es of the Netherlands, who also started aggressively, finished fourth in 1:08:21, and Belayneh faded but hung on to take fifth in 1:08:22.
U.S. runners finished sixth through 10th, with Emily Sisson (1:09:06) leading the way, followed by Amanda Vestri (seventh, 1:09:22), Annie Frisbie (eighth, 1:09:25), Susanna Sullivan (ninth, 1:09:38), and Emily Venters (10th, 1:09:46).
Ngetich stayed in the race but faded to 13th, running 1:10:25. Her manager told Race Results Weekly that she suffered from hypothermia. Given how far she was from the finish when she started struggling, that must have been really tough. Great Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper dominated the wheelchair race, winning in 54:27. (Live results | Broadcast replay | Complete results, which include some incredible age-group performances)
Other News and Links
When USATF announced the team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships on Friday, Elle St. Pierre’s name was missing. St. Pierre’s agent, Ray Flynn, told LetsRun’s Jonathan Gault that she will be skipping the event due to a “personal family matter.” I hope everything is okay. St. Pierre’s decision created a big opportunity for her New Balance Boston teammate, Margot Appleton. Appleton, a first-year pro, finished third in the 3,000m at USAs and will go in St. Pierre’s place. The entry lists for World Indoors are now available here and the schedule of events is here. The meet will air on Peacock.
I was glad to see a Sarah Lorge Butler Runner’s World byline again as she provided an update on Emily Infeld, who recently announced that she is pregnant, and she is back to running professionally for Nike.
I originally missed this, but Sarah Wassner Flynn wrote a good piece for Outside Run about legendary ultrarunner Ann Trason, who has rheumatoid arthritis, but still managed to cover 100 miles at Across the Years earlier this year.
Speaking of brands signing pregnant athletes, Grayson Murphy announced last week that she has signed with Salomon, and I appreciated her talking about the signing and some of the less glamorous aspects of pregnancy on The Sub Hub Podcast. (For more, she was also on The Freetrail Podcast.)
And speaking of Salomon, they have also signed Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson, who dominated the short trail world championships last year.
Kaela Edwards wrote in an Instagram post that after nearly eight years with the brand, she is no longer sponsored by Adidas.
Additional Results
Erika Kemp won the New Bedford Half Marathon in 1:11:36, and Jackie Gaughan took second in 1:12:59. (Results)
Great Britain’s Naomi Robinson (3:13:39) and Katrina Ballantyne (3:17:24) went 1-2 at the IAU 50K World Championships, held in New Delhi, India. The event was originally scheduled for December 7 but was postponed due to poor air quality. Even with the delay, the Air Quality Index was 178 at the start, which is considered to be unhealthy. Melissa Tanner led the U.S. team, finishing 11th in 3:33:49. (Results)
At the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, Hillsdale’s Allison Kuzma won the 5,000m in 15:58.47, Adams State’s Ava O’Connor won the mile in 4:44.04, her teammate, Lieke Hoogsteen, won the 800m in 2:04.23, Lee University’s Aria Hawkins won the 3,000m in 9:18.46, and CSU-Pueblo’s Jadyn Herron, Gabrielle Dunich, Charlotte Young, and Helen Braybrook combined to win the DMR in 11:08.20. (Results)
At the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, Vassar’s Haley Schoenegge won the mile in 4:42.69, Calvin’s Sophie Bull won the 3,000m in 9:32.19, MIT’s Rujuta Sane won the 5,000m in 16:45.22, Washington University’s Kate Delia won the 800m in 2:07.69, and her teammates, Lauren Raley, Kylie Spytek, Kalena Riemer, and Lucinda Laughlin won the DMR in 11:29.59. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
I appreciated getting a pre-World Indoors update from Nikki Hiltz on Fast People. I thought high school kids might appreciate hearing that Hiltz said they are less nervous when they line up to race now than they were competing at their state meet during high school. And I will watch my first season of Survivor if Hiltz ever fulfills their goal of making it onto the show.
It was also good to get a post-USAs update from Emily Mackay on I’ll Have Another. She pointed out that she never won a state title in high school, so winning a U.S. title means a lot to her.
Molly Seidel has a talent for finding a way to say different things on all the podcasts she’s on. She’s done a lot of interviews recently, but I still learned new things from her appearance on The Shakeout Podcast.
Additional Episodes: Maggi Congdon was recently on the USATF Journey to Gold Zone Podcast (which is only available in select podcast players) | Jordan (Hasay) Hogan talked childbirth and the early months of parenting on C Tolle Run | Macy McRowe, a 2:36 marathoner, discussed the unconventional training that earned her an Olympic Trials qualifier on Road to the Trials | Lynn Blackstone, one of “the six who sat” in protest at the 1972 New York City Marathon, was on Starting Line 1928
I realize each one of these newsletters tends to be a novel, so I really appreciate those of you who care enough about the sport and what I have to say to make it to the end. I don’t know what I expected when I started writing these newsletters seven years ago, but thanks to those of you who have come along for the ride. I’ve been putting my start-of-the-year state-of-this-newsletter update off for weeks, because it never feels like the right time and I’m still not sure I know what to say about this bizarre and difficult past year. But I’ll get to it one of these days.
The World Athletics Council meets this week, so hopefully we’ll know at least a little more about the status of the U.S. half marathon team for the World Athletics Road Running Championships soon.
I know I say this almost every week, but I truly hope each one of you has the best week possible, and best of luck dealing with any challenges that lie ahead.
Alison
I look forward to Monday mornings! Thanks so much for your amazing coverage I am a middle of the pack running nerd and even though I am in a running club, its often difficult to find other runners who follow the sport. Thank you again for all you do!
I follow running of all kinds — men, women, kids, amateur and pro, track, road, and trail — and this is by far the best newsletter out there. I eagerly look forward to each issue. Thanks for doing such a great job! 👍