BYU’s women’s cross-country is the best team in the nation. At least, that is the expectation for the upcoming season.
The Cougars are ranked No. 1 overall in the 2025 NCAA Division I women’s cross-country national coaches’ preseason poll.
BYU isn’t just No. 1 overall, though. The Cougars were a unanimous choice in the top spot. Why? A wealth of proven contributors returns along with the addition of freshman phenom Jane Hedengren.
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“No. 1 BYU returns four from last year’s national-championship seven, including scorers Riley Chamberlain (31st) and Taylor Rohatinsky (43rd),“ writes the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. ”Chamberlain has twice anchored BYU to NCAA Indoor distance medley titles and this summer lowered her 1,500 best to 4:02.03.
“The Cougars have a major new addition in freshman Jane Hedengren, whose high school record setting included national bests last spring of 4:04.68 (1500), 4:23.50 (mile), 8:40.03 (3000), 9:17.75 (2-mile) and 14:57.93 (5000). Also returning to the roster is Jenna Hutchins, who led off last year’s DMR team and placed sixth in the 2023 NCAA 10,000 with a PR 32:44.05.”
Rounding out the top five women’s teams were:
- No. 2 Oregon
- No. 3 NC State
- No. 4 New Mexico
- No. 5 West Virginia
Last year, BYU wasn’t ranked in the top five in the preseason poll, slotting in at No. 6, and didn’t receive a single first-place vote, but the Cougars went on to win the NCAA championship in November.
While the BYU women’s team is atop the sport, the men’s team is also getting recognized.
BYU’s men’s cross-country team is ranked No. 4 in the 2025 NCAA Division I men’s cross-country national coaches’ preseason poll, behind No. 1 Iowa State, No. 2 New Mexico and No. 3 Oklahoma State. Wisconsin rounds out the top five.
If Iowa State were to win, it would be the Cyclones’ first national title in 31 years.
BYU, of course, won the national championship last season. The loss of all but two major contributors from that team being the primary reason why the Cougars aren’t slotted even higher in the preseason poll.
“Defending national champion BYU starts the season three spots lower than where it finished in 2024. The Cougars, who come in ranked fourth, only return two athletes from that championship squad — James Corrigan and Davin Thompson,“ writes the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. ”Both Corrigan and Thompson were All-America performers at some point in their careers (2023 for Corrigan; 2022 for Thompson), and Corrigan most recently won the NCAA steeplechase title, running a PR 8:16.41 in the process. BYU adds several standouts, namely Stanford’s Thomas Boyden and prep standout Tayvon Kitchen.”
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