Tayvon Kitchen has been named the Big 12 men’s track and field outstanding freshman of the year, according to an announcement from the conference on Thursday.
Kitchen, a true freshman, received this recognition after setting the fastest indoor 3000-meter time ever recorded by a true freshman in NCAA history. He achieved this at the David Hemery Valentine Invite in February with a time of 7:36.23. This performance also placed him ninth on the all-time NCAA list for the event and established a new BYU school record.
In addition to his 3000-meter achievement, Kitchen set the second-fastest BYU record in the 5000 meters at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic in late January, finishing with a time of 13:19.17 and securing third place overall in his first appearance at that distance.
Kitchen was recognized as Big 12 men’s track and field co-athlete of the week in late February. He later finished second in the 3000 meters at the Big 12 Championships with a time of 7:52.91.
He is scheduled to compete in both the 3000m and 5000m events at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships on March 13-14.
For more information, readers can view the full release on the Big 12 Website.
