Crater senior Josiah Tostenson (85), second from left, competes at the 2024 FootLocker Cross Country Championships in San Diego, California, on Dec. 14.

When you’re a distance runner at Crater High, no cross country or track season starts earlier or ends later — and that’s just how the Comets prefer it to be.

A pair of Crater senior standouts, especially, were part of a December to remember after Josiah Tostenson advanced to the Foot Locker Cross Country national championships and Tayvon Kitchen competed at the Nike Cross Nationals.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Crater cross country head coach Justin Loftus of his team’s lengthy seasons, “but, honestly, it’s pretty cool to see the kids get some rewards for all their hard work, because they are all really working pretty hard.”

The ending was particularly enjoyable for Tostenson, who got sick prior to the district meet and didn’t run for the Comets and then remained under the weather but still gave it a go at the Class 5A state championships, where Crater earned its fourth straight boys team title and Kitchen repeated as individual champion (Tostenson was sixth after being runner-up a year before).

Still waylaid by illness, Tostenson then missed the Nike Cross Northwest Regional Championships for the Oregon Distance Project — made up of Crater runners.

“It was frustrating because I was in the best shape of my life before getting sick,” said Tostenson, “and me and the boys in my varsity squad, we’ve been together since the summer at (Park City, Utah) training super hard so I didn’t want to let the team down at regionals, which I ended up doing. It was definitely super frustrating just because I was ready to go out there and go 1-2 with my teammate (Kitchen) at regionals, and let alone go out there and set my team up to go to nationals.”

Given some more time off and a chance for antibiotics to run their course, Tostenson wasn’t quite sure where his fitness would be but opted to compete at the Foot Locker West Regional on Dec. 7, where he placed fifth in 15 minutes, 39 seconds to qualify for the nationals.

A week later in San Diego, the Washington-bound standout took a bold all-or-nothing approach despite still not being 100% fit. The 18-year-old Central Point resident hung around the top six runners until about halfway in but didn’t feel as good as he hoped and wound up drifting back to 28th in 16:07.7.

“I never even really looked at my finish because I wasn’t super happy,” said Tostenson, “but I just tried to go out for the win and in that last mile I ended up dying a little bit. I just wanted the win or I didn’t really care what place I got.”

“It was a good test,” he added. “I tested my body and I just wasn’t able to respond that last mile, but coming off that I was just happy to even be able to make it there (to nationals).”

Loftus agreed.

“It was solid,” said the coach, “probably not really at his standards or where he’d like to be, but I think the experience was good for him. Not that he was not motivated, but I think that it may have pushed his motivation even more.”

“I think Josiah has so much of an amazing future ahead of him,” added Loftus. “The focus was obviously getting him healthy, but also looking at the whole picture and making sure that we’re not going to jump back into things and create more issues for him. I think it was a bonus for him to make nationals. He wasn’t 100% back to fitness but the bigger picture is there’s a lot of really cool things coming down in track, and his future at the University of Washington.”

One of those big things became a national matter of record recently when it was finally disclosed that Tostenson was one of five high school athletes across the country to sign a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with New Balance.

The deal, which was agreed to prior to the high school cross country season, was announced by New Balance on Dec. 18.

“It took a little bit of time because there were four other guys and girls that signed to the deal so we had to wait for all the logistics and the big announcement to come,” said Tostenson.

“I’m super excited,” he added. “It’s definitely a blessing to get a ton of gear and represent such a good brand and just such a good family. I’ve been working for an NIL deal since they were allowed two years ago. I wanted to get one in high school and set myself apart from other people, and that’s what I trained for so I was super excited to get it.”

Tostenson helped separate himself with a junior season resume last track season and indoor season — where he has excelled the most as a prep runner. He won 5A state titles in the 1,500- and 3,000-meter events and anchored the Oregon Distance Project crew to a new national record in the distance medley relay at the New Balance Nationals.

“What a cool deal for Josiah,” said Loftus of the deal, “and I think a good representation of our school and some of the things that we do as a program and a school district and a community.”

The NIL deal applies only to Tostenson’s running outside of Crater High — such as with the ODP or individually — and includes an undisclosed financial benefit along with merchandise and travel perks to attend New Balance-sponsored events.

“He’ll be exclusive to New Balance except in school, where Nike has the rights to how Crater teams are dressed and branded in Nike singlets and Nike jerseys,” said Loftus. “It’s a little bit interesting with the waters that we’re going to be getting into. If it was up to him, he would wear New Balance exclusively, but that’s not the case when it comes to schools.”

Kitchen was able to carry himself not only to a repeat 5A cross country title in Oregon but also won the Nike Northwest Regional in 14:53.3 at Eagle Island State Park in Idaho.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Kitchen, who hopes to have a decision in the coming months of where he will run collegiately once he takes more college visits. “The course was really hard, it’s like a real cross country course with sand and some big hills, but it was a lot of fun just going out there with my team.”

The Crater runners were unable to qualify for nationals as a team, but Kitchen carried the ODP torch for them in the nationals at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland. He wound up 11th in 15:36.4 after sloppy conditions became a factor on the 5,000-meter course.

“Tayvon led 90% of the race but in the last 600 meters got a little frisky with gnarly weather and a muddy mess,” said Loftus. “It was kind of anybody’s game at the end there. There were guys sliding and falling all over the place, but he represented well.”

For good measure, Kitchen went to California to root on Tostenson in the Foot Locker nationals and wound up competing in a one-miler nearby due to convenience, running a 4:07 mile.

While the weather conditions in California may have been ideal, training here in Oregon can come with its challenges for the post-November crowd.

“It’s harder to run when it’s cold and it’s harder to race when it’s cold and wet,” said Kitchen, “but you’ve kind of just got to deal with it and keep working hard. Going into the indoor season it’s going to be cold — and it’s gonna be really cold in some cases — so you’ve just got to layer up and wear more clothes and you’ll be fine.”

Chalk Tostenson up, too, as one who is looking forward to the upcoming winter indoor season and then really putting things into top gear for his final spring track and field campaign.

“One hundred percent that’s my one goal for these next couple months is simply to just hunker down and not leave any stone unturned,” said Tostenson, “and make sure I do everything I possibly can to reach my max potential for the rest of my year.”

“It’s just going to be a super fun indoor season and then when we go into the outdoor season, it’s the exact same thing. I’m just going to try and break some barriers that I’m going for and get some national records, and then I can put the high school career in the bag.”