EUGENE — The Crater boys cross country team captured its third straight Class 5A state title thanks to a one-two punch thrown by Tayvon Kitchen and teammate Josiah Tostenson on a rain-soaked Saturday afternoon at Lane Community College.

Kitchen claimed his first cross country state championship in 15 minutes, 26.2 seconds, while Tostenson was not far behind to finish as runner-up (15:32.2) as the Comets ran away from the field for another team crown.

Crater totaled 37 points to easily outdistance second-place Summit, which scored 64 points.

The championship race was tight when the pair of Crater juniors made their move at the two-mile mark, and Summit’s Noah Laughlin-Hall stuck to them like glue. Laughlin-Hall placed third (15:33.1) after Tostenson was able to outkick him in the final 100 meters.

“We moved the lead between Josiah and I,” said Kitchen about the final mile. “It was all good work between us to get this time and places.”

Everything worked out for Crater despite a downpour of rain that lasted for 45 minutes before the 5A races began.

“I feel like they executed the game plan as well as they could in the weather and the conditions,” said Crater cross country coach Justin Loftus. “I knew that Tayvon could hang on through two miles, he could bring it home.”

“And Josiah just fed off of that,” he added. “Especially coming onto the track, he finishes stronger than anyone I’ve seen at the high school level.”

The Comets also had Shaun Garnica break into the top-10 with his ninth-place showing (16:00.7) to further cement their lead. Before the race, Garnica realized that Saturday would be one of his last opportunities to represent his team and wanted to go out with a bang.

“It really just hit me that today I needed to put it all out there,” Garnica said. “I had nothing to leave back there and I just felt I did everything I could.”

Garnica has been part of each title team during Crater’s streak, and said he couldn’t be more excited to see Kitchen emerging as a premiere threat in the state — not unlike the course set ahead of him by former Crater teammate and state champion Tyrone Gorze.

“He is here carrying on Tyrone’s legacy,” Garnica said about Kitchen. “Last year, (Kitchen) was right in front of me and he just grinded and grinded to get here.”

Even with praise from teammates, Kitchen has tempered his expectations knowing that there is a lot of work to be done to reach the level of his championship predecessor.

“Tyrone is someone that I look up to a lot,” said Kitchen. “It is so awesome to fall in his footsteps and become a state champion.”

TEAM SCORES: Crater 37, Summit 64, Corvallis 169, South Albany 175, Hood River Valley 177, Central 184, Wilsonville 195, Caldera 199, Springfield 202, Crescent Valley 207, Canby 237, North Eugene 242, Churchill 276.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 10): 1, Tayvon Kitchen, Crater, 15:26.2; 2, Josiah Tostenson, Crater, 15:32.2; 3, Noah Laughlin-Hall, Summit, 15:33.1; 4, Mason Morical, Caldera, 15:44.3; 5, Ty Cirino, Central, 15:44.7; 6, Hayden Boaz, Summit, 15:47.1; 7, Liam Wilde, Wilsonville, 15:55.2; 8, Matthew Resnik, South Albany, 15:58.2; 9, Shaun Garnica, Crater, 16:00.7; 10, Zander Campbell, South Albany, 16:04.7.

Other Local Results

12, Caleb Doddington, Crater, 16:17.8; 13, Grant Headley, Crater, 16:32; 18, Ivar Hokanson, Crater, 16:38.1; 26, Jeffrey Hellmann, Crater, 16:55.

6A CHAMPIONSHIPS: Making its first state appearance in over a decade, North Medford finished 15th in the team standings behind top-50 efforts from junior Elijah Zavala, who battled for 30th (16:34.9), and senior Logan Huffman, who placed 49th (16:50.2).

TEAM SCORES: Franklin 43, Jesuit 85, Ida B. Wells 154, Central Catholic 169, Jefferson 176, West Salem 193, Sherwood 245, South Eugene 267, Grant 273, Sunset 275, Adrienne Nelson 280, Forest Grove 284, Sheldon 287, Glencoe 295, North Medford 315, Lakeridge 353, McNary 372, Oregon City 412.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 10): 1, Jack Meier, West Salem, 15:23.7; 2, Asher Danielson, Ida B. Wells, 15:40; 3, Zafer Courcelle, Franklin, 15:42.8; 4, Caden Swanson, Jesuit, 15:43.5; 5, Brennan McEwen, Franklin, 15:54; 6, Emil Nelson, Franklin, 16:00.1; 7, Malachi Schoenherr, Sheldon, 16:04.5; 8, Adam Reeder, Sheldon, 16:11.5; 9, Sawyer Marquis, Forest Grove, 16:13.8; 10, Finn Briscoe, Central Catholic, 16:14.5

Other Local Results

30, Elijah Zavala, North Medford, 16:34.9; 49, Logan Huffman, North Medford, 16:50.2; 104, Uriah Webster, North Medford, 17:38.8; 105, Porter Webster, North Medford, 17:38.8; 127, Brayden Downey, North Medford, 17:58.4.

4A CHAMPIONSHIPS: Phoenix senior Kael Feeley hunted down a potential state championship through a driving rain in Eugene before settling for a career-best third-place finish at state in a strong showing for the Pirates, who finished eighth overall as a team.

Feeley finished in 16:47.6 under less than ideal conditions, trailing only Carter Bengtson of Cottage Grove (15:49.6) and Finn Collson of Newport (16:30.6).

Feeley shaved nearly 34 seconds off his time from the Skyline Conference championships, where he was runner-up. Ethan Dobbins (33rd, 18:01.7) and Orlando Contreras (35th, 18:08.8) also posted top-40 marks for the Pirates.

TEAM SCORES: Newport 49, Crook County 87, The Dalles 136, Molalla 146, Philomath 167, Marist 179, Cottage Grove 192, Phoenix 193, Tillamook 211, Baker 225, Hidden Valley 230, Pendleton 266, Scappoose 291.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 10): 1, Carter Bengtson, Cottage Grove, 15:49.6; 2, Finn Collson, Newport, 16:30.6; 3, Kael Feeley, Phoenix, 16:47.6; 4, Noah Larsen, Newport, 16:49.0; 5, Connor Brown, Newport, 16:49.4; 6, Samuel Iversen, Henley, 17:01.8; 7, Gavin Humphreys, Crook County, 17:01.9; 8, Daniel Brown, Baker, 17:03.7; 9, Conor Thompson, Marist, 17:06.9; 10, Tyson Long, The Dalles, 17:08.0.

Other Local Results

33, Ethan Dobbins, Pho, 18:01.7; 35, Orlando Contreras, Pho, 18:08.8; 65, Adrian Merlina, Pho, 19:11.5; 79, Lincoln Potochnick, Pho, 19:47.8.

3A CHAMPIONSHIPS: Cascade Christian sophomore Michael Ragan placed seventh and the Challengers finished eighth in the team standings.

Ragan cruised the 5,000-meter course in 16:40.1 to highlight the effort for Cascade Christian, with Nash Crisp (30th, 17:51.9) and Isaac Young (35th, 18:03.1) also posting top-40 times.

TEAM SCORES: Valley Catholic 63, Oregon Episcopal 117, Enterprise 117, Siuslaw 134, Sisters 137, Banks 171, Burns 184, Cascade Christian 187, Westside Christian 196, Riverside 223, Santiam Christian 226, Harrisburg 255.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top 10): 1, Trevor Stewart, Vale, 16:18.9; 2, Jett Leavitt, Enterprise, 16:19.9; 3, Jayden Warner, Warrenton, 16:24.4; 4, Jonah Lyman, Enterprise, 16:27.8; 5, Diego Zambrano, Santiam Christian, 16:34.2; 6, Morgan Amano, Valley Catholic, 16:38.0; 7, Michael Ragan, Cascade Christian, 16:40.1; 8, Brayden Linton, Siuslaw, 16:54.1; 9, Ronan Gantzos, Oregon Episcopal, 17:02.4; 10, Amin Diani, Banks, 17:05.8.

Other Local Results

30, Nash Crisp, CC, 17:51.9; 35, Isaac Young, CC, 18:03.1; 72, Micah Acord, CC, 19:41.5; 73, Tayen Landers, CC, 19:54.2.