Josh Hoey smashes 600m world record, Jane Hedengren smashes NCAA 5000m record at 2025 BU Opener

BOSTON — Jane Hedengren and Josh Hoey obliterated collegiate and world records on another wild afternoon at Boston University’s super fast indoor track at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Saturday. Hedengren, the precocious 19-year-old freshman at Brigham Young University running in her first collegiate track race, used a 4:35 final 1600 to run 14:44.79 for 5,000 meters and take more than seven seconds off Doris Lemngole‘s 14:52.57 NCAA indoor record set at this meet last year. Her time was also faster than Parker Valby‘s NCAA outdoor record of 14:52.18 from 2024 and ranks Hedengren number two on the all-time US indoor list behind only Elise Cranny‘s 14:33.17 American record.

Just 22 minutes later, Hoey went one better, blitzing through 600 meters in 1:12.84 to demolish Donavan Brazier‘s world and American indoor record of 1:13.77 from 2019. Hoey’s time is the second fastest run in any conditions. He missed Johnny Gray‘s outdoor world record by .03, an impressive feat given the tighter turns on the indoor 200-meter track.

Hoey, who was paced to the record by his younger brother Jonah, said the race reminded him of his recent practice sessions near their training base of Flagstaff, Ariz.

“I kind of took this meet as a preseason meet, just came out here to have some fun,” Hoey said. “And having Jonah pace, it really felt like another Cottonwood session. So it was fun to come out here, have that count. Crowd was amazing. Just really thankful, really blessed.”

With many top college runners taking advantage of their cross country fitness to hit qualifying marks for March’s NCAA indoor championships, there was some great racing during Saturday afternoon’s 90 minute elite window (a new tweak this year to make the meet more fan friendly). Northern Arizona’s Colin Sahlman (7:36.71) edged Virginia Tech’s George Couttie (7:36.74) in a thrilling finish in the men’s 3,000, while the men’s 5,000 was even closer as NCAA XC champ Habtom Samuel of New Mexico beat Villanova’s Marco Langon by thousandths as both men were timed at 13:05.21.

Below, five thoughts (with interviews) on the day’s action.

*Full results

1) Josh Hoey is incredibly fit right now; is it sustainable?

After a 2025 season in which he set American records in the 800 and 1000 indoors, won the world indoor title, and ran 1:42.01 for 800 (number two all-time US) and 3:29.75 for 1500, Hoey parted ways with coach Justin Rinaldi at the start of the fall. Hoey wanted to move to a 10 day training cycle with more intensity than Rinaldi was comfortable with, which led to their split.

Hoey felt things were going well in practice recently but wanted to put an early race on the schedule to see if his speed-endurance training was working the way he thought it had been. So he decided to open up on December 6 at BU, less than three months after his final race of the previous season (the Fifth Avenue Mile on September 7).

Hoey passed his test with flying colors. He said he would have been happy with any time under Brazier’s record, but set himself ideal splits of 23.5 to 24.0 to 24.5 (which adds up to 1:12.0). Josh wanted Jonah in the race as a pacer, however, to make sure he did not go out too fast.

Jonah, who was doubling back after winning the 800 in 1:47, did a great job in that respect as Josh hit 200 in 23.74. But that took almost everything Jonah had as he quickly began to tire. Had he dropped out sooner (Josh had to run wide into lane 3 to pass Jonah on the backstraight of the second lap) Josh may well have found the extra .04 he needed for the overall record. But Josh was full of praise for the man whom he calls his “lieutenant,” with whom he has shared hundreds of laps in practice over the years.

“Just really happy to share that moment with him and obviously would not be able to do it without him,” Josh said.

It is obvious that Hoey is super fit right now, and 1:12.84 is flying. The 600 is not run much indoors, but 1:12.84 is almost a full second faster than what Brazier ran in 2019, the year Brazier went on to win Worlds outdoors in dominant fashion.

Men’s 600m all-time list (indoors and outdoors)

The natural question, of course, is where does Hoey go from here? If he is this fit and sharp on the first weekend of December, what does that mean for the rest of the season? Can he possibly maintain (or gulp, improve) this level into the 2026 track season? Or will pushing this hard, this early lead to burnout? These are the questions that ultimately led to Hoey’s split with Rinaldi.

“I had constantly been pressing him, like hey, I want to do this program with you, I know we can do it well,” Hoey said. “And he came to me and said, this is either going to really, really work and I am not going to feel responsible, or it is going to massively fail and I do not want to be held accountable. So I was like, all right, looks like I am doing it on my own.”

Hoey took almost no time off after his 2024 season, returning with a 3:52 mile at this meet last year, and he followed it with the best year of his life. So there is precedent. And Hoey said he plans on being more selective with his racing schedule in 2026. How Hoey, undoubtedly one of America’s most talented middle distance runners, manages without Rinaldi tugging on the reins will be one of the most interesting storylines of the upcoming season. One race in, he already has a world record under his belt.

2) Jane Hedengren made all sorts of history (again)

With two kilometers to run in today’s race, it did not look as if we were going to see a collegiate record, let alone a monster collegiate record. The pacer had not even made it to 2k, and Hedengren, running with New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei, passed 3k in 8:59.01 on pace for 14:58.

Hedengren with BYU coach Diljeet Taylor after the race

But with a mile to go, Hedengren took off, burying Kosgei and everyone else with a 4:35 final 1600 (66.78 final lap) to run 14:44.79.

Usually when someone runs a 13 second personal best and breaks a collegiate record by more than 7 seconds, they are in a mild state of shock after the race. Not Hedengren. Certainly, she was pleased. But even though Hedengren ran faster than all but one American woman ever indoors, she was not surprised to see a time like 14:44 on the clock.

“I just want to do my best effort every time and I feel like in practice, we have kind of shown that we are around that level,” Hedengren said, adding that the plan was to start conservatively and close hard. “So I wanted to run to that expectation, for sure.”

Indeed, Hedengren’s coach Diljeet Taylor told LetsRun last month that she felt Hedengren was ready to run faster than anyone she had ever coached, and that includes 2024 Olympian Whittni Morgan. Today, Hedengren bettered Morgan’s personal best by four seconds.

But even if such a performance was expected, it does not make it any less impressive. 14:44 is not just the NCAA record by a lot. It also puts Hedengren into the top 10 on the US all-time list (indoors and out) and would have stood as the overall American record as recently as 2010. The mark was also a US U20 record. No other U20 woman has even run within 30 seconds of Hedengren.

Comparisons against historic Americans are difficult given Hedengren was racing in super spikes on a super track. But we have two recent ones that help put Hedengren’s run in perspective.

Remember Parker Valby, who smashed collegiate records and won everything at Florida in 2023 and 2024? Hedengren, at age 19 and after one collegiate race, has now run six seconds faster than Valby has in her entire life.

Hedengren’s time of 14:44.79 also puts her number two on the all-time US indoor list. It is .01 faster than Josette Andrews, who ran 14:44.80 in March, six months before she finished sixth at Worlds. We are dealing with one of the greatest distance phenoms this country has ever seen.

3) Habtom Samuel closes out a great 2025 with a nice win and a big kick

Samuel won the NCAA cross country title two weeks ago by making a huge move with a mile to go. He was hoping to break the field again today en route to his first ever sub 13:00 clocking in the 5,000 but did not quite have the legs for it. It looked as if Samuel was going to be outkicked on the last lap, getting passed by Langon and Virginia’s Gary Martin after leading much of the race. But Samuel rallied on the home straight, passing Martin on the rail and surprising Langon at the line to win in 13:05.21 thanks to a 27.24 final 200.

Both Samuel and his coach Darren Gauson were pleased that he was able to win a close one, a good sign after he was outkicked and finished second in three NCAA track finals in 2025.

“Gary Martin is a 3:48 miler and Marco is a 3:33 1500 guy,” Samuel said. “I know it is different, this is 5k, but I feel like I am in a good way, I am in the right way. I feel like I am improving my kick.”

Samuel was a little disappointed to miss out on sub 13:00 (his personal best is 13:04.92) but said he will return in 2026 for another crack and hopes to get some help by racing the pros.

4) Despite a 7 second pb, Marco Langon was “pissed” to lose the race (and an earring)

Langon is always an interesting interview, and today was no exception. Langon ran a 7 second personal best of 13:05.21 and lost by a whisker to a guy who just won the NCAA XC title. But Langon was not happy to get beaten. Not that winning would have made that much of a difference. He will only be happy if he wins the NCAA indoor title in March.

“I am not going to sit here and lie and be like, oh yeah, me winning today is going to make me more confident,” Langon said. “…I could have gotten dead last today. It is not going to change what is in the back of my head. What is in the back of my head is winning in March. I do not care about any other race except for March.”

Langon was also upset that Oklahoma State’s Brian Musau, the reigning NCAA indoor and outdoor 5k champion, withdrew from BU just a few days before the race.

“I wanted him to run because I wanted to prove that I could beat him,” Langon said. “That is it. He is the defending champion, right? Let him run today. But no, did not want to do that? All right, bet. See you in March.”

Langon admitted he may have been extra fired up because he was upset that he lost an earring just seconds before our interview began. But lost earring or not, you will not find a more intense runner in the NCAA.

Clearly, Langon is fit right now, despite missing some time recently due to a foot issue. He redshirted the 2025 cross country season, but I asked whether he was ever tempted to change course and run NCAA XC once we got to November and he was in awesome shape. He said no, he trusts his coach’s plan.

“My goal was to win indoors this year, not win cross,” Langon said. “That is for next year, if I do cross next year. That is it. I am not just going to change the plan just so I can say I could get a cross title right now.”

MB: Marco Langon Interview after 5k

5) Colin Sahlman says all events are on the table in 2026

Sahlman showed some of the best range in America this year by running 1:44 and making the US 800 meter final in August just three months before finishing 16th over 10k at the NCAA XC champs. Today, he split the difference and won the 3,000 in 7:36.71 (number eight on the NCAA all-time list) in a tight kick against Virginia Tech’s George Couttie.

Sahlman said he is not sure which event he will pursue in 2026 but was very pleased with the fitness gains he made during the cross country season, which he hopes will carry over to the track.

“This year was probably the easiest I have trained for cross country,” Sahlman said. “My mileage was up, my workouts were not as aggressive. I think that really helped me out. I was the most consistent this season, which led to a huge jump in the 10k on the grass. So super happy with that.”

Sahlman also said the switch from Mike Smith to his former NAU assistant Jarred Cornfield has been “probably the smoothest transition ever in a coaching change.” The one difference is that Cornfield is a bit more aggressive in his messaging. Before the race on Saturday, Cornfield sent Sahlman a text that read, Let us just kill these guys today.

“I love that energy, and I love that he brings it as a coach,” Sahlman said. “Smith did that too, but Cornfield is really aggressive with that.”