Crater's Josiah Tostenson (left) and Tayvon Kitchen (right) jockey for position during the 1,500 at The Ten. (West Coast XC)

Crater seniors Josiah Tostenson and Tayvon Kitchen earned spots in Oregon high school track history Saturday with their performances in The Ten, an elite meet at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.

Competing unattached against college and pro runners, Tostenson and Kitchen ran the two fastest 1,500 meters in state history, clocking 3:40.06 and 3:41.62, respectively, to finish fifth and ninth in the race. They now rank eighth and ninth in U.S. high school history.

Their times surpassed former Summit star Matthew Maton, who ran 3:42.54 in 2015 while competing unattached against college and pro athletes in the Oregon Relays. Central Catholic's Galen Rupp ran 3:45.3 in a high school meet in 2004.

“I wanted them to get a chance to race the 1,500 and see how fast they could go against that kind of competition,” Crater coach Justin Loftus said. “Those guys are amazing. They're super fit. I feel lucky just to watch them.”

According to Kitchen, there is more to come.

“I don't think either of us ran as fast as we want to now, or later in the season, but there's always time to improve,” Kitchen told Citius Mag. “This is a great jumping off point. By no means were we upset with it. We're satisfied, but not complacent. We're going to keep building off this and run faster hopefully later.”

Tostenson entered the race with a cool confidence.

“I wasn't too nervous for this race. I actually felt a little too calm going into the race,” he told Youth Runner Magazine. “It's just now I feel I've proved myself, and now I'm just going to keep trying to prove myself. If that means I have to run faster, then I've got to go out there and run faster.”

It was the first outdoor race of the season for Tostenson and Kitchen. They both broke the four-minute mile at an indoor meet in Boston in February, Tostenson at 3:57.47 and Kitchen at 3:59.61. Their 1,500 en-route times in Boston were 3:41.32 and 3:42.91, a hint of big things to come for the outdoor season.

The pair spent much of January and February traveling across the country for indoor meets, facing elite competition.

“They definitely have notched it up,” Loftus said. “I'm just in a high school bubble, but running against pros and being in that space, they look great week in and week out. I've just been lining up races for them.”

They benefit from competing together.

“We always both PR,” Tostenson told Youth Runner Magazine. “Me and him, we run every workout together, we hang out every day together. So it's so much simpler for us to push races together. We also want to be there for each other. … It's always better to run these races with Tayvon. I can always run a lot faster, and so does Tayvon.”

Kitchen told Youth Runner Magazine that the duo is “double trouble.”

“You can get away from one of us, but you can't get away from both of us,” Kitchen said. “If I can see a move and match it, and Josiah can see a move, we'll go together.”

Tostenson, who entered high school with high expectations after setting an eighth-grade national record in the mile, has helped elevate Kitchen.

“Josiah has been there, but Tayvon worked into this more aerobically,” Loftus said. “Tayvon's strengths have helped Josiah, and Josiah's strengths definitely helped Tayvon. They 100 percent feed off each other. The confidence between the two, that's blossomed.”

Tostenson, committed to Washington, won the 5A 1,500 title as a freshman and took the 1,500 and 3,000 in the state meet last year. Kitchen, committed to Brigham Young, won 5A cross country titles the last two seasons, placing first at NXR Regionals last fall.