Tayvon Kitchen
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 August 2006 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event(s) | Long-distance running, Cross country running |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 1500m: 3:41.62 (2025) Indoors 1500m: 3:42.91 (2025) Mile: 3:59.61 (2025) 3000m: 7:36.23 (2026) 5000m: 13:19.17 (2025) |
Tayvon Kitchen (born 18 August 2006) is an American middle-, long-distance and cross country runner who competes for Brigham Young University.[1]
Career
From Oregon, Kitchen attended Mae Richardson Elementary and Crater High School in Central Point.[2] In 2023, Kitchen won the Oregon 5A state individual cross country title and placed fourth at the Nike Cross Regionals Northwest. At the Husky Classic in February 2024, Kitchen improved his personal best by seven seconds over 3000 metres, running 8:12.84.[3]
He placed fifth at the 3-Mile Sweepstakes at Woodbridge Invitational in September 2024.[4] In February 2025, competing indoors at the Terrier DMR Challenge held at Boston University, he ran 3:59.61 and moved to seventh on the US high school all-time indoors list for the mile run.[5] That month, he ran 7:55.48 for the 3000 metres in Seattle to break Nico Young's American high school record.[6] Kitchen won the 2025 New Balance Indoor Nationals over 5000 metres, with a time of 14:01.14.[7] In May, Kitchen won the Oregon Class 5A 3000 metres state championships with a time of 7:58.92.[8]
As a freshman at BYU, he qualified for the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships and placed 32nd overall, after leading the race in the early stages.[9] Kitchen moved to eighth on the NCAA all-time list for the 3000 metres with a time of 7:36.23 on 13 February in Boston, Massachusetts at the BU Valentine Classic. It was the fastest 3000m ever run by an American teenager, indoors or out, surpassing Hobbs Kessler's mark set in Boston in 2023.[10] That month, he was part of the winning BYU medley relay at the Big 12 Indoor Championship.[11] He placed eighth in 13:47.29 in the 5000m on 13 March at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships.[12] He also had a top ten finish the following day in the 3000 metres.[13]
References
- ^ "Tayvon Kitchen". World Athletics. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ "RUNNING INTO THE RECORD BOOKS SIDE BY SIDE, CRATER'S JOSIAH TOSTENSON AND TAYVON KITCHEN NEAR THE FINISH LINE". Runnerspace. 18 June 2025. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ "JOSIAH TOSTENSON, TAVYON KITCHEN SEE BIG IMPROVEMENT FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF TYRONE GORZE AT CRATER". Runnerspace. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ "Josiah Tostenson 2nd, Tayvon Kitchen 5th for Crater Doug Speck Boys 3-Mile Sweepstakes at Woodbridge Invitational". Youth Runner Magazine. 22 September 2024. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ Tysiac, Ashley (Feb 24, 2025). "3 High Schoolers Ran Sub-4:00 In The Mile At BU, Here's Why It's Historic". Flotrack.org. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ "Crater's Kitchen sets all-conditions high school record in 3000 meters". Rogue Valley Times. 17 Feb 2026. Retrieved 14 Feb 2026.
- ^ Davern, John (26 March 2025). "Tayvon Kitchen And Josiah Tostenson Will Race In Elite 1,500m At The Ten". Flotrack.org. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ "Kitchen Channeling Pre, Crater's Tayvon Kitchen smashes Oregon 3,000-meter record for Class 5A gold". Oregon Live. May 31, 2025. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ "Analysis: BYU freshmen Jane Hedengren, Tayvon Kitchen lead the way at NCAA championships". Deseret.com. 22 Nov 2025. Retrieved 14 Jan 2026.
- ^ Gault, Jonathan (February 13, 2026). "BU Valentine day 1: Marco Langon wins controversial 3000m thriller". Lets Run. Retrieved 14 Feb 2026.
- ^ "CONFERENCE MEET ROUNDUP: AVERY PEARSON BREAKS BIG 12 600 YARDS RECORD IN PRELIM". Dye Stat. 28 Feb 2026. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
- ^ Gault, Jonathan (March 14, 2026). "NCAA Indoor Championships Day 1: Colin Sahlman anchors NAU to DMR title, Habtom Samuel wins 5000 over Marco Langon". Lets Run. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
- ^ Gault, Jonathan (March 15, 2026). "NCAA Indoor men: Colin Sahlman wins controversial 3000 via DQ, as sprint records fall". Lets Run. Retrieved 15 March 2026.