Throughout the spring and summer, stories of Crater's distance runners competing at the highest level have become commonplace, and on Wednesday, Tayvon Kitchen continued that streak.
The Crater High School runner, who will be a senior in the fall, competed in the USATF U20 Championships on Wednesday at Hayward Field, where he placed fourth in the 5,000 meters in a personal best time of 14:24.5.
The race was won by Liam Newhart, who just finished his freshman season at the University of Wisconsin, in 14:08.74. Michigan's Nathan Lopez (14:09.51) and Nolan Clark (14:20.94) were second and third, respectively. Kitchen was the top performing high school runner in the race.
Kitchen's time is also the fifth-best in Oregon high school history. The state record is 13:37.89, set by Galen Rupp in 2004. Kitchen's previous best 5,000 was 14:27.87, set earlier this year. Other runners on the state's all-time 5,000 list are Tyrone Goes (13:45.81), Steve Prefontaine (13:52.80) and Bill McChesney (14:12.50).
Three of the state's top five 5,000-meter runners of all time have Olympic experience, the other two being Golze (who just finished his freshman season at the University of Washington) and Kitchens.
Later on Wednesday, Kitchen competed in the 5,000 meters at the Nike Outdoor Nationals (held in Eugene this week alongside the USATF U20), where he placed second with a time of 14:31.47 to Kentucky's Rik Sugie, who won in 14:28.63.
— Nik Streng, nstreng@oregonian.com, @NikStreng
