Junior Teammates Have Pushed One Another To Be Great After Witnessing A Former Teammate Break Records In 2023

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

John Decker photos

When it comes to Crater High distance running, Tyrone Gorze is the standard bearer, the poster child.

Gorze holds about every single distance record you could imagine at the small-town school in Central Point, Oregon, setting the bar high for the next generation of athletes to come through coach Justin Loftus' program.

Last year as sophomores, Tayvon Kitchen and Josiah Tostenson marveled at the accomplishments Gorze accumulated throughout his historic senior year. They both realized what big shoes they needed to fill when he graduated. 

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“Tyrone definitely left a bit of a legacy,” Kitchen said. “He definitely put the in the work and was super motivated.”

At Crater, Tyrone set the bar.

“Our coach brings him up all the time like, ‘Tyrone would do this, Tyrone would do that,’. It’s almost like a lifestyle and motivation that he had that we’re also chasing.”

For as good of a runner as Gorze was (national high school record holder in the indoor 5,000 meters; No. 4 all-time in the outdoor 3,000) Kitchen and Tostenson couldn't help but think: “Why can’t we do what he did?” 

Oddly enough, they can. Perhaps a little bit better too.

As juniors, Kitchen and Tostenson have taken the next step this indoor season. Tostenson is US#1 in the 3,000 meters and US#4 in the mile, whereas Kitchen is US#3 in the 3,000 and US#2 in the 5,000. 

Both are in a position to compete for a national title in their respective events at Nike Indoor Nationals, taking place March 8-10 at The Armory in New York, with Tostenson racing in the mile and Kitchen in the 5,000. 

“I don’t think me and Tayvon even thought about having the chance of capturing a national title, individually, going into the start of this indoor season,” Tostenson said. “Now looking at the cards and thinking that we have a chance as long as we can perform, run our best race and make sure everything goes our way, I think it’s exciting.”

Kitchen’s consistency in workouts and racing has played in his favor over the last few months, but he credits Tostenson for amping up his progression as a runner over the course of the last few years.

“My freshman year I wasn’t very close to Josiah, but he always was like a role model and someone that I could look up to,” Kitchen said. “Now that I’ve started working really hard and train with him, it’s even better. He really inspires me to be better.”

Kitchen is coming off his best season in cross country, winning the Oregon 5A state individual title and placing fourth at Nike Cross Regionals Northwest to lead Southern Oregon Distance Project to a second consecutive Nike Cross Nationals appearance. 

“Winning state and fourth at NXR were pretty solid,” Kitchen said. “I definitely felt it was a good cross season and we trained well.”

Tostenson, who was one of the rising stars as a freshman and sophomore, battled some adversity early on in the cross season, resulting in some inconsistent outcomes throughout the year. 

It wasn’t until NXN that Tostenson finally found himself as the racer he knows he can be.

In harsh conditions at Glendoveer Golf Course on Dec. 2, Tostenson battled the rainy, muddy course and put together his most complete race of the year, finishing 18th overall to earn NXN All-American honors.

“I kind of went into that race and was like, ‘If I can just perform how I want finally, I can go in with all the confidence I need,’,” Tostenson said. “Luckily, I went and performed great.”

Both came away from the fall with plenty of positives. Approaching the indoor season, the anticipation to get back out to race ramped up.

Training with each other leveled up their confidence as they continued to push one another at practice, but they were still unaware of what they were capable of. Kitchen and Tostenson tested their fitness at the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 13 with debuts in the 3,000.

In a field of collegiate competitors, the Rogue Valley Runners (Crater) duo didn’t shy away: Tostenson ran 8 minutes, 8.7 seconds; Kitchen ran 8:19.97. Both were top-three times nationally.

“I just wanted to focus on the race and see what I could do, especially just coming off of cross not having raced the 3k in a little while,” Kitchen said. “It was an awesome race and definitely upped my confidence for future indoor races.”

Tostenson’s time, which he lowered to 8:06.88 at the UW Invitational on Jan. 27, has remained a national leader since. That’s 27 seconds faster than his previous best as a sophomore during the outdoor season.

“I was in shock, and I had a feeling of finally returning back to the scene,” Tostenson said. “I felt like I kind of fell off a little bit and it felt good to rise to the top.”

A chain reaction of great performances began to unfold over the next few weeks for both Tostenson and Kitchen following their season openers. 

At the Husky Classic on Feb. 10, Tostenson ran the fastest mile time in the country for juniors at 4:03.38 and Kitchen dropped seven seconds on his 3,000 time and ran 8:12.84, moving him to US#3.

Compared to Gorze’s junior times, Tostenson as put himself well ahead of where Gorze was at in the mile and 3,000. Kitchen is right in the ballpark with his former teammate, now a freshman at Washington, in the 3,000. 

What’s been the reason behind this success? 

“I think the biggest key so far has been me and Tavyon showing up day in, day out every day,” Tostenson said. “We’re out there pushing each other. If I’m not doing good on a workout, Tayvon’s going to be there and he’s going to push through the whole workout. If Tayvon’s not feeling good, I’m going to be there, keep it positive and pull him through the workout.”

Along with racing in their individual events, both Kitchen and Tostenson, as well as Caleb Doddington and Nicholas Kube, will assemble a distance medley relay team for Nike Indoor Nationals. At New Balance Nationals Indoor last year in Boston, Tostenson and Doddington were apart of Southern Oregon Distance Project’s national championship team that ran No. 8 all-time 10:00.20.

“I feel like, even though it’s a new team, I think we all have this vision that any one of us could have been on the old team,” Tostenson said. “We’re still going to carry the weight on our shoulders and still go into it feeling really confident. I think we can run really well.”

To this point, Gorze is the only individual national champion Crater distance running has had. The number could double in 2024 if Tostenson and Kitchen were to complete their greatest task ahead. 

“That would definitely be a dream come true,” Kitchen said. “Especially with a teammate if you both do it. It’s definitely far out there but it’s possible. We’re training hard and working together and it’s definitely something to look at and set our sights on if we can.”