The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot, 135-pound senior won his second straight OSAA Class 5A state meet this past season with a time of 14:43.3, breaking the tape 6.4 seconds ahead of his next-closest competitor and leading the Comets to a fourth straight team championship. Kitchen also broke the tape at the NXN Northwest Regional championships to qualify for nationals, where he finished 11th at the national NXN final to earn Second Team All-America honors as the state’s top runner at the event. Also a Top 5 finisher at two major regular-season invitationals in California—fifth at the Woodbridge Classic in a personal-best 13:43.50 for three miles and third at the ASICS Clovis Invitational—he clocked a 5K personal-best of 14:23.7 in winning the Crater Twilight Invite.
Kitchen has maintained a weighted 4.26 GPA in the classroom. He remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
A member of his school’s National Honor Society, Kitchen has volunteered locally as part of his church community’s Welfare Farm program, which provides humanitarian aid to families in need. He also serves as chair of Crater High’s School Improvement Committee and its School Design Committee.
