Crater senior Tayvon Kitchen has enjoyed considerable success in cross country and on the track, but last Friday may have provided the most prominent moment during his running career.

Competing at the Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle as part of the Husky Classic — which featured collegiate and elite high school athletes — Kitchen recorded the fastest time ever in the 3,000-meter run for a high school boy (indoors or outdoors) when he cruised across the finish line in 7 minutes, 55.48 seconds.

Kitchen broke the previous American record by more than one second, and became the fourth high schooler to ever break eight minutes in the event.

“It’s pretty cool to think that no other high schooler has run this fast over that distance,” said Kitchen. “It’s a good feeling and I’m happy to finally have a national record to my name.”

For good measure, fellow Crater senior Josiah Tostenson followed quickly on Kitchen’s heels to record the fourth-fastest all-conditions time in 7:47.42 — making him the fifth high schooler to eclipse the eight-minute mark.

“I like to think we’re the best duo in high school history, so it’s great to have him in a race,” Kitchen said of the Washington-bound Tostenson. “When he’s in a race with me, I know that I’m gonna run my best because we work really well together. And no matter what, if we have each other around, we’re gonna work harder and push each other even more.”

The elite running corps taking to the track at the Husky Classic also included a men’s 3,000 group that saw Habtom Samuel of New Mexico clock 7:39.39 to hold off Olympian Nico Young of adidas and eight other college standouts to lead the entire pack under the meet record.

Samuel clipped nearly five seconds off the meet standard set in 2014 by Lawi Lalang, and Young made a late charge to finish runner-up in 7:39.53 in his first race since the Paris Olympics 10,000-meters final last August.

Kitchen wasn’t among that crew of runners but the overall field provided a buzz and a challenge to compete at the highest level.

“This was probably the best field that I’ve been in for any race — probably ever — and definitely for the 3K,” said Kitchen. “I still came in third (in my race), but just having some fast people around me and in front of me the whole race really helped me excel at that distance.”

Making the experience that much better was the fact that the previous high school record-holder — Young — was on hand. Young’s previous mark, set while at Newbury Park High in California, was 7:56.97 in 2019.

Afterward, Kitchen was able to get a photo with Young, who offered his congratulations to the up-and-coming Comet.

“Nico Young, he’s a big inspiration and an awesome guy,” said Kitchen, “so it’s awesome to get a record from him.”

Kitchen said he felt really good throughout the 3,000-meter race.

“I just was racing super smart and got into good position with Josiah,” said Kitchen, “and then kind of just hung on for the ride until the last couple laps where we started breaking it down.”

Kitchen was certainly aware of the record prior to competing but didn’t give it too much thought during the race, only knowing that he was putting himself in position for a good time.

“I wanted to run as fast as I could, but while racing, I wasn’t completely aware of the time or what it looked like I was gonna run,” he said. “I just knew that if I held onto the pack and closed as hard as I could, I’d run a fast time and ended up getting (the record), and that was super great.”

For good measure, Tostenson and Kitchen doubled back in the non-invitational mile sections Saturday at the Husky Classic, with Tostenson running 4:02.72 to place 36th overall and Kitchen running 4:05.65 for 51st.

“I’m happy to know I can double back like that and still be strong,” said Kitchen. “It’s not necessarily a true display of my fitness, but still a good mile time — around 4:05 — and I’m happy that I’m able to double like that.”

Newbury Park’s Nico Young and Lex Young (7:57.06) are the only other pair in history to have multiple sub-eight-minute racers from the same school in the indoor 3,000 meters.

While Tostenson has already committed to compete at Washington, Kitchen is still wrapping up his college visits. He said he hopefully expects to have a commitment announcement in the next few weeks.