Another national meet, another distance medley relay title for Crater's boys track team.
The Comets continued their impressive run last weekend by winning the 4,000-meter DMR in the championship division of the Nike Indoor Nationals at The Armory in New York City.
The lineup of junior Tayvon Kitchen (1,200 meters), junior Nicholas Kube (400), senior Caleb Doddington (800) and junior Josiah Tostenson (1,600) finished in 10:00.06 to win by 0.19 seconds over a team from Dreamville, Fla.
“They executed our race plan perfectly,” Crater track coach Justin Loftus said. “Those guys totally brought it.”
It's the third DMR national title in a one-year span for the Comets. They won championships at the New Balance Nationals Indoor in Boston last winter and the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene last summer.
“A three indoor-outdoor streak, that's pretty cool,” Loftus said. “Every six months we're hitting 10-flat with different lineups.”
In Friday's race, Tostenson came through on the anchor leg to give Crater the win. When he got the baton, he had a short lead on teams from California and Tennessee. Dreamville was about five seconds back, but its anchor was Riley Smith, the mile champion at the meet. Smith attempted to pass Tostenson with about 150 meters left.
“Josiah held him off on the turn and finished just ahead of him,” Loftus said. “Josiah had to pull out some stuff to make it happen, but he said he felt pretty good rolling through the finish.”
Kitchen and Kube combined for a 3:56 mile in the first two legs, and Doddington clocked 1:56 in his 800 leg before handing off to Tostenson. The win was gratifying for the Comets, who went to the meet intent on defending their title.
“All the guys wanted to come back to it,” Loftus said. “This was a showcase event for us. Honestly, you've got to have some of the best kids in the state to compete at that level.”
Kitchen, who came back Saturday to take fifth in the 5,000 at the meet with a personal best of 14:18.75, positioned Crater for the win with his opening 1,200 leg.
“He was a little nervous, but he knew he could come through,” Loftus said of Kitchen, who placed 12th in the 1,500 in the 5A meet last year. “He kind of got boxed in. He had to pop out and catch the guy. He was a little bloody on the leg.”
Tostenson's winning anchor performance gives him momentum heading into the high school season. As a freshman, he won the 5A title in the 1,500 and was runner-up in the 3,000. Last year, he was fourth in the 800 and 13th in the 3,000.
“Josiah was a little banged up with his hamstring and back area, so we took it a little light,” Loftus said. “We didn't know how it was going to go. But he brought it, for sure.”
Tostenson finished eighth in the mile Sunday. His time of 4:12.41 was a slight improvement off his indoor best of 4:12.84 last winter.
“Indoor is a little different. It's a little closer,” Loftus said. “I think that played into Sunday's race with Josiah, just not having as much experience on a banked track.”
Crater senior Gabe Grant finished second in the long jump in the emerging elite division with a mark of 23-1 ¼, beating his previous best of 22-4 ½.
The Comets, 5A runners-up to Summit last year, are primed for another big season. Loftus, the cross country coach, has returned as the head track coach.
“We have a good team across the board, not just distance runners,” Loftus said. “We'll definitely be in the mix.”
