BYU, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech collected the 2025 Big 12 Cross country yearly awards as voted on by the league’s head coaches.
 
Oklahoma State’s Dave Smith and BYU’s Diljeet Taylor picked up the coaches’ awards after leading their respective programs to Big 12 Championships. Meshack Kimutai earned the lone individual award for Iowa State as he was named Men’s Newcomer of the Year. Brian Musau garnered his third consecutive Men’s Runner of the Year for the Cowboys, while TCU’s Brayden Schick was tabbed as the Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. BYU’s Jane Hedengren took home both Women’s Runner of the Year and Newcomer of the Year and while Lily Mather claimed Texas Tech’s lone award as Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
Musau led the Cowboys to their sixth national title as the highest finishing runner with a fourth-place finish at the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. The junior became the second athlete in league history to earn three consecutive Big 12 individual titles, as he finished with a time of 22:53.7. He becomes the first Cowboy to earn the award three times.
 
Kimutai collected All-American and All-Conference honors in his freshman season, earning him the Big 12 Men’s Newcomer of the Year award, becoming Iowa State’s second recipient in three years. The Kenyan native was the second Cyclone to cross the finish line at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships helping the ISU to their fourth top five finish in the last five seasons.
 
Schick becomes the first Horned Frog to earn the Big 12 Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The sophomore from TCU boasts a perfect 4.0 GPA as a mechanical engineering major.
 
Hedengren became the first Cougar to be voted as both Women’s Runner of the Year and Women’s Newcomer of the Year. She also became the first freshman to claim Women’s Runner of the Year in league history. Hedengren capped off the year as the 2025 Big 12 cross country individual champion, the Mountain Regional champion, national runner-up and led her team to a second place finish at the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. In her first collegiate season, she earned All-America and All-Big 12 honors.
 
Mather is the first Red Raider to be named the Big 12 Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year since 2016. The junior studying Kinesiology owns a 4.0 GPA. She finished at the national championship with a 6K time of 20:25.
 
Smith collected his third Big 12 Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in four years after he guided the Cowboys to their sixth national title in program history and 14^th Big 12 Men’s cross country title. He was also tabbed as the USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year following the 2025 NCAA Division I National Championships. Smith finished the 2025 season with five All-Americans and five All-Big 12 selections.
 
Taylor earns her third consecutive Big 12 Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year award after leading the Cougars to their third Big 12 cross country team title, as well as finishing as the team runner-up at the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championship. Under her leadership, BYU garnered two All-Americans and five All-Big 12 selections as well as the program’s third Big 12 title in three years.
 
 
2025 Big 12 Cross Country Yearly Awards
Men’s Runner of the Year: Brian Musau, Oklahoma State
Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Meshack Kimutai, Iowa State
Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Brayden Schick, TCU
Men’s Coach of the Year: Dave Smith, Oklahoma State 
 
Women’s Runner of the Year: Jane Hedengren, BYU
Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Jane Hedengren, BYU
Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Lily Mather, Texas Tech
Women’s Coach of the Year: Diljeet Taylor, BYU