Tayvon Kitchen was named the Big 12 Outstanding Freshman of the Year and Carter Cutting received the Big 12 Outdoor Scholar-athlete of the Year award, according to a May 21 announcement from the conference.
These honors recognize significant achievements by student-athletes in both athletic performance and academic excellence. Kitchen’s recognition highlights his strong debut season, while Cutting’s award acknowledges his success on the track and in academics.
Kitchen set a new BYU school record in the 5000-meter event with a time of 13:16.27 at the Bryan Clay Invitation during his first collegiate season. He also holds school records in the indoor 3000-meter and is second all-time for BYU in the indoor 5000-meter. Kitchen finished as an All-American after placing 32nd at the NCAA Cross Country National Championship last fall. He is one of only seven athletes to run a sub-four-minute mile in Utah and qualified for NCAA Outdoor West Regionals with one of the top five times nationally.
Cutting earned Scholar-athlete honors after achieving a GPA of 3.90 while winning this year’s Big 12 outdoor title in the men’s 1500-meter race with a time of 3:58.63, overtaking much of his competition over the final stretch. The Wilsonville, Oregon native is also this year’s NCAA indoor national champion in the mile event. Cutting holds BYU’s eighth-best all-time mark for outdoor 1500 meters, seventh-best for outdoor 800 meters, and is ranked eleventh nationally heading into NCAA West Regionals.
The recognition places both athletes among notable performers within their sport as they prepare for upcoming regional competitions.
