COLUMBIA, Mo. – The beauty of Cross Country is that anyone, on any day, can win if they have the requisite fitness, mental fortitude and championship experience. However, for the women’s race on Saturday, if there ever was a season where the individual title could be so easily predicted, it’d be 2025.

Two women sit atop the rest when it comes to predicting a winner for an individual title, and the great thing is, they couldn’t be more different. One is an international phenom, who is a four-time NCAA champion, a Diamond League Outdoor Track and Field winner, and she has already represented her country of Kenya at the World Athletics Championships. The other is an American prospect, who holds nine US high school records and who has won in every distance she has raced in her young career.

On Saturday, these two titans of women’s cross country will do battle, and though nothing is a sure thing in running, one can all but confirm that one of these two will be champion when it’s all said and done.

Doris Lemngole – Junior – Alabama

If this race were to be predicted purely on championship experience, very few women have more than the 23-year-old Doris Lemngole. Since making her way to the US to join the Crimson Tide in 2023, all Lemngole has done in recent memory is claim victory at the highest level of the sport. It is why all the recognized outlets, like FloTrack, have positioned her as the runaway favorite to win the individual title even before the season began. She just wins.

However, that wasn’t always the case, as she had to learn, as all runners do, that there is always someone faster out there. In the 2023 Cross Country season, she learned that the hard way, finishing second to Florida’s Parker Valby three times. At the SEC, South Region and National Championships, Lemngole was a step behind the American, no matter how hard she tried, but from that experience, she seemed to level up her game even more. 

Since the 2023 season, Lemngole has finished first in seven of the eight cross-country races she’s competed in. That lone defeat? A difference of milliseconds to Florida’s Hilda Olemomoi at the 2024 South Region Championships, who has since been largely irrelevant to any title conversations. Otherwise, it’s been getting fast results and collecting hardware for Lemngole. 

After winning the 2024 Cross Country National Championships, Lemngole added a 5000m Indoor Track and Field and a 3000m Steeplechase Outdoor Track and Field title to her resume. This cross-country season, she has been reserved in her appearances on the grass, racing only twice. Her season debut was at the SEC Championships, where she won in a strong time of 19:32.4 (6k), beating out second place by 15 seconds. Then she ran this past weekend at the South Region Championships, where she led her freshman teammates Caren Kiplagat and Cynthia Jemutai to a 1-2-3 finish in 18:43.8 (6k). 

Ultimately, Lemngole has a chance to etch her name in the history books with a win on Saturday. Only five other women have gone back-to-back as Cross Country champions in 44 years. However, now she will have to take on arguably her toughest test in her career, in a young up-and-comer from the North.

Jane Hedengren – Freshman – BYU

If Lemngole has the age and experience, 19-year-old Jane Hedengren has the youthful exuberance of an athlete who has never felt defeat. That can be a double-edged sword when it comes to running, but since bursting on the scene three years ago, Hedengren has only won when it mattered most. 

With a family like hers, it only makes sense that Jane was born to be an elite runner. Her father, John D. Hedengren, was an All-American in Cross Country at BYU, and her brother Isaac is also currently on the Cougars roster. However, with results like hers, she may already be the best in the Hedengren family tree.

Rising to national prominence in her sophomore year of high school, Hedengren began her run of form with a win at the Brooks PR Invitational, setting a meet record for the girls’ mile with a time of 4:35.69. Just a month later, she’d start really making an impact, with a two-mile win at Nike Outdoor Nationals in 9:54.38, breaking the US sophomore class record. 

The list of accolades and accomplishments for Hedengren continued to grow in her junior and senior years, but most notably, she won the Nike Cross Nationals Championship race in 16:32.7, setting a new course record, and was the first US high school girl to ever break 15:00 on track, clocking a blazing 14:57.9 at the highly regarded Brian Clay Invitational. 

Ultimately, with high school records spanning the 1500m to 5000m, it made sense when Hedengren signed to the powerhouse running program at BYU, setting the stage for a monster pairing alongside future hall-of-fame coach Diljeet Taylor. So far, that choice has been as successful as possible.

Opening her season at the Missouri Pre-National Invitational, Hedengren smoked the competition, running a course record 18:42.3 (6k) to take first place and lead her team to victory as well. From there, she repeated her success, running 18:29.6 (6K) and 19:06.6 (6k) for wins at both the Big 12 and Mountain Region Championships.

One more win stands between Hedengren and history, but to do so, she’ll have to take on her toughest competition to date, as is the case when one toes the line at the National Championships. If anyone could do the unthinkable, though, it’s her. 

Wildcards

• Pamela Kosgei – Sophomore – New Mexico

• • • Mountain Region (2025) – 2nd – 19:48.7 (6k)
    • Mountain West Conference (2025) – 1st – 19:20.8 (6k)
    • National Championships (2024) – 2nd – 19:27.8 (6k)

• Salma Eldaraba – Junior – South Carolina

• • • Southeast Region (2025) – 1st – 19:03.1 (6k)
    • SEC Conference (2025) – 5th – 20:01.4 (6k)
    • Alabama Crimson Classic (2025) – 1st – 18:40.3 (5.868k)

• Angelina Napoleon – Sophomore – North Carolina State

• • Southeast Region (2025) – 6th – 19:15.0 (6k)
  • ACC Conference (2025) – 1st – 19:13.9 (6k)
  • National Championships (2024) – 96th – 20:31.0 (6k)