Crater High Standouts Prepare To Leave Lasting Imprint On State Meet, Find Reasons To Be Inspired By An Oregon Legend

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Kim Spir photos

Fifty years on from Steve Prefontaine's final race at Hayward Field, which preceded his tragic death a few hours later, the annual Oregon high school state championship meet will begin its 2025 edition in Eugene. 

And the high school runners of the moment in Oregon, Crater High teammates Josiah Tostenson and Tayvon Kitchen are looking to big weekend in their final races for the Comets. 

Half a century is a long time, especially for an 18-year-old, but the Crater duo both find the story of Prefontaine's rise from Marshfield High in Coos Bay to college stardom at the University of Oregon relatable. 

It seems almost inconceivable that a single high school in the state of Oregon has not one, but two runners, who have exceeded Prefontaine's best high school times. 

Kitchen ran an all-time high school best 3,000 meters at the Dempsey Indoor in Seattle on Feb. 14 when he ran 7:55.48. Tostenson ran 7:57.42. 

Prefontaine's high school best of 8:08.0 in the 3,000 lasted 35 years until Galen Rupp broke it with a national record 8:03.67 in 2004. 

Prefontaine's best high school mile was 4:06.0, which he ran to win the Golden West Invitational in 1969. 

Tostenson and Kitchen have both run sub-four minutes. 

Superior shoe tech, advanced training methods, frequent access to national competition, all of those things matter in the modern age. 

But the Crater duo knows what it's like to move as fast as Pre did in his purple-and-gold days at Marshfield, and they still have reason to revere the legend. 

"It means a lot to me," Tostenson said. "Pre was an outlier. He was someone who did his own thing. He dressed how he wanted to. He went out there and raced how he wanted to race and was a gutsy racer. He was someone you could tell just wanted to be himself. He had gone thorugh a lot of things, so he's just such a relatable guy."

Tostenson, who has signed with the University of Washiongton, will soon link up again with Tyrone Gorze, a 2023 graduate of Crater who also ran high school times faster than Prefontaine. 

It's no secret the Comets have been streaking of late under coach Justin Loftus. 

Kitchen is set to race Friday morning at 9:58 a.m. in the Class 5A boys 3,000 meters final. 

The meet record belongs to Gorze, who ran 8:04.60 in 2023, good for No. 7 all-time in prep history behind Rupp (now sixth). 

Kitchen, on May 10, pushed himself to a time of 8:08.75 to win the 3,000 meters by 47 seconds at the Grants Pass Rotary Invitational. (Grants Pass is the birthplace of Bill Dellinger). 

Of Pre, Kitchen says, "He's a big inspiraion, coming from a small town in Oregon and working hard and eventually getting to the top is something that me and Josiah can relate to."

Crater's district meet (and state qualifier) last week was held at Springfield's Silke Field, the same track where Prefontaine ran his district meets for Marshfield in 1967, 1968 and 1969. 

Tostenson is entered in the 800 and 1,500 this weekend, Kitchen will double back in the 1,500 after Friday's 3,000.

They'll aim to etch their names alongside the best in state history, a list that includes Prefontaine but is no longer exclusive to him. 

"I'm hoping to run as fast as Carter Cutting did," Tostenson said.

Two years ago, Cutting of Wilsonville broke the state meet record with 3:47.18 in the 1,500 and then won the 800 in 1:50.82, just outside Elijah Greer's meet record 1:50.60 from 2008. (Kitchen will soon become teammates with Cutting at BYU). 

It's a different world than 1975, but there are also strands that trace back to that pivotal and unforgettable time. The story of Prefontaine still resonates and the reminders around Eugene are inescapable. 

"I look up to Pre because he's such an icon of the sport," Tostenson said. "I respect people who do things the way they want to do it. They flow how they want to flow."